Title: Error while generating auto links Last modified: February 16, 2021 --- # Error while generating auto links * [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/) * Hi, * Today, while trying to generate a link from Amazon UK, the generation failed with “Blocked by captcha” error. How can I solve the issue? Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 25 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/page/2/?output_format=md) * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14060203) * Hi, * Maybe try enabling the **Web Page Dumper** option (Dashboard -> Amazon Auto Links- > Tools -> HTTP Proxies). * [plantbasedj](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plantbasedj/) * (@plantbasedj) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14060677) * how? * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14061636) * Oh, that’s the HTTP proxies! The auto link page went completely blank now, the block editor is even screwed up a little bit (white over most of the editor) and when I preview the post, I get the links themselves (without the tag that I would have expected to be added). * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14064074) * Hi, * Can you post some screenshots? * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14065431) * Difficult to post a screenshot of something blank. And without the proxy, I just get this error in the iframe, and that’s it. The question really is why would it be blocked by a captcha? * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14065693) * The exact message error is the following one: * > Amazon Auto Links: Blocked by captcha. (UK: 0141986360) * Message for administrator: > Consider enabling the HTTP Proxies option. * I only get it without the HTTP proxy set, but in both cases, it doesn’t work at all. * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14065827) * > The question really is why would it be blocked by a captcha? * That error is shown when the plugin detects a response that is blocked with Captcha and the reason that they do it is something you need to ask Amazon. Probably, they get too much traffic that they cannot handle so they have to block some of their accesses especially automated ones. * For troubleshooting, can you try disabling the HTTP Proxies (Dashboard -> Amazon Auto Links -> Tools -> HTTP Proxies -> HTTP Proxies -> Enable) option but enable the Web Page Dumper option (Dashboard -> Amazon Auto Links -> Tools -> HTTP Proxies- > Web Page Dumper -> Enable)? In other words, enable only Web Page Dumper in the HTTP Proxies screen. * Then, I’d like to know what exactly happens after that. You said you got a blank page. Which page is it? If the entire page becomes blank, it is usually due to a lack of memory. In that case, you should increase the PHP memory allocation limit. [This page](https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/fix-wordpress-memory-exhausted-error-increase-php-memory/) may help. * If it is not something that you get a blank page, then I’d like to see a screenshot as I don’t understand what you see there. If it only occurs in the block editor and a blank block is given, it could be that it’s taking time so while trying to retrieving the data. In that case, reloading the page might load the output. * Also, you can check plugin errors in the Error Log screen (Dashboard -> Amazon Auto Links -> Reports -> Error Log). Try to create a category unit and see if you get a new error there. If you find relevant error messages, post them here. * Also, I’d like to see your site debug log. You need to turn on the site debug mode (see [this page](https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-debug/#how-to-enable-wordpress-debug-mode) to know how). Then find `debug.log` file under the `wp-content` directory. Post the log entries logged while you try to create a category unit. * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14069761) * OK, I have to take some time for that. I made a mistake and activated the page dumper actually before, that’s when I got some white clocks over the editor. With just the HTTP proxies, I get the same error. * The error logs showed this for yesterday: 2021-02-18 00:17:25.6537 602da3e77757a aal_filter_custom_amazon_cookies [https://blog.audio-tk.com/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/)? WEB_PAGE_DUMPER: Failed to retrieve cookies. 2021-02-18 00:17:25.5937 602da3e77757a aal_filter_http_request_set_cache [https://blog.audio-tk.com/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/)? HTTP_REQUEST (WP_ERROR) http_request_failed: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received AAL_1729b60b6a570b569610f8d45f5e407c [https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/) * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14071337) * > With just the HTTP proxies, I get the same error. * Make sure you only enable the Web Page Dumper option, not the HTTP proxies. Then try to create a category unit and see if you can select categories. If you cannot select categories, you should see new error log items. * And I still don’t understand your problem in the first place. Screenshots would be helpful. * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14071382) * I’m trying to get the link to be transformed into an iframe with the Amazon link and description (Insert from URL wordpress panel). Like what I had before on posts before like [https://blog.audio-tk.com/2020/10/06/book-review-too-much-and-never-enough-how-my-family-created-the-worlds-most-dangerous-man/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/2020/10/06/book-review-too-much-and-never-enough-how-my-family-created-the-worlds-most-dangerous-man/) The same happens if I let the editor auto-transform the link into an iframe with Auto Links. I don’t think there is a way of inserting images here directly? Even I don’t think it will tell you anything, it’s just transforming a link into an embed iframe. * I tried creating a category by unit, took about 30s for the page to display, which is about the same time I got in the error log: 2021-02-18 00:17:25.6537 602da3e77757a aal_filter_custom_amazon_cookies [https://blog.audio-tk.com/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/)? WEB_PAGE_DUMPER: Failed to retrieve cookies. 2021-02-18 00:17:25.5937 602da3e77757a aal_filter_http_request_set_cache [https://blog.audio-tk.com/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/)? HTTP_REQUEST (WP_ERROR) http_request_failed: cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 30001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received AAL_1729b60b6a570b569610f8d45f5e407c [https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/) * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14071390) * Interestingly enough, I don’t see the unit once I clicked on Proceed? I’m not really using the full power of AAL, just using embeds because it’s easier to create them for my reviews. * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14071467) * From the error messages, it seems the connection to a Web Page Dumper server from your server timed out. Make sure you add at least one Web Page Dumper URL in the **List** field. And test your connection with the **Test** field by entering an address (e.g. [https://web-page-dumper.herokuapp.com/](https://web-page-dumper.herokuapp.com/)) and clicking on Check. You can post a screenshot of the HTTP Proxies screen so that I can check if you are not doing something wrong. * > I don’t see the unit once I clicked on Proceed? * If you click on the Proceed button, you should see a list of categories and a preview. If it’s not something you see, post a screenshot of it. * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14073577) * OK, the test passes, albeit very slowly. No HTTP Proxies. The unit category seems to work, it shows something and I could create a category (not sure I should do with the category?) * Last error I got with the embeds is: 2021-02-19 12:28:51.8612 602fa0f3d0f59 aal_filter_http_request_set_cache [https://blog.audio-tk.com/amazon-auto-links/embed/?embed=amazon-auto-links&uri=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exercised-Science-Physical-Activity-Health/dp/0141986360/](https://blog.audio-tk.com/amazon-auto-links/embed/?embed=amazon-auto-links&uri=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exercised-Science-Physical-Activity-Health/dp/0141986360/) HTTP_REQUEST (HTTP_STATUS_ERROR) 503: Service Unavailable AAL_56507ca8e6db942c47b3bf054995f603 * Thread Starter [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/) * (@matthieubrucher) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14073696) * Hum… I think I never understood how the plugin was supposed to work… So I need to create a category, even if I don’t care about it? Now that I have a category with US>Books in it, the error message changed and says that there are no products found. But why is the category configured with US>Books when I only selected Books? Do I have to create a category for each region? * Confused, as this worked before without a category? And now I have a category after all my posts that have nothing to do with the post? (without any category, I end up with a spurious “Amazon Auto Links: Could not resolve the given unit type, unknown. Please be sure to update the auto-insert definition if you have deleted the unit.”, not sure how this appeared and how to delete it) - This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/). - This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by [matthieubrucher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/matthieubrucher/). * Plugin Author [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * (@miunosoft) * [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/#post-14074814) * > Last error I got with the embeds is: * If that’s the only error, Web Page Dumper must be functioning for your site. Create a test post and paste a product URL in the editor to see if it gets converted to a plugin output. Remember Web Page Dumper is a sort of proxy so it takes time to process the result. A blank block may be produced by a timeout error. In that case, reloading the editor might fix it. * > So I need to create a category, even if I don’t care about it? * Aren’t you troubleshooting the problem of Web Page Dumper? If your server is blocked by Captcha, you wouldn’t be able to create a category unit. That’s why you needed to test whether you can load category lists. After you confirm that your site can load category lists, then you can delete the unit if you don’t need it. * > And now I have a category after all my posts that have nothing to do with the > post? * Turn off auto-insert items, which you have created when you created a unit, by going to Dashboard -> Amazon Auto Links -> Manage Auto-insert. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 25 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Error while generating auto links’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/amazon-auto-links_eeeeee.svg) * [Auto Amazon Links - Amazon Associates Affiliate Plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/amazon-auto-links/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/amazon-auto-links/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/amazon-auto-links/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/amazon-auto-links/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/amazon-auto-links/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/amazon-auto-links/reviews/) ## Tags * [amazon](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/amazon/) * [Amazon affiliate](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/amazon-affiliate/) * [amazon associates](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/amazon-associates/) * 25 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [miunosoft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/miunosoft/) * Last activity: [5 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/error-while-generating-auto-links/page/2/#post-14076640) * Status: not resolved