Problem downloading my html file from my site

[wumply]

When, in Sept. 2003, I used a program (WS_FTP…the exe is ws_ftple.exe) to upload my html code to my website (for which my ISP provides me space), I had no problem. This exe is free from www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/free-ws_ftple.html

This program also allows me to download the code from my website so that I can change it or add to it.

Well, I would like to download the code now because Google (on whose search engine I want to be listed again) now indicates that my site url contains an illegal character.

The address of my site is http://www.metrocast.net/~wumply/exper-1.html. Well, back in Sept. 2003 Google did not object to my url at all; now I am wondering if Google has decided the ~ is the illegal character. Could it be anything else?

Anyway I thought to use the WS_FTP (a 690 kb program) to download my html code, so that I could remove the ~ and then re-upload the corrected code.

But when I try this I quickly get to a page as in the attachment to this post, but unfortunately the 2 folders named ‘mail’ and ‘public.html’ (on the ‘remote’ side of the screen) are missing. (Memory tells me that I clicked on the ‘public.html’ folder in the process of uploading.) The attachment is from this site: http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/~dicke/ftp/ftp.htm which is a "how to use WS_FTPLE" site.

My problem is this. When I am at the screen in the attachment what are the steps I must take to get my html file at my site to download to my computer so I can remove the ~ character and re-upload? The "how to" site assumes I know that or can figure it out.

[bhxtyrant]

From the looks of it the "~" isn't in your html code it's just your root folder name.Depending on your host this is usually the name you sign up with.In other words when logging into your FTP you see "public_html" folder.This folder is givin the name that you registered with.If you can not manually edit this you might have to contact your host.

But on a side note i don't see how this could cause an issue with Google.I have never encountered the issue before so perhaps it's something new.

[wumply]

OK. Read your post; went to http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl and entered my site url. Google said it would look for it when it crawled but it could not guarantee it would list it. That was all; nothing about 'invalid url'--which makes sense as I was only asking Google to check for it when it crawled.

But from there I clicked on a link 'Webmaster Tools' where Google let me enter my url in a box that said I could get detailed reports on the visibility of my pages on Google. It was only there that I got the message that my url contained invalid character(s). Perhaps that msg only reflects the fact that my site has not been listed on Google for quite some time. It used to be that typing 'Poems From Ho-Yo' (without the quotes) in Google would bring up my site. I know for a fact that if you click on the link in my posts or if someone clicks on the link when I send an email, they get to the site--because my count of visitors keeps increasing.

What do you think is causing the invalid error message from the Webmaster Tools box where I typed my url in?

[bhxtyrant]

If it says that your address has invalid characters the only thing i can think of would be the "~" or the "-".I havent used google in ages so i cant be 100% sure on it though but those are the only two possibilities as far as the URL is concerned.You could first try renaming your main HTML file removing the "-" to see if it helps.If not then if you have an account management tool which allows you to change your main alias from "~wumply" to just "wumply" that could do it.Other then that you would probally need to contact your host or google as they might be able to shed some light on the issue if it persists and also allow you to change your alias removing the ~ which could fix the issue.