Thread

We have a customer using MailChimp. They sent out a newsletter that had tracking query strings after the URL. EE is returning an error “Invalid GET Data” on this link: domain.com/blog/article/article_title?utm_source=Would+You+Like+to+Receive+Our+Blog+Posts+By+Email?&utm_campaign=c4d1f49b8f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

I have tried a variety of fixes including .htaccess tweaks but so far no luck. I’ve recommended they turn this tracking off for future mailings. Here’s a copy of what the .htaccess file reads:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
# Enable Rewrite Engine
# ------------------------------
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
# Redirect index.php Requests
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET.*index\.php [NC]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !/cms/.*
RewriteRule (.*?)index\.php/*(.*) /$1$2 [R=301,L]

# Standard ExpressionEngine Rewrite
# ------------------------------
RewriteCond $1 !\.(css|js|gif|jpe?g|png) [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]
</IFModule>

# Catch any Mail Chimp campaigns directed to the home page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(utm_source=.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/ [L,PT]

# Catch any Google campaigns directed to the home page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(gclid=.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/ [L,PT] 


Options +FollowSymLinks

Using EE 2.5.2. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi David,

Indeed, the conflict is due to the way EE already uses a masked GET query string. For example:

domain.com/blog/article/article_title?utm_source=...

In that, behind the scenes, EE sees:

domain.com/index.php?template-group=blog&template=article&url_title=article_title?utm_source=...

So, the second “?” is throwing things off - since you can’t have to GET queries in one URL

This bit in your .htaccess

# Catch any Mail Chimp campaigns directed to the home page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(utm_source=.*)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/ [L,PT]

Have you tried including the leading “?” before utm_source ?

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Thanks for the help, Dan. I did try this but it resulted in internal server errors. I guess these types of URLs are too complex. I asked the client to disable the extra tracking for future mailings.

Hey David,

I was working another ticket to day, and they had URLs very similar to this that were working OK.

With that new info, I think it may be more to do with a server configuration than EE.

I don’t know where to get the answer, but you might ask your hosting provider about it too.

Is there anything else I can assist you with?

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