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This occurred & was discussed before, but I can't find those threads - might have beeen purged.

The error appears to be caused by code running on servers.
Below 404 Not Found you will see nginx/1.6.0.

Read the following for clarification: (-; More at Reverse Proxy Server.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nginx

After browsing a number of tech boards, it seems the program can run into a situation where ...
... blah, blah, blah ...
because a URL & a file name (thread-page) in a directory are the same.
Also, the last slash can cause problems.

In short, the server issues a redirect which loops until it times out & returns a 404 error.
Technically incorrect, but often the default.

I ran some tests with Bab's thread.

These don't work:
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430643/star?thread-page=
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430643/star

These do:
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430643/star/
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430643

so simply backspace in the address bar to get something like the last example.
I see Jazzgirl has already sussed this out. Well done !

Why Bab's threads are afflicted, & then Chrise's, I don't know. OS, browser, protocol interaction ...?
Too many variables.
All those protocols are like troops of chattering monkeys. How they manage to communicate at all is a miracle !

Thank you Syzygy for your detailed reply. Can't say I fully understand it as I am not that IT savvy but I take it it that 404 in no threat?

Cheers L

No threat, 404 is simply an error code that means "Page not found".
Happens all the time. Someone's web site is defunct or they changed a file directory & didn't update the link.

Stay posted for more info.

Eureka. I think I found it.

Any thread title ending with "star" exhibits this problem. Caps are ignored.

A few examples from the search page:
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/offset/0?search=star&action=search

OK
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/410194/shropshire-star-cryptic?thread-page=
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/307611/supperstar-2?thread-page=

Fail
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430728/shropshir-star?thread-page=
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/307605/supperstar?thread-page=

Not sure how recent this problem is, but these links now fail yet access was obviously all right 2 years ago.
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/268814/chic-crossword-irish-star?thread-page=
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/187394/daily-star?thread-page=

Bottom line:
* Don't end your thread title with “star”; add a date or puzzle number. (It's in the posting notes)
* To access bad links change the URL as shown here:
http://www.crosswordsolver.org/forum/430667/offset/18

I've notified Admin about the problem.

Thanks for your hard work on this syzygy - however I am puzzled about part of your solution. Lots of problemless threads end in a number.

Wow Syzygy
Thanks for your hard work re the troublesome (dare I say the word) star :)
All I did was copy and paste the url on the error 404 page, deleting the last bits. Hopefully admin can rectify the problem

I just did a search for "star" in the search box and all threads ending with "star" caused problems. However, those with "star" followed by another word were fine.
So "star cryptic" or "star general knowledge" caused no problems at all.

@jazzgirl

That was brilliant - deleting the back end of a troublesome URL.
I've frequently found that going backwards through the directory levels in an address, i.e. /X/Y/Z

One of the other forum members figured out that trick and I just followed their example. I think it was trevor .

Uh-oh. Most of my answer disappeared.

I've frequently found that going backwards through the directory levels in an address, i.e. /X/Y/Z