I tried to access gouv.fr several times in order to apply for a C de S, but kept getting a message about not being able to access it due to ‘ Cloud
Flare’. Does anybody have any info on what this is and how to access gouv.fr
Thank you.
Karen
By itself gouv.fr is not an address, it’s usually something.gouv.fr (like impots or economie) or a department like www.gers.gouv.fr/. Otherwise it’s gouvernement.fr for the national site.
So are you sure you are looking for the correct address?
2 Likes
Thank you, Jane. (The address I found on a recent Survive France’ mail about how to apply online for Carte de Sejour).
Cloudflare is a hosting company for websites, often used to store downloadable data (media files, software programs, etc). I wasn’t aware that the FR government was using Cloudflare as a hosting provider. I would be suspicious of any such redirection, as unfortunately, Cloudflare also has a reputation for hosting all sorts of downloadable rubbish, including spyware, trojans, and hackers tools.
I have noticed that when I and others put abbreviations they sometimes turn blue…
If I rattle at the keyboard and say “contact gouv.fr” meaning the official French Government site for whatever topic - much as Jane has said…
EDIT: I note, it has turned blue !!! Obviously an automatic something in the system… 
but the page does not exist 
Note that I’m not trying to cast aspersions on Cloudflare itself, which is a well known content distributor system company.
Just typing “gouv.fr/” into the URL field of my browser returns an error message that the address can not be resolved, i.e. it doesn’t exist in the DNS cache registers of my default domain name server (e.g. Google)
Ha ha… it doesn’t exist - but that bit is showing blue on my screen as if it should be a link – very odd…
Cloudflare is a service that many organisations use to protect themselves from Denial of Service (Dos) attacks and the like.
They don’t actually host the website that you are trying to access, they do act as a staging post for people who want to access the website and validate the authenticity of the access.
The use of Cloudflare is usually transpearent to the person trying to access the website unless the website is slow to respond or has other technical issues.
Thank you, Grahame.
Karen
No problem Karen. It’s a bit of a geekie answer, but sites using Clouflare are being sensible in preventing cyper-attacks.