Does one usually need to restart apache for it to read the .htaccess file? I've triple-checked things, (using cloudrunner's guide with VBA and /forum directory), and Google still gives me a 404...
If I try to access sitemap.txt.gz directly (
www.mysite.com/sitemap.txt.gz) it also gives me a 404. The .htaccess is uploaded exactly as provided in the mod, to my www root. I've confirmed mod_rewrite is installed.
FIXED: I needed to have "AllowOverride All" added to the directory directive, in my virtualhost container in httpd.conf, to instruct it to consider .htaccess files.