.htaccess causes 403 error
Whenever I change the .htaccess file in the directory where I am serving a local version of the site, suddenly all I get is Error 403. I delete all the directives in .htaccess and the site is back.
The .htaccess directives were put there by Wordpress Dashboard so I doubt it was a typo on my part. Mod_rewrite does seem to be enabled in the .conf files. This is what the file said:
\# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /~username/wordpress/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /~username/wordpress/index.php [L]
</IfModule>
\# END WordPress
Could this be related to some other file in the system that need to be changed? File permissions?
I'm an Apache newb so please answer in English.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)