Talk:HTTP 404/Archive 1

Telnet 404
I'm really not sure about this being a telnet thing: I can't find 404 anywhere in http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc854.html -- telnet is character-based. Perhaps FTP, SMTP or NNTP is meant? -- The Anome 22:32 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Whitehouse example
Is the www.whitehouse.gov example really a 404 page, or just a custom "Page not found" generated by that particular site? It was my understanding that a true 404 was generated by something like www.hozgewhpoghvawup.com, but I could be wrong. -- Jrdioko 04:51, Apr 8, 2004 (UTC)
 * No, that wouldn't be a 404 error (unless 404 is an error code used by DNS, which I don't know much about). 404 is an HTTP error code, and as the article says, will only be generated if the server in question is running an HTTP server. Eurleif 05:02, Apr 8, 2004 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the clarification. -- Jrdioko 19:12, Apr 8, 2004 (UTC)

Whitehouse Example POV Arun and Amrutha

 * I don't know about you, but I find the whitehouse.gov example slightly POV. (Note that it's linking to "postwar plan".) Probably added by an anti-Bush person who is trying to say that Bush has no plan. Or maybe I'm just putting too much thought into it. &mdash; [[User:33451|Mr. Grinch (Talk)]] 17:28, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * I would tend to agree; I was a bit surprised actually when I saw that particular link. A link to a "random" 404 site might be better.  Quandaryus 05:04, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Okay, I see someone's changed it to a Yahoo example. Good job.    &mdash; i386 | Talk 21:38, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * It is now eBay. It should really be wikipedia..... 10:22, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

MAX404
I always thought that the 404 error came from 'Max404' a character in the movie, Android.

CERN Room 404?
So is this total nonsense?

http://www.room404.com/

To summarize, it says that initial development of the database system that lead to the www was done at CERN labs, and the database was located in room 404. If someone mistyped a request for a file, they would get a Room 404: File Not Found message. The designation was left in the first release of http.

Does anyone have any confirmation/refutation of this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.162.195.60 (talk • contribs) 09:34, November 15, 2005 (UTC)

The following page refutes room 404 as a myth:

http://www.plinko.net/404/history.asp —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kbadial (talk • contribs) 10:58, November 23, 2005 (UTC)

Room 404 edit
In light of the above (and personal suspsicions), I've modified the text of the external link to the room404 site. Part of me thinks we should expunge it entirely, as the story is apocryphal, this site is not terribly illuminating with respect to either the error message or the urban legend it spawned, and the anonymous update may have been nothing but advertising. Thoughts? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 165.123.175.203 (talk • contribs) 19:56, December 12, 2005 (UTC)


 * i think we should include the Room 404 urban legend in the article but clearly state that it is so. i came to this page to see if it was really true, but had to click into the discussion page to see that it isn't. --Plastictv 06:01, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Microsoft "404" image
I don't think this is actually a 404 error. It is actually a page generated by internet explorer when the server could not be contacted or does not respond. --Jibjibjib 01:54, 24 January 2006 (UTC)


 * You are quite right. The image has recently been replaced with a vista one, but the older one is also not a friendly-404 page either. - Jon Dowland 11:40, 9 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I replaced it with a real IE "friendly error message" shot, but forgot to say so here. -- Jon Dowland 15:06, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

404 etymology
I think it originated like this: File Not Found = FNF => 4 (F) 0 (nil, null) 4 (F) - sounds logical, doesn't it --Shandris 17:19, 8 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Logical, but speculative. The first '4' means it belongs to a class of response codes signifying client error, and the same reasoning doesn't make sense for 403 (forbidden), 405 (denied), or the other classes, 200 (ok), 302 (redir), etc. -- Jon Dowland 14:05, 9 May 2006 (UTC)


 * 404 is the most common error it seems... anyway, it was just a cool thought --Shandris 16:30, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Dead link merge discussion
Such discussion is taking place at Talk:Dead link. -- Jon Dowland 15:18, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I removed the tag - it is clear that the discussion was nearly unanimously in favour of no-merge. The person who proposed the merge can't even spell or sign their name either. - Drstuey 12:25, 4 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I would discourge the merge. Though related, they are separte topics.--Esprit15d 19:04, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

no opera screen shot?
netscape gets one and opera does not? i think we need to add one —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ioda006 (talk • contribs)


 * Actually I think having so many screenshots is just silly. One illustrates a real 404 message, another the IE-specific "friendly" ones, the other two are redundant. I'd suggest pearing it down to two. -- Jon Dowland 15:09, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I was about to suggest the same thing, when I saw your post. We do not need to use four pics to illustrate one idea.  We should keep the IE and Firefox screenshots; the Netscape and Safari screens can go. &mdash; EagleOne\Talk 16:55, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
 * User:Alerante has cleaned up the images, but unfortunately removed the one illustrating the "friendly" 404. I'm replacing that one back in. -- Jon Dowland 13:08, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Clarification: User:GallifreyanPostman had replaced the Image with one which did not illustrate a friendly 404, so Alerante's removal was correct. I have reverted the Image to one which does, and replaced the Netscape picture with this one. So we now only have two pictures, one of which illustrates a "friendly" 404. -- Jon Dowland 13:21, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Page moved
I moved HTTP 404 to 404 error and fixed all links on wikipedia to point to new location. I believe this was justified given that cheers Drstuey 12:23, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * 404 error is the common term in usage.
 * There were more links on wikipedia to 404 error than HTTP 404
 * I posted a 'I think we should do this' message and weeks later no-one had disagreed
 * Reverted. Please do not perform cut-and-paste moves — they damage page histories. If moves are blocked due to the target page having a history, ask an administrator for help at Requested moves. I for one disagree with the move, and invite further discussion. æ² ✆ 2006-08-04t17:49z


 * I'd be in favour of a move, but it should definitely be done properly and after discussion. The reason I think it would be sensible is that the article does not just cover the HTTP aspect of 404: it covers the IE specific "friendly" errors, the malpractise of "soft 404s" and the impact that it has had on popular culture. It is therefore more than just an explanation of a nuance of HTTP. -- Jon Dowland 13:23, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

"The Raven" parody
I thought that parody for "The Raven" was pretty funny. True it was kinda inappropriate, but does anyone know where the original poster got it? Don't think me a perv or anything, I just found it amusing. --Eridani 1349, 2 Oct 2006 (EST)

Copy Cat?
Most of this article seems to have been copied from http://www.answers.com/topic/http-404 .... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.45.40.103 (talk) 03:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC).


 * Answers.com syndicates wikipedia content. See Answers.com. -- Jon Dowland 13:20, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

humorous example
ebaumsworld may have had a humorous 404 in the past, but it's certainly not now. I tried changing it to the ytmnd one, but the spam filter kicked in... Anyway, if there's going to be an example of a funny 404, it should probably be funny? Ideas? --Onepairofpants 06:44, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

You could try the one from Homestarrunner.com. 68.7.41.47 16:37, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Or the Brokeback Webpage... My personal favorite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.39.47 (talk) 23:12, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I think 404 area is a really cool collection of 404's pages —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.206.146.61 (talk) 10:04, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

External Link suggestion
The following was removed for appearing like spam. Please someone take a look at this article, its one of the best.
 * All 57 Apache ErrorDocuments - All Status Codes and ErrorDocuments recognized by Apache web server

Produke 23:10, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I removed that link because it has nothing to do with the HTTP 404 error code. In fact, it's to do with every other error code. I note also that your contributions show you posting links to various articles at askapache.com over a wide range of articles such as this. -- Jon Dowland 13:28, 26 March 2007 (UTC)


 * If you guys don't think its relevant than thats fine, I just think someone learning about 404 Status codes might really enjoy learning about them all and how to see them all.

--Produke 08:57, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

HTTP 500
If there is an article on the 404 error, shouldn't there be one on the 500? Simply south 23:58, 9 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I Concur. I will contribute some content on SoapFaults to that topic, as SOAP returns 500 + nested XML when returning errors. Some proxy servers are not above recognising the 500 response and generating a user-friendly HTML message, discarding the information that machines need. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SteveLoughran (talk • contribs) 13:35, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

show friendly http errors and IE7 behavior
As of IE7, the 512 byte limitation on HTTP errors appears to not be the default behavior. I've modified this in the article to indicate the 512 byte issue behavior is pre-IE7. User:CydeSwype

404 translated *humor*
For the humor-inclined: ibiblio.org's 404 page has a long list of translations, including non-human languages like Klingon and C. davidwr/  (talk)/(contribs)/(e-mail)  14:45, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia now returns 404 for non-existing pages.
See http://leuksman.com/log/2008/12/22/fixing-404-for-wiki-pages/ for technical details. The Wikipedia example will have to be updated. &mdash; Mike.lifeguard &#124; @en.wb 05:49, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

dobrze zrobiony —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.237.165.234 (talk) 23:21, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

блядь чо за х ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.72.211.64 (talk) 18:29, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Custom Error Page redirect loop
The "see also" section links "Custom Error Page", but that, in fact, redirects to "HTTP_404"! Anyone familiar with this article know the best way to fix this? Kailey elise (talk) 01:19, 29 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I've removed the see-also section. Thanks for noticing this. SteveLoughran (talk) 11:43, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

—←√×× —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.99.139.102 (talk) 22:23, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

CERN Room 404
I heard, that this number came from the room number the computer was in who gave out that message. I don't know if it's true. Please check that Columbus240 (talk) 18:15, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

page views
on http://www.wikiroll.com/popularity_en.cgi?lang=en, how does this always manage to be the 2nd most viewed article? 76.110.165.51 (talk) 11:17, 3 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Because (I think) so many people get in touch (on so many pages) with a 404 and they don't know what this is! mabdul 11:54, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

404 WMD in "popular culture"?
In Weapons of mass destruction in popular culture article under the The invasion of Iraq in search of Sadam Hussein's alleged WMDs section, there's a reference to the "404 These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed" parody by http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ ... I think it should be included / referenced here too. It was quite popular at it's moment, and a precursor of adapting HTTP-humor to current events. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 186.22.161.165 (talk) 12:35, 22 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Yeah, that's funny. Do you have any newspaper article about it? We need a third party (independent) reference for that. mabdul 14:47, 10 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Government Computer News covered it: [ http://gcn.com/articles/2003/07/25/did-you-hear.aspx ] --Guy Macon (talk) 19:51, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from, 11 November 2011
122.178.3.242 (talk) 09:13, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
 * ❌ No information what should changed. mabdul 10:55, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Missing historical information
This Article is missing the information on where the name 404 historically comes from. Please ad it.

404 was the name of the first server room. so whenever there was a problem people had to go there.

http://www.room404.com/page.php?pg=homepage — Preceding umore Google Books hits for "404 error" (~6k) than for "http 404" (~2k), but even these are edged out by hits for "404 not found" (~8k). Does anyone have any other thoughts on the most appropriate title for this article? <span style="font-family:Franke742; Diskuss &#124; [[Special:Contributions/Wilhelm_meis|&#x2

Github returns fake 404 errors for pages that are hidden from the public. This can be paradoxical if someone creates a private fork of a public project and then does a pull request. The existence of the private fork, and its commit hashes, will be visible to the public, but any attempt to access it will result in 404.

When it becomes verifiable, we'll know to add it to the article. Meneth (talk) 13:12, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
 * It's not a particularly notable subject, and sounds more like a (possibly deliberate) mistake in the way the system handles erroneous requests. If memory serves, the correct error would be a 401. drewmunn talk 13:42, 30 May 2013 (UTC)