Webupon

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Sometimes you really, really want to see that page – it sounded so interesting, after all!  Then you get the 404 message and your head starts to ache.  Why on earth create the page just to take it away again?  It’s so not fair!  The message is, put simply, a standard response code.  It indicates to the user that they were able to get through to the server of the site they are attempting to access but said server could not find what they had requested.

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Why have a computer generated graphic when you can turn the 404 in to something approaching art.  There isn’t even an expletive in sight as this generous minded techie takes us through the various reasons we may have got the message.  It is strange that an artist such as Banksy has not taken the 404 to heart, considering its penetration of our collective mindset!

404s can also occur when a server is configured not to carry out the request for the page and does not reveal why.  The message “Server Not Found”, however, is completely different.  It means that no connection could be made in any way, shape or form to the destination server.

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Zivity is a slightly risqué website.  Why its 404 page is so coy is a mystery, but at least it doesn’t accuse you of inbred stupidity, like many websites!  404 being the area code for Southern Alberta in the United States of America is quite enough already, thank you!

When a request is made from a web browser for a web page (HTML document) then a server is required to respond.  What you see, instead of your requested page, is an email-like message with a numeric response.  The first 4 indicates a client error (that’s you!). This could be as simple as a mistyped URL.

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The failboat indicates that the page you have requested is not found.  This is a combination of the 404 message and the “Fail” culture, similar to Lolcats, that has over or underwhelmed (depending on your sense of humor and appetite for repetition) the internet recently.  While on the subject of transport, 404 is also the name of a route which traverses Maryland in the USA.  There might be a slight frisson of amusement for any computer (il)literate person who gets on to this particular route. 

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German books are as sensible as the German people.  It would be great to see a real book with this message on the four hundred and fourth page, though it could be imagined that after a very short time it might become a little tedious!  Incidentally, talking of books, it was in 404 AD that the Buddhist monk Huiyan wrote the book “On Why Monks Do Not Bow Down Before Kings”.  It was one of the first written arguments about why the state and religion should be separate.  This was in China, which has certainly succeeded in that in the last century or so, but perhaps not in the way that Huiyan was imagining!

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The dead duck of dead ducks has had the rise taken out of him so systematically on the internet that it is almost possible to feel a little sorry for him.  Perhaps not, but this Mister President will certainly not be left holding the baby.  Perhaps, though, history will be a kinder judge than his contemporaries?  Or perhaps not!

After the first 4 of the 404, the next two digits indicate to you tat there is a specific error encountered.  This three digit coding echoes similar usage in earlier protocols, such as NNTP and FTP.

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This was no doubt irresistible to the weary traveler who had to lay his head down in room 404 of an hotel somewhere in the world.  This is one of about a zillion pictures on the same theme that can be found out there, but the cheekiness of the message left on the board is such that it cannot fail to raise a smile.  However weak and feeble the smile, a small one at least.  No? 

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The marketing people at this stadium may have thought it would be a hoot to put the advertisement for which Yahoo had probably paid thousands of dollars next to the empty advertizing space listed as 404.  No doubt the smile was on the other side of their face when Yahoo demanded its money back!  Whether a knowing attempt at a sly dig or a completely innocent mistake, this one would have had raised a few eyebrows!

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Darth Vader gets his own take on the 404 with a broken light saber.  The combination of Star Wars and the internet is difficult to resist!  However, the 404 message can often be a little extreme – blaming the user in no uncertain terms and calling them names that would make even politicians and bankers blush.  It is often not the user who is responsible for the error.  It is interesting to note, then, that the last gladiatorial combat took place in the Roman coliseum in the year 404.  The pesky went from being fed to the lions to changing the rules altogether, the spoilsports!

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This Mailbox has seen much better days!  Perhaps it hasn’t been found by its owners for a few years.  Meanwhile at the HTTP level, 404s are usually followed by a reason that can be read by you.  Many web servers issue an HTML page (a web page) that simply states that the page cannot be found.  Although this phrase is customized rarely, is sometimes misleading as the user thinks that they have mistyped the URL and try again.  And again and again.  This often results in the manual removal of a PC through a window, known as defenestration to many.

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The Times online got a little more honest with its 404.  The page isn’t ready to be seen (even though it probably exists) so they put up a message instead which says that they have all gone to the pub.  This is terribly British humor but was, quite likely, true.

It has to be noted here that it is not always the poor computer user’s fault that they have received a 404.  The URL they have requested could be completely accurately typed in to their browser.  Often, pages have been moved or deleted altogether.  In the case of the former, then a 301 response would have been far more appropriate.  In the latter, a 410 (”gone”) response would have been much better.  However, these responses need the website’s servers to be specially configured and out of sheer laziness the 404 has become the prevalent, if somewhat sloppy, response.

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The Failwhale takes a variation on the current trend for “FAIL” memes and adds its own twist with a little rhyming.

The British Telecom Group in 2004 deployed a locking system known as “Cleanfeed” and incorrectly used the 404 message.  This blocked any pages that had been deemed or identified as illegal by Big Brother, sorry, the Internet Watch Foundation.  So, the pages were there but the user was not allowed to view them because they contained material that was, if bought on printed paper, liable to get the reader more than just a slapped wrist.

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From Whales to Wales!  This beautiful country, just to the left of England (both politically and geographically!) has more mammals of an ovine nature than those classified as sapiens.  A place, as the saying goes, where women are women, men are men and the sheep are afraid.  This 404 was found in the country’s middle region, near the small town of Aberystwyth.  Perhaps this is the herbivore’s attempt to make herself “not found” before she can be used and abused!  Perhaps it worked, but it is expected that this lamb was still for the chop pretty soon afterwards!

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The Computer Technicians may well have arranged their lab to be situated in room 404.  With tongues fairly firmly rooted in their cheeks, of course!  You may also receive a 404 message if you try to access what is known as a dead link.  It can also be called a broken link or – rather provocatively – a dangling link.  The link may also be dead because of firewalls or content filters not allowing access to the page.

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The Twitter guys took the concept of the internet meme of lolcats, which continues to be irrationally popular to produce a number of its incredibly popular 404 messages.  People would actually type in the wrong URL in order to see one of the various 404 pussy messages that were produced over the space of a few years.  Of dear!  It is akin to the advertisements being better than the shows on the television!

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Such is the incursion in to our culture of the 404 that it is even appearing on clothing.  What it actually says about the person who wears 404 on their chest is another thing entirely.  Perhaps a great T shirt to buy just before you start college if your intention is to ingest substances both natural and man made that may render you “Not found” in terms of your general level of consciousness, cognition and presence in class!

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While most people say that they couldn’t live without the internet once they have been exposed to it for a year or two and succumb to its charms, many public libraries must rue the day that a certain Mr Berners-Lee had his bright idea.  Chelmsford library, however, have kept up with the times and when their users attempt to get to a book which they do not have in stock, then they get this message.  So, it’s not your traditional 404, but it certainly indicates that librarians have a sense of humor too!

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Ontario International airport, like many others, has its own 404.  One would be a little unsettled to go through this gate.  Have any film makers, doing an airport disaster movie, had the notion to make the departure gate 404?  Answers on a postcard, please!  Perhaps the passengers on the TV series “Lost” made their way on to their fatal flight through gate 404!

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A list wouldn’t be a list these days with at least one Photoshop fan’s take on the subject.  Here, the road is not found.  Ah, the path less travelled and so on!  Perhaps this is not unlike link rot, which is when the links on a page gradually lead nowhere.  This is when the sites to which they link change content, disappear altogether or go to new locations.  The road to nowhere, indeed!

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A final, fresh take on the 404 by Heinz, appropriate that a company with so many varieties should offer its own on the page not found message!