Discussion » 404: I never knew that!

This is a read-only copy. The forum ran on iamcal.com from 2000 until its database was lost in 2016, and this topic was rebuilt from copies saved by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Some replies may be missing, and its dates are approximate.
Posted by Saltation_DUPE1, around 27th November 2005:
 
www.room404.com
Posted by cal_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
99% sure that's a lie
Posted by Saltation_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
dunno mate. the whole "tim berners lee invented the internet" is complete bollocks -- he released a read-only prototype rather than the web that had been being designed for the previous 5 years or so. and the descriptions of the buildings match what i've read previously, as also the growth from zero-budget usage of spare-capacity.
and this story smacked of the original Coffee Pot site.

but yeah, i've always read 404 as being part of a chain of error messages (note 403 is sequentially preceding rather than following...), so on reflection it's most likely bollocks.

but it IS the first "explanation"/apology i've seen of why the most-likely error on t'interweb has such a bizarro errorcode number.
Posted by cal_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
i think the reason for that is fairly straight forward - until the web got all big, 404 wasn't the most common error - the other 400's would have been bigger:

400 : Bad Request
401 : Unauthorized
402 : Payment Required (reserved)
403 : Forbidden
404 : Not Found
405 : Method Not Allowed
406 : Not Acceptable
407 : Proxy Authentication Required
408 : Request Timeout
409 : Conflict
410 : Gone
411 : Length Required
412 : Precondition Failed
413 : Request Entity Too Large
414 : Request-URI Too Long
415 : Unsupported Media Type
416 : Requested Range Not Satisfiable
417 : Expectation Failed
Posted by Brock, 29th November 2005:
 
Please tell me you pasted that from somewhere, and didn't just write it out freehand from memory?
Posted by Victor Menendezz, 29th November 2005:
 
I doubt it, Cal is more machine than man these days.
Posted by Grim..., 29th November 2005:
 
You can tell he didn't write it freehand - it uses capital letters.
Posted by Brock, 29th November 2005:
 
Good point.
Posted by beargod_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
but why start in the 400's why not the 800's or just a basic 000
Posted by Alfie_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
the 4 stands for "4get it mate."
Posted by beargod_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
oooooh makes sense like a lion going to a robbie williams concert
Posted by Saltation_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
looking at that list, cal, i think you're spot on
Posted by bumdog, 29th November 2005:
 
I'll have you know Aslan loves Teh Williams

"I'm rather fond of 'Rock DJ'" the famous godly lion can be often heard saying...
Posted by beargod_DUPE1, 29th November 2005:
 
but he is a king and therefore should not be trusted, he tries to keep all his subjects happy especially the rich ones
Posted by bumdog, 29th November 2005:
 
What about Jonathan King??

Oh.....