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Topic: Tech Industry

Error 404: Page Not Found. Just kidding.

Summary: There's no reason why an irritating page problem can't also be amusing.

Charlie Osborne

By for iGeneration |

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Notfound.org

Notfound.org is a way for webmasters to make better use of their 404 error pages. Instead of displaying a standard message, the Notfound project wants you to install their program so a missing child's picture and details are automatically shown.

Currently, over 2000 websites have signed up.

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Topic: Tech Industry

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5 comments
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  • Rolling Stones

    Nothing can top this 404 page:
    http://www.rollingstones.com/404
    Tim Acheson
    Reply 1 Vote

  • Cute

    When I first clicked on the article, I got a real 404 page not found message. I don't know if that was deliberate or a weird coincidence, but it was still cute.

    In any case, that Notfound organization service seems like a good way to make better use of one of the more inevitable glitches of the Internet
    JustCallMeBC
    Reply Vote

  • Distracting

    Most businesses aren't interested in distracting customers from finding what they are looking for. It's bad enough you'd serve them up a 404, but to offer them a page that might actually derail them from continuing to look for what they were originally searching for is counter-productive, no matter how well intended the cause is.
    ejhonda
    Reply Vote

  • Lighten up!

    Actually, the whole point of the 404 page (and as a Southerner, I object to using the area code for Atlanta to mean "lost"; why not 415, referring to Haight-Ashbury?) is that the normal automatic methods failed to find what was probably an expired external, or worse internal, link. Any or all of these "enhanced" pages ought to include a way to contact the webmaster to report the problem, and a customer service number to get the info in some other way from the company. If they do not include this after the "joke" then I agree, they probably are not that responsible. Of course, humor sites such as JibJab do not have pages that are really critical; if you got there too late for joke 865, browse for some others.

    Seriously, why did they choose the area code of Atlanta to mean "lost"? To insult our street layout?
    jallan32
    Reply 1 Vote

  • Apologies for Taking Offense

    I have since googled (sorry, Googled (TM)) the origin of code 404, and apparently it is just a sequentially assigned code in the 400 series (client errors), which has been turned by an urban legend into a reference to ROOM 404 in the CERN office building. I suspected it was not an attempt to slur Atlanta, but it appealed to one of the few conspiracy theories that appeal to me. If we REALLY wanted to copy a telephone area code to mean "page not found", we would have used 202 (Washington, DC). Have a geeky day, everyone! ;-)
    jallan32
    Reply 1 Vote
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