I don't know what you were looking for, but suffice it to say, you didn't find it.
So here we are. On a 404 page.
Now what?
Well, you could hang here and read this whole stupid thing I wrote to amuse myself and anyone who finds it. Or you could hit the back button. But let's assume you're going to stay because, I don't know, you want to see where this leads.
I get it. I would do this same. That means we would get along in real life. Not this wasteland we tool around in called the Internet.
Let's talk about 404 pages. It's a Hypertext Transfer Protocol standard response code that indicates that your browser was able to communicate with my server, but my server couldn't find the URL you wanted. I know what you're already thinking, and I'm just as excited as you are to learn more!
Oh, I forgot to mention that a Hypertext Transfer Protocol is more commonly known as HTTP. Sorry if you already knew that. But I think it's an integral part of the story.
I bet you're thinking, "but where did the 404 page come from, Matt?" You're getting ahead of me, child. Your impatience won't get you far in life, so shut the fuck up for a second while I tell you a tale.
The year was 1980. A group of nerds started work on Al Gore's vision of what he called, "the Internet." These nerds worked at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in France. But because the French are assholes, Lloyd, they referred to it as CERN or Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire.
Their initial goal was to create a "database infrastructure that offered open access to data in various formats." And they did just that.
End of story.
Ok, you got me. That was a goof. It's not the end of the story. Boy, do you have egg on your face.
Anyway, legend has it they kept this "database" in an office on the 4th floor of the CERN building. Specifically in room 404. Gasp!
Then, whenever one the nerds requested a file from the "database," a few other nerds would manually find the files and transfer them to the original nerd who made the request.
Of course, requests started to increase. And some of those file requests just couldn't be found. So in return, the nerds would reply with this message: "Room 404: file not found."
Once the process started becoming automated, that room 404 message didn't change. In fact, it's still being used today!
Can you believe it?!
Well, you shouldn't. Because it's complete bullshit. It's a "complete myth" according to Tim Berners-Lee, the goddamn inventor of the Internet. Oh, that Al Gore bit was a goof too.
It turns out, it's way more boring than that. Who knew?
Everyone knew. Fucking everyone.
Here's the truth:
Some random programmer nerd did it on a whim. There were number codes for everything and errors happen to fall in the 400 range. That means, 404 was probably arbitrary for a file not being found error.
When you communicate via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), my server responds with a request to your browser. We covered that, I know. But it returns with a three-digit number.
In the case of the 404 code, the first digit represents that you, the client, did something wrong. You made an error, a whoopsie daisy.
The other two digits represent a more specific error. Like, "warning: you have fat-finger disease."
But to be fair to you, it's probably not your fault. It's more likely that I moved or delete the page you were looking for and didn't do a 301 redirect.
And no, I won't be explaining the 301 redirect code.
Okay, fine!
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) response status code 301 Moved Permanently is for permanent URL redirection. What does that mean? Well, it means when you visit a page with a specific URL, but then that URL changes, you are Moved Permanently to another URL of my choosing. And that's how websites work. Okay?
End of story.
For real this time. I'm tired.
Now please, hit the fucking back button already!