Of Errors and Omissions upon The Web Server

The 404 error, or, “File Not Found”

I must, with considerable regret, inform you forthwith that the page that you are seeking is not available. Many web authors would state that the file you requested “was not found” on this server, however, this statement tends to imply that the file is, in fact, available, but it has not been possible to locate it, i.e. that it has been somehow mislaid and lies overlooked amongst the many files in our library, awaiting a chance rediscovery. Another, perhaps more likely, explanation is that you have requested a file that does not exist at all, perhaps due to an involuntary slip of the finger resulting in a typographical error. Perhaps a link from elsewhere, that once pointed to a file that did exist here but has now been deleted or moved elsewhere, is still in operation, possibly because it is rarely clicked upon and has not recently, until but a few moments ago, been used again, this infrequency of consultation resulting in the involuntary omission of correcting the error which forms the subject of this brief discourse. It would therefore be more appropriate to say that there is no such file. This is indeed a very nice distinction, and one that has not been made before by any web author, to the best of my knowledge, as limited as it is in the niceties of 404 errors or, indeed, errors of other sorts, whatsoever they may be, in relation to the presentation of information via this medium.

Before you, Dear Reader, return whence you came (for it is a well known fact that those encountering a 404 error commonly do so), it is the author's earnest desire that should you, perhaps, have been misdirected from another site, that rather than simply click on the back button, you will instead endeavour to inform the master of the site that so misdirected you as to the error of his directions. If that master is a lover of the art, and consequently diligent in his efforts to ensure that fine writings upon the subject come to the attention of students keen to apply themselves to the study thereof, then he will without a doubt attempt to the best of his abilities to correct the link to a file that some might falsely state (as the above nice remarks make clear) was not found, but is, in fact, non-existent so that it points to the correct location. Should you be unaware of what that correct location may be, you are most welcome to enquire of the LSD Webscholar (by mailing webscholar at sirwilliamhope.org), who will take great pains to ensure that you receive the desired information.

However, should you choose to despise my well-meant offer of assistance in your quest to obtain information in the most useful New, Short and Easy Method of Fencing (if that is indeed what you sought), and instead go elsewhere where your desire for instant gratification may be all the more easily satisfied, neglecting entirely any attempt to correct the cause of your arrival at this short discourse on the lack of your desired page, I assure you, that I shall take it so ill, and be so much concerned, that I shall never sleep a whit the worse for it.