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Error 404
Page not found:Just kidding ........ but,
I get a lot of questions from surfers about "It was there before, but now I can't find it" issues. Web pages, songs, movies, pictures, chat rooms, and other items.
Page Not Found: Error 404
Why do we come up to pages that don't seem to exist. To cover the two big reasons, I'll try to break it down.The first reason is that the site that you are trying to access simply doesn't exist anymore the way that the page which contained the link described it. A lot of sites go down everyday when someone decides to discontinue the time, efforts, and costs related to that site. An example: Joe had a nice little site about fishing, lots of good links, some nice pictures, and some really helpful tips. Bob came across his site one day, and added a link to Joes site to his own. When Joe decided not to renew his "domain" (his web site) - then it was either non-existent, or purchased by a big company that sells web sites, at what time when anyone went to Joes old site, it actually came up to the new companies address. In a sense it is similar to having a phone number changed, you can still call the number - but you won't get who you called.
The second reason is that the "page" does not exist. Again, Joe had a site and he had a page about fishing on it (joessite.com/fishing.html). Bob links to that page: Now - if Bob does not spell it EXACTLY right (perhaps he puts in fish.htm) then when you click on it .... it's the wrong number, and you get what is known as a 404 error. That is computer Internet talk for "I can't find the page". It is also possible that Joe quit fishing, and deleted his page so he could put up a new one about hunting - either way - the phone number for fishing.html just doesn't answer anymore.
When you click on a link, it is telling your computer to call the number or address specified in that link. Meaning, that if you spell it wrong, or it isn't there - then you will get an error message - or you will get the wrong page.
The good news? Well, there is a site called the Archives that has been gathering and archiving web pages since 1996 or 1997. They offer a "Way Back" machine you can use to look up old sites as they were.
The bad news? They don't have everything that ever was, often graphics, downloads, and multi-media files were not included in the archive.
The good new? You can get there from here .... The Archives
Now what about the music that used to be all over the Internet, and your favorite chat room, or chat program. So many things that were there yesterday, and gone today. For more hints and tips, about missing items from the Internet, visit the members section for more detailed information.
page posted: 01.03.2003
updated: 02.03.2003
Charles H. Davis: All rights reserved.