Re: Firefox addin to replace 404 pages with archived pages from wayback machine

Noah Mendelsohn composed on 2016-08-05 12:23 (UTC-0400):
> See [1].

> I thought this might be of some interest to the TAG. Seems to me that this
> is OK insofar as the addin is a modification to a user agent, and is
> presumably activated only with the user's consent.
 
> Nonethess, this seems to embody a slightly skewed view of Web protocols: if
> I as a URI authority serve a new or updated page, your browser will do what
> I intend and show the user that new content. If I delete a page, the

Though you are within your rights to do so, nevertheless, you shouldn't cause
URIs to disappear:
https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html

Those who *need* to be able to make URIs disappear, need to prevent them from
being archived in the first place.

> browser will not honor that deletion, but will show content anyway. This
> seems to me just a bit of a slippery slope. A 404 is just as meaningful in
> Web protocols (no such page) as a 200 IMO.
 
> I'm not proposing that the TAG do anything about this or devote significant
> time to it right now, just pointing it out in case it's of interest.
 
> Thank you.
 
> Noah

> [1]
> http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/firefox-will-try-to-show-you-saved-archive-of-a-page-instead-of-404-error-869482

"No More 404s" that page describes doesn't even show up in addon search results
in Firefox ESR 45.

There are alternatives, e.g.:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-in-wayback-machine/
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Received on Friday, 5 August 2016 19:48:02 UTC