I thought I saw a poem once about the 404 error message, but I couldn't find it anywhere, in my files or on the web, including at the rhf web site. So I wrote my own; it is now the error message given for a 404 on the server in my office. So I guess this is all original. 404 It is said, "To err is human," That quote from alt.times.lore, Alas, you have made an error, So I say, "404." Double-check your URL, As we all have heard before. You ask for an invalid filename, And I respond, "404." Perhaps you made a typo -- Your fingers may be sore -- But until you type it right, You'll only get 404. Maybe you followed a bad link, Surfing a foreign shore; You'll just have to tell that author About this 404. I'm just a lowly server (Who likes to speak in metaphor), So for a request that I don't know, I must return 404. Be glad I'm not an old mainframe That might just dump its core, Because then you'd get a ten-meg file Instead of this 404. I really would like to help you, But I don't know what you're looking for, And since I don't know what you want, I give you 404. Remember Poe, insane with longing For his tragically lost Lenore. Instead, you quest for files. Quoth the Raven, "404!" by Dan Black dan@black.org 16 August 1999