The 404 Myth and Web Lore

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I can't imagine a more serious or mind-blowingly complex idea than, say, something like particle physics. And I imagine the place where that kind of science is done is probably a pretty serious place to be, all lab coats, pocket protectors, and clipboards. Nobody's really making eye contact, the social skills around the office may be a bit lacking, and knock-knock jokes are definitely not allowed.

But what if it's also the kind of place that inspired some of the dorkiest mythology of the World Wide Web? Well, that's where the origin lore of the 404 error code comes in. But of course, you knew this was coming. There's a story there. So what's fact and what's fiction?

 Welcome to the podcast Awesome, where we chat about icons, design, tech, business, and nerdery with members of the Font Awesome team. I'm your host Matt [00:01:00] Johnson, and today we're talking about the 404 error code. Have you ever clicked on a hyperlink that's a dead end? 

Maybe you found what you think is a great recipe for tuna and potato chip casserole. Nasty. You click on the link, and it takes you to a blank page with a 404 error code. But despite the 404 being the bearer of bummer news, sometimes a chuckle-worthy 404 error appears that's kind of fun

Okay, so picture this. It's the early 1990s at CERN, otherwise known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research. And now imagine it's the kind of place we've already pretty well established. It's very serious in there. there's a lot of complex information swapping going on and these scientists need a central database for their files

So requests for [00:02:00] documentation come across the network from other researchers, and there's a couple folks in that office responsible for fetching the documents and then pushing them back over the network. But this is pre-internet, so people working in that office were standing in as real flesh and blood servers.

Think about that for a second. It's just something that we, we take for granted. 

There are a lot of requests that come through, and of course, there's bound to be problems, like maybe somebody has the wrong file name, and this is where the 404 error comes in. As legend has it, requests came to the folks, human servers, who had an office in room 404. So when there was some sort of error and the file could not be found, the requester would receive the message, "Room 404, file not found."

All right, so here's where it gets good. The 404 page lore is genuinely a great [00:03:00] story, and obviously it spread. So much so that a writer for Wired Magazine went digging into this exact myth, And here's how they describe how it took hold

 Not long after it appeared, the error code began to enjoy or endure its share of lore. In the early 2000s, the idea bubbled up that the 404 came from, well, room 404, that this room housed the web's first servers at CERN, that World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee had his office there, that he frequently could not be found

And here's where it gets good. Robert Cailliau, one of the actual co-developers of the World Wide Web, a guy who was literally there, was asked about this story, and according to the same piece

Sigh," wrote Robert Cailliau when asked for comment on the 404 error. He seemed less than thrilled to be approached with what he called trivia. [00:04:00] Cailliau was adamant that the mythology's hogwash

It's that sigh that says it all. Caillou just can't kill the myth. Nobody believes him, and the people of the internet, they do not care because the story is just, it's just that good

 So if the Room 404 story is nonsense, what's the actual origin? Well, it turns out that the real story, sadly, it isn't that interesting. Kate Johans over at Smart MSP put it about as straightforwardly as you can.

The truth is rather mundane. Error codes were needed for all sorts of errors, including situations where a web server couldn't serve up page content. Client errors were arbitrarily assigned codes in the 400s, and the broken link code received the number 404

Well, that's a bummer. Sorry, internet peoples, there was no mysterious 404 room. It was just an instance [00:05:00] of next in line. That's it

It's like when you're at the DMV, there's a lady behind a desk wearing polyester pants, and her hair is up in a messy bun, and she's looking about as bored as can be as she smacks away on her bubblegum. 

She assigns you a form number and asks you to take a seat. 

Okay, got that image in your mind? Now imagine the processes of HTTP requests as an equally disinterested librarian with short-term memory problems

So you're at the library, you walk up to a desk, give a book request to an librarian, and they go fetch a book for you. They disappear momentarily, and a few aisles down, you can hear them call out, "Okay, found it." Or maybe they return and they say, "Sorry, no such book found." That's basically the equivalent of a 404 code. And then the moment you leave the [00:06:00] desk, they forget about you entirely. That's just how HTTP works. It doesn't have a memory

So basically, HTTP is a humorless, rule-bound, bureaucratic system. The librarian doesn't have opinions, and just fetches books and then forgets you exist. But what happens when a developer decides that the librarian is a bit of a jokester and should have a personality? Well, you get the four-eighteen code.

 The four-eighteen code was originally thought up by a developer with a well-honed sense of humor named Larry Masinter.

Here's a bit from the history of the website

 Satire is probably a better word for 418. That's how its creator, Larry Masinter, has described it. It was included as part of RFC 2324 that Masinter published on April 1st, 1998. [00:07:00] An RFC is basically a proposal for a new piece of internet technology. we've added some links down below so you can read more about that

The proposal was for a new protocol that extended HTTP called Hypertext Coffee Pot Control Protocol, HTCPC... Wait. HTCPCP was designed for the very specific time when a coffee pot needs to transmit documents over the internet, and specifically for controlling, monitoring, and diagnosing coffee pots

 And of course, there's a broader story here that includes the dev community losing their minds when it was proposed that the 418 code needed to be reserved for more important real-world applications

Mark Nottingham, chairman of the IETF working group, was taken off guard by the [00:08:00] backlash. And so in 2017, after he made his proposal,

 Nottingham relented. He even went so far as to submit an RFC of his own that reserved the use of status code four-eighteen, which ensures that though it won't officially designate a coffee pot, it also can't be used for something else in the future

Oh, and by the way, the original four eighteen teapot status code was submitted on, you guessed it, April 1st, 1998, which is, you know, everybody knows is April Fool's Day. And it's a well-worn assumption in IT circles that sometimes developers, I don't know, they can be a little socially awkward and humorless.

But, uh, in this case, I guess the joke's on you, people of the internet, as Shane Brunswick from save418.com on why the community fought to keep it has said,

It's a reminder that the underlying processes of computers [00:09:00] are still made by humans. It'd be a real shame to see 418 go

So back to the 404 code. Even though the internet lore about Room 404 is sadly not true, there are plenty of companies that have made good use of the status code in a creative, humorous way. Here's a few of the classics many of us have seen before. 

So first we've got the GitHub 404 page, which features their Octocat mascot floating in space with a line, "This is not the webpage you're looking for." what more really needs to be said here? GitHub knows exactly who their audience is, and they trust them to completely get it.

If you're still struggling to make the connection, I'd recommend giving the OG episode of Star Wars a rewatch

Next up is the Pixar 404. Word has it that this page swaps out every so often, and it usually seems to be tied to Pixar releases. Right now, the [00:10:00] 404 shows the Anxiety character from Inside Out 2 and reads, "We can't find what you're looking for.

Let's go back to headquarters." And it shows a visibly uncomfortable Anxiety character pulling on their collar, maybe looking for some relief as their throat closes up. Whoever maintains the page They had to pitch the idea of, "We should update the 404 characters when Inside Out 2 comes out."

Um, and they're in a meeting like pitching this and s- you know, somebody said yes. Can somebody please go and find that person and give them a raise?

Next up is the lego.com 404 page that displays, "Oh, bricks. We can't find this page. We'll try not to lose our head over this, but if we do, we'll put it back on."

This is adorable because they're using a fake swear and it only works in context. Lego's built an entire brand universe where bricks substitutes for something else, and every parent who's ever stepped [00:11:00] on a Lego barefoot at 2:00 AM, they understand the substitution automatically.

It's a multi-layer joke that lands differently depending on how old you are. Little kids probably think saying bricks is silly, and the parents, they just feel it in the bottom of their feet And that makes for genuinely great copy. It's simple and brief on the surface, but it has lots of layers if you stop to think about it.

The Figma 404 is pretty fun too, and they set it up so it's actually interactive.

So watch this. You can grab any point here and stretch it out and move it around. Super genius

Matt: And of course, this episode wouldn't be complete without highlighting Font Awesome's own 404 pages. We thought it'd be kind of fun to just go through the different 404s that the Font Awesome site cycles through if you're unfortunate enough to hit a 404. But you know what? If that happens, we're always trying to delight our customers and have a little fun with [00:12:00] it. 

 So I hop on a call real quick with Jory Raphael to talk about our different 404s.

JoryJory (2): the 404 pages are... It's a great chance to just be whimsical and have a little fun, someone stumbles across a 404 page, it's usually because of some issue, like either they have the wrong link or the page, you know, you, something, maybe we messed up with something and gave them a wrong, whatever it may be. and so y- if you can cushion that with a little bit of humor and make it a little bit more fun, um, you know, almost a destination, uh, that helps, I think a l- with the experience, the general experience of the website. I've go, go back to, like, the original, one of the Ma- early Mac error es- messages with that, like Susan Kare designed with the little, the little bomb icon that showed up, which is just this, it's,

Matt: Right

JoryJory (2): fun, you know, a bomb, uh, a, a cartoonish bomb, just like... Al- although it i- indicates some sort of issue, uh, uh, it softens it in a fun, fun [00:13:00] way.

Matt: Yep

JoryJory (2): uh, kind of the latest iteration of the Font Awesome 404 pages, We just wanted to have a little bit of fun. wanted to showcase some of our icons at the same time.

We obviously have a huge library of icons and, um, kind of each, each version of our 404 pages have always had a little bit of a pop culture flavor to them as well.

let me cycle through some right now. This, this first one, um, I mean, a Ghostbusters reference, if you don't know.

Uh, really has nothing to do with Font Awesome whatsoever, other than showing a refrigerator.

Matt: Yep

JoryJory (2): Yeah. Uh, which is fun. Uh, you know, you get a little mention to Gozer down here. Uh,

Matt: Nice.

JoryJory (2): we are nerds, and we couldn't, we can't, uh, can't get around that, and so we just lean into it.

Matt: Those aren't pillows.

JoryJory (2): yeah, this pa- this is one I fought for. Um, I fought hard for this one.

Matt: Yeah

JoryJory (2): I don't know why. It was just stuck in my head. Uh, obviously a [00:14:00] reference to the iconic scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Uh, d- does the hand icon swap out for a, like a, you know, a, an O? N- not necessarily. Or a zero? Not necessarily.

Matt: I mean, if you squint enough, it's kind of, kind of the, a similar shape. Yeah.

JoryJory (2): a similar shape, yeah

Matt: Why not?

JoryJory (2): I mean, the four and the four are doing a lot of, uh... I did, actually, I did not realize that happened when you hovered over.

That's a little, that's a little Brian, Brian, uh, little

Matt: nice

JoryJory (2): that the hand, the hand floats waves at you. 

Gonna have a Star Wars reference, of course.

Um, and this is the cleanest 404. We got the circular icon right here, so this is probably one of the, the better executed one.

Matt: Nice

JoryJory (2): See, what else do we have? Another Star Wars reference.

Matt: Not the way

JoryJory (2): Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm not gonna explain why that's funny, but it [00:15:00] is.

To be clear, this is the, uh, the FA-ndolorian. So I just,

Matt: That's right

JoryJory (2): That's right. You don't wanna have any copyright issues. Mario reference. I wonder if this... Oh, look what happened. I clicked on it. Hold on, I think our page is still loading, and it actually opens up-

Matt: Oh, nice.

JoryJory (2): a search.

Matt: Oh, that's excellent.

JoryJory (2): Oh,

Matt: It's funny, as soon as I see that little image, I like, uh, I'm hearing the

JoryJory (2): the

Matt: like all of the Mario sounds. It's like just automatic

JoryJory (2): Well, Matt, you do know we have another Easter egg on the site related to this

So let's go down, let's go to our icons page. It's all over. Look at this. What's this little berry here?

Matt: Oh, yes, Brian sh- oh, nice. Brian shared that with me last week. I'd forgotten about

JoryJory (2): that, my bud.

Matt: that.

JoryJory (2): So there's that. 

Matt: go to Blog Awesome. I think [00:16:00] there's a 404 that appears there that is not on the regular Font Awesome site

JoryJory (2): So if on this page you hit Classic. Then these, these are pulled. These used to be on the, the Font Awesome website.

Matt: Yep. Where's my sandwich?

JoryJory (2): my sandwich? Yeah. And then what's another one? Let's-

so yeah, we al- we always just be a little silly with these things. Um, yeah, 404, what can I say?

Matt: Yep.

JoryJory (2): that's,

Matt: Yeah, we've--

JoryJory (2): the way of things.

 From as early as the version five Kickstarter, if you came across a delightful, funny bit of copy on the Font Awesome site, there's a pretty good chance that Brian was the one behind it, and he was the creator of the 404s. It's one of the many reasons we love Brian so much So anywho, that's a little background on the 404 page and a few examples of how the developer [00:17:00] community injects a bit of humor into our daily lives behind the scenes

 it's always fun to get these backstories because it highlights how much thought and care people will put into something seemingly inconsequential, all for the sake of gifting the end user with a little moment of delight in an otherwise frustrating situation of not being able to find what you're looking for

and from our vantage point here at Font Awesome, if you can't work at a place where there's a high value on delivering the punchline, what are you even doing with your life? Really? I mean, seriously. We hope you enjoyed this Side Quest podcast on the origins of the 404 page internet lore.

And if you've been around for a while, maybe you've noticed that I crank out three or four of these episodes in the summertime just for fun, just because. And per usual, this podcast was produced and edited by yours truly, Matt Johnson. The podcast awesome theme song was composed by Ronnie Martin.

the [00:18:00] music interstitials were composed by Zach Malm, and the fine-tuned video edits were masterfully done by Isaac Chase. And now you know what to do. Go make something awesome.

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