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Because when the original URL always gives a 302, that creates a terrible user experience: hitting back would give you the current page again. Browsers can't kn

Because when the original URL always gives a 302, that creates a terrible user experience: hitting back would give you the current page again. Browsers can't know whether a 302 is transient or persistent.

OJFord 5y ago
Good point, though that would only be a problem if you let it. If you click-hold the back button in the browser 'chrome' you typically get a list from history. (I'm not actually sure if this behaviour is also present in actual history.) You could skip past ongoing temporary redirects using that feature; it is already necessary when that behaviour is implemented in JavaScript instead of standard HTTP status codes. Also this is about temporary (302 Found) redirects, not permanent.
- hombre_fatal 5y ago
  Very few people want to have a probabilistic back button where sometimes it works and sometimes you have to hold it down to go “deep back”. We complain about history pollution all the time on HN which is what your proposal would amount to, and it would be very confusing for most people. On mobile, it’s not obvious where you’d stuff power user UI for redirect chain analysis. On desktop, you can keep devtools open or even create a browser extension with the exact UX that you want for this.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    If the page is temporarily redirecting, that's already being experienced? Also, the status quo is that history is polluted by bad behaviour and (or including) non-HTTP redirects. Excluding HTTP redirects from history does nothing to fix that, just makes it worse really: I don't think misbehaving sites doing things that shouldn't be in history are bothering with 302s.
- user3939382 5y ago
  The extended back history is also available in Firefox by right clicking the back button. I’ve also found this feature in iOS Safari and Firefox. For the latter you press and hold back.
treeman79 5y ago
302 is temporary. 301 is permanent.
- Denvercoder9 5y ago
  Temporary doesn't have to be transient.

OJFord 5y ago

Good point, though that would only be a problem if you let it. If you click-hold the back button in the browser 'chrome' you typically get a list from history. (I'm not actually sure if this behaviour is also present in actual history.) You could skip past ongoing temporary redirects using that feature; it is already necessary when that behaviour is implemented in JavaScript instead of standard HTTP status codes. Also this is about temporary (302 Found) redirects, not permanent.

hombre_fatal 5y ago
Very few people want to have a probabilistic back button where sometimes it works and sometimes you have to hold it down to go “deep back”. We complain about history pollution all the time on HN which is what your proposal would amount to, and it would be very confusing for most people. On mobile, it’s not obvious where you’d stuff power user UI for redirect chain analysis. On desktop, you can keep devtools open or even create a browser extension with the exact UX that you want for this.
- OJFord 5y ago
  If the page is temporarily redirecting, that's already being experienced? Also, the status quo is that history is polluted by bad behaviour and (or including) non-HTTP redirects. Excluding HTTP redirects from history does nothing to fix that, just makes it worse really: I don't think misbehaving sites doing things that shouldn't be in history are bothering with 302s.
user3939382 5y ago
The extended back history is also available in Firefox by right clicking the back button. I’ve also found this feature in iOS Safari and Firefox. For the latter you press and hold back.

treeman79 5y ago

302 is temporary. 301 is permanent.

Denvercoder9 5y ago
Temporary doesn't have to be transient.