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> I am surprised that more websites do not implement it Maybe because it is not a good idea. Masking errors is harmful. The information "what you're looking fo

> I am surprised that more websites do not implement it Maybe because it is not a good idea. Masking errors is harmful. The information "what you're looking for is not there" is very important, because it lets users identify that something is wrong. Smart redirection can be outright dangerous: what if I am buying a medication, and the smart website silently replaces the correct drug with something similar but wrong? Not to mention the pollution of the indexes of search engines with all the permutations of the same thing they may discover. Lastly, the U in URL stands for unique; the web is designed around unique locators and this rule shouldn't be broken without a very good reason. Show the user (and the crawlers) a 404, and suggest your corrected URL in the content of.the 404, and let the user know that it's a guess, so they make an informed choice about the situation.

lanstin 2y ago
I agree with these points, but the "U" is Uniform: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1738 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1738
rfl890 2y ago
Most people who use this site would use the search bar, which reports errors, and those who directly type it in aren't exactly laypeople.
- ipaddr 2y ago
  Until the link changes and google redirects them or their email link incorrectly. Without 404s you get hit with a google duplicate penalty as many urls resolve to the same page.
- default-kramer 2y ago
  Lay people certainly might bookmark a medication they buy often, and if "the smart website silently replaces the correct drug with something similar but wrong" they might end up accidentally ordering and even consuming it.
  - Waterluvian 2y ago
    This is the key to why “nothing is better than a best guess” is the right approach. Answers that appear to be right can be worse than no answer at all.
spoonfeeder006 2y ago
Well how about this instead: - Keep the 404 page - Use autocorrection only for minor typos
hobofan 2y ago
> Lastly, the U in URL stands for unique; the web is designed around unique locators It doesn't in a literal sense and not even in a practical sense. The web in no way is designed around unique locators (not even unique identifiers). And for the search engines you point to there is metadata like `link rel=canonical` to help them around the obvious reality that one webpage may have many different locators (and you will find that used on most major websites)

lanstin 2y ago

I agree with these points, but the "U" is Uniform: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1738 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1738

rfl890 2y ago

Most people who use this site would use the search bar, which reports errors, and those who directly type it in aren't exactly laypeople.

ipaddr 2y ago
Until the link changes and google redirects them or their email link incorrectly. Without 404s you get hit with a google duplicate penalty as many urls resolve to the same page.
default-kramer 2y ago
Lay people certainly might bookmark a medication they buy often, and if "the smart website silently replaces the correct drug with something similar but wrong" they might end up accidentally ordering and even consuming it.
- Waterluvian 2y ago
  This is the key to why “nothing is better than a best guess” is the right approach. Answers that appear to be right can be worse than no answer at all.

spoonfeeder006 2y ago

Well how about this instead: - Keep the 404 page - Use autocorrection only for minor typos

hobofan 2y ago

> Lastly, the U in URL stands for unique; the web is designed around unique locators It doesn't in a literal sense and not even in a practical sense. The web in no way is designed around unique locators (not even unique identifiers). And for the search engines you point to there is metadata like `link rel=canonical` to help them around the obvious reality that one webpage may have many different locators (and you will find that used on most major websites)