RE: [cobalt-users] Re-Directing users on a 404 error

["Dan Kriwitsky" <webhosting@xxxxxxxxx>]

> >The same way on any Apache server. With the ErrorDocument
> command found in
> >the www.apache.org docs. Or, even at
> >http://list.cobalt.com/mailman/listinfo/cobalt-users
>
> *At* the risk of getting flamed... and I know I probably will but
> ..be kind.. this is just a suggestion and not necessairly a critique....
>
> Over my years of being a moderator on one message system (old
> compuserve) and moderating a fairly busy message board
> currently... I see this sort of answer as being totally unconstructive.
>
> You took the time to answer it but you really only gave a
> semi-sarcastic, fairly non-helpful message.

Really? Did you bother to check
http://list.cobalt.com/mailman/listinfo/cobalt-users for ErrorDocument? I
tend to doubt it. Otherwise you would have seen that the answer did two
things.
1. Pointed to the archives.
2. Pointed out how to find the answer in the archives. (Even though it
doesn't directly relate to Cobalt but to Apache instead.)

>
> I am also interested in this process.. I know it's fairly complex
> to get it done right, I took your advice given in this message
> and did a search at the archives on 404... no joy... also did one
> on ErrorDocument command and found a flood of messages that did
> not necessairly give me the step by step process needed to
> accomplish this task...

Since it is not Cobalt specific, but rather specific to Apache, the Cobalt
archives might not be the *best* place to look then.
When I searched for ErrorDocument in the archives, the first post in the
results was
http://list.cobalt.com/pipermail/cobalt-users/2000-August/017970.html which
gave specific info on how to do it.

>
> If you consider that many here are newbies and how much a teacher
> learns when he actually teaches, maybe instead of doing the,
> somewhat standard, "go to the archives" response, writing a step
> by step "tutorial" perhaps with a new message header "CUSTOM 404
> MESSAGE" would serve two purposes.. It would give those of us
> recieving these hundred or so messages daily something else to
> chew on and it would place into the archives a message that the
> next person who did a search with the 404 query, something to
> find that would specifically tell them what they wanted to know
> and how to get it done...

No, I disagree. IMO, since it relates to Apache and not Cobalt, it really
doesn't belong here to begin with.

>
> Now.. keeping in mind that flaming me only wastes energy and I'm
> only making a suggestion as someone who *mainly* watches this
> list and almost always does hours of searching to find what he
> wants in the archives... Be kind...

I suppose your flaming me didn't waste any energy then.

>
> And I'm still looking for an easy, step-by-step, process to do
> this aimed at someone who can't even remember how to run a damn
> .pl file from the command line... Yes I have books.. a couple
> hundred dollars worth.. Yes I read them when I can find time...
> (almost embarrased to say where I find that time:) Many of us
> here are one man operations with all of the process sitting on
> our laps... anything that saves an hour here and an hour there is
> of great benefit and believe me.. we never forget those who
> remove the thorn from our big aching paw...

And many of us answering questions are one man operations as well.
What really saves an hour is searching Google for things like "Apache
ErrorDocument"
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Apache+ErrorDocument
First one in that list:
http://bignosebird.com/apache/a7.shtml

Another resource:
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Redirection/Error_Bas
ed/
--
Dan Kriwitsky