Re: minor bug in http://validator.w3.org/check/referer

On Thu, 12 Sep 2002, Jon Ribbens wrote:

> If you visit the above URL without a Referer: header, it returns the
> 301 "Moved Permanently" response code. This is incorrect, it should be
> returning the 302 "Found" response code.

Good catch!  Yes, that makes sense.  It's fixed in the development
version, so presumably Terje has noticed that already; OTOH neither
the "public" validator nor the list archive show this.

> It is pretty minor I guess but if even w3.org can't get its HTTP
> right, how can they expect anyone else to? ;-)

Quite right!  Actually there is an FAQ in there, and the real fix
is to return an error page that explains why it's not returning a
validation result.  I think the fix we have now is still wrong:

   Sorry, this type of URI ("") is not supported by this service.
   Please check that you entered the URI correctly.

When the user didn't enter a URL anywhere at all, it wants a dedicated
error message.  But at least it's correct HTTP!

-- 
Nick Kew