Page when purchasing is closed should be clearer

[hoelzro]

When purchasing is closed for a conference and a user attempts to go to /$CONFERENCE/purchase, they encounter a 404 page with no real content. This is unclear and confusing to the user, and come to think of it, 404 is probably not the best status code for this.

[rizen]

When purchasing is closed for a conference and a user attempts to go to /$CONFERENCE/purchase, they encounter a 404 page with no real content. This is unclear and confusing to the user, and come to think of it, 404 is probably not the best status code for this.

This should almost certainly be a 200 code, and should contain a reasonable default message about purchasing being closed. Perhaps something like:

Conference Registration Closed
You can no longer purchase a badge for this conference online. Instead, you may purchase a badge at the registration desk upon arrival.

[hoelzro]

Is 200 really appropriate? The request is not really successful.

[rizen]

Yes it was. The user received the page, and there's nothing either the user or the server would/could change about the result. It may not be the page they expected, but no error occurred on either the server or the browser. So this is simply informational.

On Dec 6, 2011, at 9:08 AM, Rob Hoelz wrote:

Is 200 really appropriate? The request is not really successful.

---

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub:
#19 (comment)

[hoelzro]

Fair enough. 200 it is.