Possible Consequences of 404 Redirect

[antimatter15]

This is from a business standpoint, not a moral or ethical one, because the in a commercial venture, the former is more effective, and also less debatable. So it's an argument slightly different from those of the other's.

No advertiser (*cough* NWWL *cough*) in particular, but a plain 404 redirect may be undesirable to the overall 110mb network. The problem is that it implies to the visitor that the ENTIRE site is of sexual nature. Simply, those visitors (especially if they're first-time) will think that that questionable (or not) ad IS the site...  not just an error. So, from there, the visitor is unlikely to EVER go to the site again. On my site at least, 30% of my visitors are returning. With such an effect, across the ENTIRE 110mb network, the repeat visitors count will sharply decline. Worse than that, the users who do in fact know and visit the site (who know about the 404 errors and accept that) may be ashamed of telling peers about it. Again, this would lead to a lower visitor count.

So, my theorem is that even though a full 404 redirect could possibly pay more in the short term (14 days, the contract is, right?), in the long term, a drastic 15% * 1 mil (estimate of 110mb visitors?) = 150k decrease of visitors, and as any webmaster knows, traffic is key.

I'm not calling for immediate action, but I would like for this to at least be considered when this contract is over.

[Grabnar]

hooray! finally some sense!!   the thing is... that when the user is redirected to that "ad site" they may still believe they are on the originating website....

here is my thought... why not have some sort or bar placed at the top (somewhat like how .tk works) to tell the user this has been a 404 redirect. this way the ad is still shown and the user does not think they are still on the original site... that's just an idea i suppose...

[Piotr GRD]

Signing up under antimatter15's post with both hands
_{^{http://www.110mb.com/forum/no-more-110mbcom404php-t27258.0.html;msg288860#msg288860}}

[binil]

Ok guys - you have made a point... 110mb will surely think twice before they advertise sites like NWWL..

But you guys must know one thing - 99.9% (hmm may be 100%) of people having the internet have a go at porn sites.

Now here goes my theory - If you guys have a site - and if people gets an error page - they get NWWL - wow - Now they will be more than intrested to come back to your site or more... what you get - 100% returning visitors... 

[The Melancholy Of 110mb.com]

unless of course your site is for little kiddies then in that case i would buy htaccess

[Piotr GRD]

binil, The Melancholy Of 110mb.com

This topic is NOT about current advertiser, it's about redirecting from error pages overall, without notifying visitors that the error occur. It can be redirected even to disney.com - doesn't matter.

[The Melancholy Of 110mb.com]

true they should have something but if any one spent even 1% of their time on the Internet a day they would know what a 404 is... correction they dont have a 404 anything it just leads there... maybe they should put some infor as a pop up or something...

but any how it is also the web masters responsibility to make sure every link works. or at least warn people like at my site http://kinggreg10amvs.com if you look at the Main page on the date of 02/22/2008 i noted some how i deleted that page (thanks to some one here) so if any one raises $h!t i would ask "did you read the news?" if you dont have any disclaimer about dead links then your to blame 110 should be able to choose who they wish to advertise with not us...

besides here is a small quote from the TOS of the 404 page

    *  Terms:

Hardcore porn not Allowed. But mild adult site are fine.

Adsense use is not permitted. Except if going to your site

Note i modified them so people wanting to find the page cant

but as mentioned if the web master is not willing to put a disclaimer their is always that  $7 fee

But 110 should point out that a error came up... i also have yet had a complaint about the dead link (just a blank page saying soon to come)

[Ðaz]

Ok guys - you have made a point... 110mb will surely think twice before they advertise sites like NWWL..

But you guys must know one thing - 99.9% (hmm may be 100%) of people having the internet have a go at porn sites.

Now here goes my theory - If you guys have a site - and if people gets an error page - they get NWWL - wow - Now they will be more than intrested to come back to your site or more... what you get - 100% returning visitors... 

But they wouldn't be returning to your sit, they'd be returning to nwwl 

[ariarinen]

But ain´t htaccess a win-win situation you get to control the 404 and make better links and 110MB get money and there by make even better services.

wouldn't a small proxy script solve all the problems by renaming the header to 404? A full size page has to pay more then some small ads on a 404 page, and most likely now one would stay or click on the ads. So I think its good like it is now     

And how many people ends up at the 404 any ways I have ended up there ones and a few times to see what people are nagging about. So that = 5 times 

[Piotr GRD]

(...) And how many people ends up at the 404 any ways (...)

Many if it is worth big money for the advertisers.
In addition 110mb.com/404.php page had (last time that I check) Google Page Rank 4 (so there is many many links to this page in the net) which is with HTTP 301 code give over to the advertisers.

[Grabnar]

do i just get ignored around here? or did everyone just miss this?

here is my thought... why not have some sort or bar placed at the top (somewhat like how .tk works) to tell the user this has been a 404 redirect. this way the ad is still shown and the user does not think they are still on the original site... that's just an idea i suppose...

now isn't that a viable compromise?

[The Melancholy Of 110mb.com]

(...) And how many people ends up at the 404 any ways (...)

Many if it is worth big money for the advertisers.
In addition 110mb.com/404.php page had (last time that I check) Google Page Rank 4 (so there is many many links to this page in the net) which is with HTTP 301 code give over to the advertisers.

If it is truly getting that many hits a day i think 110 is under selling at the price they are selling it at... AND NO I WILL NOT TELL THE PRICE

[Piotr GRD]

@Grabnar
This will be good for users, yes. Any information that the error appear will be good. We can even redirect completely after few seconds.

But they will not gain this amount of money for this. There will be no "HTTP 301" for search engines. There will be no attention of the visitors on advertiser page - most of visitors will focus on the "content" - error message. We all have tendency to skip ads automatically.

However in long term this is best for all.
^{_{Bu I doubt that admins will do this as long as they will gain enough money and the traffic on 110mb servers will not drastically go down.}}

[General_Kerr]

But you guys must know one thing - 99.9% (hmm may be 100%) of people having the internet have a go at porn sites.

So i'm that 0.1%?

I got a person linking to a page on mine Ticked off cause he got that p404n on a link accident.

[binil]

But you guys must know one thing - 99.9% (hmm may be 100%) of people having the internet have a go at porn sites.

So i'm that 0.1%?

I got a person linking to a page on mine Ticked off cause he got that p404n on a link accident.

Well, I don't think you belong to that 0.1%, but the person who ticked off certainly belongs to this 0.1%... All Generals adore porn.. 

[antimatter15]

But you guys must know one thing - 99.9% (hmm may be 100%) of people having the internet have a go at porn sites.

So i'm that 0.1%?

I got a person linking to a page on mine Ticked off cause he got that p404n on a link accident.

Well, I don't think you belong to that 0.1%, but the person who ticked off certainly belongs to this 0.1%... All Generals adore porn.. 

But they want it when they want it. Not when they are visiting an informal site.

[binil]

But they want it when they want it. Not when they are visiting an informal site.

What? Nobody likes a little surprise these days? 

[thefluffball]

Lmao.
It's all sorted now with the new system that's been put in place. Have a look now http://thefluffball.110mb.com/thisisnotarealpage.htm/