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OK, but What Are The Other 403 Errors?

2025-07-18 · explainer · Hank · 5:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Explainer

Hank explains that there are not 403 other errors: 404 belongs to the HTTP status code system, whose codes are grouped by first digit (100s informational, 200s success, 300s redirects, 400s client errors, 500s server errors) and are mostly invisible ways for computers to talk to each other, with Easter eggs like 418 'I am a teapot'.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hook: 404 pages, 404 Media, and the question of the other 403 errors

  • ★ Hank says 404 Media, a news organization named after the error, has a great 404 page. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says there are not 403 other errors: 404 is one code in a system that sends more than errors, and most of its codes are not errors. — 00:00:21

00:00:29 — HTTP and the status code system: servers, browsers, 404 not found and 200 OK

  • ★★ Hank says the system is the HTTP status code system, and finds it wild in 2025 that every URL still starts with HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Hank explains that status codes are how servers, computers in big buildings storing a website's files, tell the web browser how things are going. — 00:00:53
  • ★★ Hank explains that when a requested address such as google.com/search holds nothing, the server replies 404 not found, usually with custom code that forms the visible 404 page. — 00:00:53 · Google
  • ★★ Hank says that if the address points to something the server replies 200 OK, which you never see, and most other codes are likewise received by the browser but never displayed. — 00:01:22
  • ★★ Hank says that, like any good classification system, the first digit of a status code is a categorizer and the codes count up from there, usually not far. — 00:01:22

00:01:52 — The code classes: 100s informational, 200s success, 300s redirects, 400s client errors, 500s server errors

  • ★★ Hank explains that 100s are informational codes, rarely used now but more in the early internet, e.g. a server answering 100 continue before a large upload. — 00:01:52
  • ★★ Hank explains that 200 codes report success: 200 OK, a code for creating what was asked, and one for success with nothing to show, e.g. after a deletion. — 00:02:21
  • ★★ Hank explains that 300 codes are redirects, with different codes telling the browser which way the server is redirecting. — 00:02:50
  • ★★ Hank explains that 400 codes mean the user or browser messed up: a missing page, a forbidden place, a malformed request or not being logged in. — 00:03:19
  • ★★ Hank explains that 500 codes mean the server messed up; the broadest and most common is 500 internal server error, with others for timeouts and overload. (playful) — 00:03:19

00:03:48 — No 600s; Easter eggs: Twitter's 420 and the 418 'I am a teapot' code

  • ★ Hank says there are no 600 codes. — 00:03:48
  • ★★ Hank says Twitter somewhat famously had a custom error 420 for users sending too many requests, a cannabis-joke way of telling them to chill. (playful) — 00:03:48 · Twitter, 420 (cannabis culture)
  • ★★ Hank says error 418 'I am a teapot', a late-1990s joke from a mock coffee-maker protocol, is the only Easter egg he knows built into many HTTP instances; Google still reports it at google.com/teapot. (hedged) — 00:04:18 · Google

00:04:47 — Conclusion: status codes are ways for computers to talk to each other; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank concludes that status codes are just ways for computers to talk to each other, mostly unseen; he does not know how many codes there are. — 00:04:47

Mentioned

Central: HTTP 404 · HTTP status code

Also: Organizations: 404 Media · Google · Twitter

Concepts: Easter egg (media) · Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol · Hypertext Transfer Protocol · Web browser · Web server

Memes: 420 (cannabis culture)

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