Three years ago today, we discussed RFC 7168: The Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol for Tea Efflux Appliances, which gave the world HTTP Error 418, a joking anticipation of the delights of the Internet of Shit Things. This April Fools’ Day RFC had enjoyed widespread support, as well as being jokingly implemented in a variety of projects, including node.js, ASP.NET and Google Go.
Fast forward from 1998 to 2017 and members of the IETF HTTPBIS Working Group had rashly proposed that Error 418 should be purged:
“While we have a number of spare 4xx HTTP status codes that are unregistered now, the semantics of HTTP are something that (hopefully) are going to last for a long time, so one day we may need this code point.”
However, the Save 418 Movement, created by high school student in the US, campaigned to save this important artefact of internet history:
“It’s a reminder that the underlying processes of computers are still made by humans. It’d be a real shame to see 418 go.”
Luckily, this grassroots campaign carried the day, with Error 418 being assigned “reserved” status in the IANA Status Code Registry. Enjoy!
Digital, Data & Policy 
Reblogged this on Ateb Media.