Supposing an institution stopped running a course, but there were still many links (in online press releases, say) to its web page, what might be the best way of handling this?
a) Returning unmodified 404 not found pages and HTTP responses (which is what happens to ours at the moment) is not particularly helpful.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes>
b) We could return 410 gone, with a custom page showing the course title, summary and status (discontinued, when it was last run), but that would also be a dead end.
c) Alternatively, if a successor course existed, we could return 303 See Other which could redirect to the new course page.
d) If no successor course exists, then perhaps 410 gone with custom page as in b), and then a list of links to related courses (you might also be interested in...).
Possibly a course might not run one year and be reintroduced the next.
Any thoughts on what is best in theory and practice?
Tavis Reddick
Web Developer
Adam Smith College
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