As GA was just breaking things, I was staring at the rather bare bones Bad Gateway error page and thought: we really need custom error pages. My favourite example is IMDb that uses movie quotes, but there are many others, and we could definitely make ours distinctly British. So I am opening the floor to suggestions - perhaps a slice of UK life ("popped down the shop for more beans", we may be able to get a maintenance page in, so something like road works) or some Carry On sauce ("Oo missus, the server has gone down on you, no extra charge") or Pythonesque or... something else. People won't see them often but it should, hopefully, get a smile when it does all go tits up (which sounds like something we could use).
Common errors:
400 - Bad Request
401 - Unauthorised
403 - Forbidden
404 - Not Found
500 - Internal Server Error
502 - Bad Gateway
Or if.you have a good idea for a rare one, or you have a personal favourite error code that's not being catered for, then ask and we can add it to the list.
400 - “We apologize again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.”
403 - "We are the Knights Who Say... Ni!"
404 - "This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir, invisible. This is an ex-parrot."
Though I hope to not see them, I think it's a great idea.
Perhaps a selection of British TV or comedy characters could do the job - bouncers and policemen, detectives etc should cover the various bad/forbidden/unauthorised/not found etc.
Perhaps a Basil Fawlty attacking a bad gateway with a tree branch?
I’m trying to work out some kind of “Are You Being Served? No you’re bloody not! Something, something, Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy!” for 500 but haven’t got anything quite bang on yet.
I would suggest also adding a process for upgrades, a switch that shows that the downtime is expected rather than relying on the error messages. Custom error messages is still a good idea though.