joho/7xx-rfc

This repository is a joke proposal written in the style of an official internet standards document, known as an RFC. Real RFCs define how things on the internet should work, and HTTP status codes are one example: the 400 series covers client errors and the 500 series covers server errors. This project proposes a fictional 700 series of status codes meant to describe situations that are actually the developer's fault. The list reads like a comedy catalog of software development disasters. Proposed codes include 701 (Meh), 725 (It works on my machine), 726 (It's a feature, not a bug), 778 (Off By One Error), and 799 (End of the world). There are whole categories for predictable caching problems, syntax errors written in a hurry, errors caused by the developer being in various states of caffeination or otherwise, and errors that are really somebody else's problem, such as 784 (Management, obviously) and 782 (QA). The document is written with the same formal language and structure as a real RFC, complete with terminology definitions, a table of contents, author contact information, and references to actual standards. That straight-faced presentation against absurd content is most of the joke. The project was started at Railscamp, a community gathering for developers in Australia and New Zealand. The source is maintained as a Markdown file and converted into proper RFC formatting using a tool called mmark. The repository includes a Makefile so that running a single build command produces the formatted output. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0, meaning it can be shared and adapted freely for non-commercial purposes with attribution.