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I'm find some links which give messages like:

Firefox can't find the server at xxx.xxxx.xxx.

I check whether it is down for me or everybody and "It's not just you!".

Should I edit such questions or answers to make it clear the links are dead?

What if they come back to life?

I'm not sure my question is duplicate of What should we do about answers with Link Rot? because that is for "link only" answers and the link dies.

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    If the link is a 404 and it isn't part of a question, try to find a similar link and edit it. If you can't find a similar link, you might be able to just remove it but you might not as well, depending on the answer. Then add a comment.
    – Seth
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:21
  • I think your advice to leave a comment is safest. Because a (small) server could be down for days and then get back online. Of course, there's the chance that the comment won't be seen but it's still better than fixing something that is only broken for few days. Thanks.
    – DK Bose
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:24
  • If you are getting a 404 error the page is most likely never coming back. If it's just "down" add a comment.
    – Seth
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:24
  • Please see this example: askubuntu.com/q/233438/248158 OP was asked to post data and obliged but now links to data are giving me the message I showed. But it doesn't say 404
    – DK Bose
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:28
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    That isn't a 404 error, so I'd just comment.
    – Seth
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:29
  • Added one. OP is still active and may see the comment.
    – DK Bose
    Commented Feb 17, 2014 at 4:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You can do a variety of things to remedy this:

  • If the OP is relatively active, then comment on the post, and let him/her know the link is dead
  • If you do not receive a reply, you can try to find a link that is similar to it, and if you are sure, change the link in the post
  • If you are unable to find a similar link, and a link is to a webpage whose server is no longer serving it or if the server is down for extended periods of time, try finding cached versions of the webpage using the WayBack Machine or Google's cache.

Here are some common errors that you can come across and what to do about them

500-(Internal Server Error): This is probably a temporary error. Comments will only be required if it's been days and the same error recurs

404-(Page Not Found Error): One of the most common errors you will find, it's probably indicative that the page is gone forever/moved. Try finding the page on the parent website. If you can't just use the WayBack machine

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