[Mediawiki-l] request if article exists

[andres]

no chance
asking only the header from a existing page 
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseite] delivers:
    HTTP/1.0 200 OK... and from a non existing Page i get    HTTP/1.0 
200 OK...

Testing the Special:Export
    HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently
in both cases, existing page and non existing

There are extra Header information like
X-Cache: MISS or X-Cache: HIT

so why not add some extra header in Special:Export
-----------------------------------------------------
X-Visited: 24031
X-Status: created 2005...
X-Modified: blabla
That will reduce the traffic.
Traffic reduction is essential. You can build private dynamic mirrors 
with your reduced thematic word selection and still keep it actual by 
requesting
the headers and update outdated pages if needed on the fly.
Using it the other way round, you can build a peer version of wikipedia 
using a moved temporary header
redirecting to all the copies in the world as cache

Andres Obrero

Jamie Bliss schrieb:

>Couldn't you just use a HEAD request?
>
>On 8/13/05, Andres Obrero <andres at holzapfel.ch> wrote:
>  
>
>>To make it clear:
>>First: when you request some words and add two CR/LF you get a 'fatal
>>parse' error from de.wikipedia.de.
>>This is not valid XML.
>>Second:
>>When you request an Export of a word or words, lets say you want to
>>check an Article of a few tousand words you will produce a hell of traffic.
>>I just want to reduce the damn traffic, as it is a complete waste.
>>Just 404 and not 'other details'
>>Andres Obrero
>>
>>Jamie Bliss schrieb:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Special:Export already does 404's, and several other details about an article.
>>>
>>>-- Jamie
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
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>>MediaWiki-l at Wikimedia.org
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>>
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>>
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