Ever notice that it takes 503 posts to become a "Jobber to the Stars" as oppossed to 500? All of the other rank numbers (beyond the first three) are "round." Is there any significance to the number 503? Oregon's area code? Hmm... Goldberg's streak was 173, that's not it. There were 93,173 at the Silverdome (is that a coincedence?!). Still nothing. Hmm...
(I'm sure CRZ knows the answer, but it'd be more interesting to hear other conspiracy theories. Or it might just suck.)
From the IIS help files... *although this is not why I chose 503*
A custom error for HTTP Error 503.1 will be sent to clients if a Web server has exceeded its CPU process throttling limits. This error will inform the client that the Web server has either been paused or stopped due to exceeding these set limits. For more information, see Throttling Processes.
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
Or, for the benefit of anyone who hates it as much as I do when Microsoft is quoted as a reference for standards they had nothing to do with creating (from rfc2616):
10.5.4 503 Service Unavailable
The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay. If known, the length of the delay MAY be indicated in a Retry-After header. If no Retry-After is given, the client SHOULD handle the response as it would for a 500 response.
Note: The existence of the 503 status code does not imply that a server must use it when becoming overloaded. Some servers may wish to simply refuse the connection.
... Adam
(edited by infinitum on 1.3.03 0117) Oh, I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to infer that you might be poverty stricken. Should I revise my statement to make it clear that you have way more money than brains?
Well, then I'll start with August and go backwards. Whee! "You people have been led to believe that mediocrity is excellence. Uh-uh. JERICHO... IS... EXCELLENCE!"