Code review comment for lp:~jcsackett/launchpad/404s-confuzzle-me

On 31 August 2011 16:21, Jeroen T. Vermeulen <email address hidden> wrote:
> Review: Needs Fixing
> Hi Jon,
>
> I applaud the sentiment, but with my fresh pair of eyes I don't see this resolving the confusion.  Yes, you tell the user to try a different login, which may help, but you also just flatly denied that the object they're looking for exists.  How is logging in differently going to fix that?  Seeing that message instead of the page I expected, I might wonder if it were meant for some other scenario.
>
> To put the "try a different login" advice into context, you'll need to water down the "this object does not exist" message.  It will have to say that the object does not exist _or the user's account may not be privileged to view it_.

+1, that is a better description of the facts rather than guessing at
solutions. Something like "this object doesn't exist, or has been
renamed, or you don't have access to it."

Also, surely one common case of something being 404 is that you're not
logged in _at all_ and this only changes the authenticated side of
things.

I am not so sure about saying "log in as someone else". Do many users
have multiple personas and log in with them interactively? Wouldn't
those users mostly be pretty well aware of which one they're using at
any moment?

Martin