dare.co.uk 404 redirects report — 2026-05-17
Daily top-50 404 paths from Cloudflare Analytics, last 24h. Operationalises feedback_404_redirect_threshold_rule — at ≥50 hits/day, examine and decide whether to redirect editorial 404s to a deserving archive page.
TL;DR
- 534 total 404 hits in the last 24h across 50 distinct paths.
- 0 path(s) over the 50/day threshold needing a redirect decision.
- 42 bot-probe paths — leave 404 (per rule, security signal).
- 0 section-root paths — build index pages, not redirect.
Legacy editorial — decide redirect target
(7 path(s) · 89 total hits)
| Path | Hits | Action | Decision? |
|---|---|---|---|
/cf-fonts/v/newsreader/5.0.16/latin/opsz/italic.woff2 |
18 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/dare_session_report_2026-05-15 |
16 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/dare_strategy_canonical_header_rollout_2026-05-15 |
15 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/ip |
11 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/randkeyword.PhP7 |
11 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/.well-known/ |
10 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//cms/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
8 | examine + decide (rule applies) |
Root — should never 404
(1 path(s) · 14 total hits)
| Path | Hits | Action | Decision? |
|---|---|---|---|
/ |
14 | investigate — should never 404 |
Bot-probe paths — leave 404
(42 path(s) · 431 total hits)
| Path | Hits | Action | Decision? |
|---|---|---|---|
/wp-content/uploads/cropped-n3.jpg |
32 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/cdn-cgi/trace |
19 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/cdn-cgi/rum |
18 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/posts/cropped-ziiiro-celeste.jpeg |
18 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-login.php |
15 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/aa.php |
13 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/index/function.php |
13 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/rip.php |
13 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/chosen.php |
12 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/ws54.php |
12 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/bolt.php |
12 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/admin.php |
11 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp.php |
11 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/cgi-bin/ |
11 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/gettest.php |
10 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/bless.php |
10 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/ups.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/abcd.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/u.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/themes/index.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/php.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/classwithtostring.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/222.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-includes/Requests/library/index.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/uploads/ |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/manager.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/about-me.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/function/function.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/alfa.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/feed/ |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/about.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/1.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/p.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/plugins/index.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/deepseek_d.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/index.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/as.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wpc.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/404.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/uploads/index.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
//wp-content/BypassBest.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/php7.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) |
How to apply the decisions
For each row with DECIDE:
- Inspect the path — is it a real legacy URL (old article slug, external referrer link) or accidentally-popular bot noise?
- If editorial: pick a deserving target from the existing archive-page roots:
-
/methods-of-business-design/-/culture-means-thriving-teams/-/fields-notes-from-business-design/-/cinema/-/photography/-/observations/ - Add a 301 to
~/Code/dare-co-uk/_redirects:/<path> /<target> 301 - Commit + push; Cloudflare Pages redeploys in ~30s.
Bot-probe paths stay 404 — redirecting them rewards scanners. Section roots get index-page builds, not redirects, because the underlying content is stunning and deserves its own home.
Generated 2026-05-17 via dare_404_redirects_report.py. Companion to feedback_404_redirect_threshold_rule.
Automated recommendation — maturity ladder
Site housekeeping wants to become a scheduled script + intelligence engine. Criteria are set in the rule (feedback_404_redirect_threshold_rule); this report applies them. Maturity ladder for how the recommendations become action:
Today (v1 — ad-hoc) |
Tomorrow (v2 — programmatic + HITL) |
Future (v3 — decision engine) |
|---|---|---|
| Report generates daily, surfaces threshold hits | Report adds confidence score + suggested target per row, opens weekly PR with proposed _redirects edits |
Engine auto-applies high-confidence redirects, queues medium-confidence for weekly batch review, escalates ambiguous |
| Dan reviews report manually when alerted | Weekly cadence: 15 min review, approve/reject queued changes | Quarterly: review engine’s calibration + edit criteria |
_redirects edited by hand on a case-by-case basis |
_redirects PRs auto-drafted from approved rows |
_redirects PRs auto-merged for high-confidence; manual override always available |
Criteria the report already delineates (the substrate v2/v3 build on):
- Bot-probe paths → leave 404 (security signal; never reward scanners with 200)
- Section-root paths → build index page (stunning content earns its own home, not a redirect)
- Favicon paths → already-redirected verification (deploy-lag sanity check)
- Legacy editorial paths above threshold → DECIDE redirect target (the human-in-the-loop slot)
- Legacy editorial paths below threshold → monitor (wait for signal before spending decision budget)
v2 adds: a confidence score per editorial row (based on path-shape regex + historical hit pattern + the article corpus’ nearest-neighbour match for a sensible target), and a draft PR against _redirects per weekly cohort. v3 lets the engine merge the high-confidence cohort autonomously, with Dan reviewing the medium/low cohorts.
Each level inherits the same criteria — only the level of automation changes. The rule stays the source of truth; the engine becomes a faster applicator of it.