dare.co.uk 404 redirects report — 2026-05-29
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
- 386 total 404 hits in the last 24h across 50 distinct paths.
- 0 path(s) over the 50/day threshold needing a redirect decision.
- 26 bot-probe paths — leave 404 (per rule, security signal).
- 0 section-root paths — build index pages, not redirect.
Legacy editorial — decide redirect target
(24 path(s) · 179 total hits)
| Path | Hits | Action | Decision? |
|---|---|---|---|
/topics/mariah%E2%80%99s-penthouse/ |
18 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/cf-fonts/v/newsreader/5.0.16/latin/opsz/italic.woff2 |
17 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/topics/future-media/ |
11 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/key.json |
9 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/topics/reuters/ |
9 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/google-credentials.json |
9 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/keys/service-account.json |
8 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/google-service-account.json |
7 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/about-us |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//cms/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/team |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//site/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/2016/09/ |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/contact-us |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//web/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/our-team |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/config/credentials.yml.enc |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/appsettings.Production.json |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//wp1/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
6 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/topics/only-the-brave/ |
5 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
//blog/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml |
5 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/wp/kawasaki-z750.jpeg |
5 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/wp/kawasaki-s1.jpeg |
5 | examine + decide (rule applies) | |
/service_account.json |
5 | examine + decide (rule applies) |
Bot-probe paths — leave 404
(26 path(s) · 207 total hits)
| Path | Hits | Action | Decision? |
|---|---|---|---|
/alfa.php |
23 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/cdn-cgi/rum |
17 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/posts/cropped-ziiiro-celeste.jpeg |
16 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-login.php |
9 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/sites/default/settings.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-admin/images/admin.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/dropdown.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/aaa.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/conn.php |
8 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-2019.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/install.php |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/feed |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/cdn-cgi/content |
7 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/plugins/WordPressCore/ |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/user.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/app/config.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/.gitconfig |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/xleet.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/load.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-logs.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/spip.php |
6 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/feeds.php |
5 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/adminfuns.php |
5 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/meta.php |
5 | leave 404 (security signal) | |
/wp-includes/sodium_compat/ |
5 | 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 2026-05-29 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.