Error responses now return the correct status
The studio's missing-page responses used to return HTTP 200 with a branded body. That is not semantically correct and it confused crawlers, link checkers, and monitoring tools. They now return HTTP 404 with the same branded body.
What changed
- A missing URL, a dotfile path, or a path that points at an internal directory name now returns the branded Saltbarrow not-found body with the correct HTTP status.
- The original requested URL stays in the visitor's address bar; no redirect is performed.
- Public pages and assets still return HTTP 200. The game still plays.
- The studio's own error page is the only error response a visitor will ever see. No underlying server software is named in any response.
Why
A missing page is a missing page. Returning a branded body with the wrong status code made the studio look healthier than it was to search engines and monitoring tools, and it made it harder to tell a real outage from a typo. The fix keeps the visitor experience the same and makes the response honest.
Local data housekeeping
Earlier versions of the studio stored a small amount of anonymous first-party telemetry on the visitor's device. The studio no longer collects that data. A one-time cleanup runs when Lamplight loads to remove the obsolete values from visitors who visited the older site. The cleanup does not transmit anything, does not create any new identifier, and can be run safely more than once.
Tests performed
- HTTP status verified for public pages, missing URLs, dotfile paths, internal-directory paths, and internal-document names. Each was checked with both a GET and a HEAD request.
- The Lamplight page was loaded in a real browser; the in-page self-test still fires, the game still plays, and no JavaScript errors were introduced.