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Note: while theoretically this question "Only relates to one network site", the per-site Meta is gone (or not!), so I can't really post there, so I picked MSE.

On November 17th, 2022 Windows Phone SE was archived. That post was by an SE staff member, so I assume it is correct.

Presumably this was intended to include all of the per-site Meta for that site. After all, what would have been the per-site Meta link now redirects to an Area51 "Page Not Found" message, so I'm inferring the intent was to also remove the per-site Meta.

It appears one post was missed. All of the per-site Meta is gone... except one question that remains? None of the rest of that child meta seems to remain, per Google. In case SE removes it, here's a Wayback Machine link for future readers of MSE.

Why is that one post remaining while the entirety of that per-site Meta is gone?

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  • Well, technically it's not gone, everything still there, SE just redirects all requests to Area51. Someone put exception, probably a forgotten test.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 6:54

2 Answers 2

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Lies!

There's more than one, across both meta and main. What else are they hiding from us?

While I found many of these with Google, there are plenty that aren't in the index. Adding ?noredirect=1 to the question URL seems to reliably work, though this doesn't explain why these main site share links work.

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    @markalex They worked when I wrote this, but now it's just like you said. (Actually, it may just be the share version of the link that's broken.)
    – Laurel
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 9:59
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    My question would be "What else are they not hiding from us? ;)
    – Gert Arnold
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 12:06
  • 1
    I could tell you, but you could find out yourself
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 14:36
  • How did you find those?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 14:45
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    @ShadowWizardStrikesBack Started out with a Google search and then started visiting various links on the page and altering the question ID in the URL.
    – Laurel
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 15:01
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    So there is an exception in the code for /questions, /q, and /a to allow the system to further process them. The intention is to allow migrated questions to still be displayed, at least as long as the database still exists. But the check that determines whether you should be allowed to view the question on a dead site occurs after the check that looks at noredirect and kills off further checks. Which means a ?noredirect=1 always allows a question to be viewed because it won't ever process the redirect that is supposed to happen.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 2:44
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When a site is archived, there is a status change on the site metadata, and some other stuff that happens--but the database isn't dropped or deleted. It's easy to think that "archive" means "totally offline" but practically speaking that isn't necessarily the case. You'll note that the Windows Phone site is also still available on SEDE.

I'm guessing this is just a bug specific to how the redirects are configured during site retirement. And I'm not sure the details of how the redirects are configured...

I'm not sure how high priority fixing this bug would be for the company. Since site retirement is pretty rare, and the impact of not redirecting is pretty low, I am guessing that the tolerance to allow a bug like this to continue without being fixed might be quite high. (Maybe staff will weigh in on that)

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    It's not about priority, it's about appearance and professionalism. When you say a site is archived and not accessible anymore, it should indeed be archived and, well, not accessible. If it is, why would people believe other things that should work in certain way? It starts in small things, and can reach bigger things if the company culture says "nah, no need to fix, who will notice or care".
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 3, 2023 at 16:49
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    @shadow, it's also about exposure. I suspect very few people who notice will care much. And the number of people stumbling onto Windows Phone articles is probably pretty low to begin with. Archiving doesn't have to equate with inaccessibility.
    – AMtwo
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 3:48
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    Well, so better not redirect at all to Area51 as it's doing now, and let those who find it, browse it, in read only mode, without having to find bugs allowing them to browse it. Win win.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jul 4, 2023 at 7:30
  • Diagnosing a bug might uncover other, less trivial bugs. This could just be the tip of the iceberg.
    – Rebecca J. Stones
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 0:05
  • Just being realistic.... Not every bug will be fixed. That's just the nature of software engineering. Especially when it is a for-profit company. The amount of time you spend on a bug is directly proportional to the consequences of ignoring it. If it's quick and easy to identify a fix, then it might get fixed. If it's not obvious, I'd expect this to never be fixed, unless someone identifies a more significant impact.
    – AMtwo
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 13:37
  • @Rebecca if a more impactful bug is found, then this might get fixed with that other bug. However, I doubt that this bug will rank high enough to invest a significant amount of time. The chances of a bigger bug here seem negligible.
    – AMtwo
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 13:39

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