The “I’m a Teapot” error code – the best thing in all of computing – is endangered

The best thing in all of computing might be the 418 status code, an offshoot of a longrunning joke called the Hypertext Coffee Pot Control Protocol (wikipedia, of course, can explain that) which plays off the kids song I’m A Little Teapot. It states:

Any attempt to brew coffee with a teapot should result in the error code “418 I’m a teapot”. The resulting entity body MAY be short and stout.

Well, somebody wanted to get rid of it as part of a cleanup of code. Outrage ensued, with cries that the status is “a reminder that the underlying processes of computers are still made by humans.” There is a petition to keep it, hosted at http://save418.com/