> First you need to eliminate the misunderstanding over "HTTP resource". ... > The second URI, with the query string, identifies a first-class HTTP > resource.
Thanks for your reply, Etan. Dom also pointed out that the query string SHOULD (though the current revision of the URI specification technically disagrees) be part of the Request-URI and should participate in identifying the resource. With that confusion out of the way, there's no problem after all and I now feel free to use a 404 (or even a 410) in this situation. Thanks for your help. David
