[wp-hackers] Correct 404 Behavior?

[Computer Guru]

Just a quick question:
Should 404 headers be sent for missing content or only missing files?

If a post is missing, should that be an error message or a full 404?
Back in the day, it wasn't really much of a question:

If /blog/my-article-2.htm wasn't there (keeping in mind that it was a
physical file), it was a 404.

But now that's not a real file, it's just a permalink. If a permalink
doesn't exist or is broken, what's the correct *standard* behavior?

-- 
Computer Guru
Director,
NeoSmart Technologies
http://neosmart.net/blog/