diff --git a/public/502.html b/public/502.html
index f18bc614..2a1670e3 100644
--- a/public/502.html
+++ b/public/502.html
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <title>Lobsters HTTP 502 status: puma timeout</title>
 </head>
 <body>
-  <h1>Lobsters HTTP 500 status: server error</h1>
+  <h1>Lobsters HTTP 502 status: server error</h1>
   <p>
     nginx tried to pass your request to puma but failed.
     This probably means we're in the middle of a deploy.
diff --git a/public/504.html b/public/504.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d9e7821
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/504.html
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+<head>
+  <title>Lobsters HTTP 504 status: puma timeout</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+  <h1>Lobsters HTTP 504 status: server error</h1>
+  <p>
+    The puma worker timed out responding to your request.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+    2023-09-01: we've been seeing this a bunch for /search and are tuning database performance to try to address it.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+    If this persists, please come to the
+    <a href="ircs://irc.libera.chat/lobsters">IRC channel</a>
+    (<a href="https://web.libera.chat/#lobsters">webchat</a>).
+  </p>
+</body>
+</html>
