title: checking if API is alive, should it be Get or Post method?
body: <p>I am kind of new to API world. I need to check if service is alive at client side before calling any service method. It can be done at client side by passing API URL and getting the request status back. But for some other reasons, I need to add a dummy method in my API which will just return the status code. So from my client side, I will just call <a href="http://example.com/alive" rel="noreferrer">http://example.com/alive</a> to check service status.</p>
  
  <p>1) Do I need to have a Get or Post method? I won't be passing any parameters.
  2) Is it okay to return just string or better have the method with return type httpresponsemessage?</p>
  
  <pre><code> public string GetStatus()
      {
          //validate ip address
  
          return HttpStatusCode.OK.ToString();
      }
  </code></pre>