title: Why does app_offline.htm keep appearing in my web project?
body: <p>I regularly (every few days or so) publish my ASP.NET web project to the local web server.</p>
  
  <p>But the weirdest thing keeps happening... a file called "app_offline.htm" keeps appearing, unbidden, in my web project!</p>
  
  <p>I have deleted this file several times, it is not in source control, and AFAIK nobody else is tampering with the project.  But practically every time I try to publish the project, my publish fails (<code>Unable to add 'app_offline.htm' to the Web site.  The file 'app_offline.htm' already exists in this Web site.Error: The operation could not be completed. Unspecified error</code>), I go back to look at the project, and there it is again, large as life, and I suspect if it could it would be blowing raspberries at me.  :p</p>
  
  <p>Having read up a little about this file, I gather it's meant to be an easy way to take your app offline.  But I didn't see anywhere that it's supposed to impose itself on you arbitrarily for no good reason.</p>
  
  <p>So, where is this *&amp;^%$#@%!! file coming from, and why does VS think I need it?</p>