Others may simply be tempted to wonder whether anybody will actually miss him.
Jeeves has come in for some stick over the years for returning results which often left users confused and his service has long been surpassed by search giants such as Google.
Now his employers at Ask.com have decided it's time for change and have taken the decision to put him on "gardening leave" as part of a re-branding exercise.
However, they are not ruling out a return for Jeeves once he is fully rested, though early suggestions from the company seem to be that he will need to undergo a bit of a makeover first.
Aylin Savkan, vice president of marketing at Ask Jeeves, said: "Jeeves has been finding solutions to millions of searches every day for the last four years. However, as our site evolves and updates, we felt that Jeeves too needed to take a break and a new look to personify the new, fresh and dynamic Ask Jeeves that we will launch on his return."
The butler appeared to have been a little de-mob happy on Tuesday morning, as the site limped along a little. It wasn't so much a case of "yes sir, right away sir", but more "cannot find server, this page cannot be displayed" from the pinstriped batman.
By Friday, Jeeves had resurfaced -- in a manner of speaking. The butler's silhouette once again appeared on Ask.com's home page, linking through to messages posted by Jeeves during the course of a "secret mission to strengthen and improve Ask.com". Friday's dispatch, formatted to look like a mobile phone text message, originated from Utah where the character was engaged in "testing new engines for my search".
Ask.com's site contains a section about the P.G. Wodehouse character Jeeves -- a gentleman's gentleman, rather than a butler -- but clarifies that the successors to Wodehouse's literary rights have no association with the site.
Talkback
i think u should keep jeeves but what u said about not being able to find pages was true and yesterday when i was trying to find somthing on presidents it kept saying none of the pages could be found soo i also agree that u should fix that but besides all that i have always loved ur website and i always use it for my research ever since i found out about this website from my mother who works for lawyers and also always uses you told me about this website i have never used google ever Again!!!!!!!!
Jeeves has always been helpful, but are you sure he comin back? I hope so because hes soo helpful, to kids aswell. the ajkids website says jeeves has retired and on a cruise but that makes me think he's dead?! I hope jeeves comes back though.
iappreciate everything I found answers to with the help of Jeeves. I hope he comes back to visit after he's done with his gardening work.
I'm pretty sure Jeeve's will make a return appearance. Ask.com has just come up with a means of keeping people's interest. Keep up speculation and gossip about their site until they get it reconfigured...then let a "new, revived Jeeves" come back.