Systems, apparatus, and methods are described for responding to inoperative commands on a server device. In some embodiments, the disclosed technology facilitates pausing of content being played on a device without creating a bookmark of the location in the content at which the content was paused. In response to receiving the request to pause the content from playing, the server device generates a pause instruction to pause the content from playing. Upon expiry of a timeout interval, the server device automatically transforms the pause instruction into a stop instruction, which when executed causes stopping the content from playing. In some embodiments, the server device detects an user interaction event, prior to expiry of the timeout interval. Non-limiting examples of the user interaction may be shutting down the server device, switching from the content to a live broadcast program, switching from the content to another content, or exiting from the content.