[Foundation-l] Scheduled intermittent downtime on all Wikimedia projects on May 24

[Risker]

On 25 May 2011 09:50, Domas Mituzas <midom.lists at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh, by the way, I don't know where you look, but I somewhat missed
> communication about maintenance events ongoing in Google or Microsoft or
> Apple - you think they have none?
> Did you get lots of clarification why your gmail was unreachable?
> Did you get explanation/information why search index was outdated?
> Do they use site-wide sitenotices for that or what?
>
>
>

Umm....yes, actually. My Gmail produces an error code or gives me advance
notice when there is scheduled maintenance, as does my hotmail (Microsoft),
and Google fairly frequently explains its technical problems (though
sometimes one has to look for it). Apple - I know nothing. And I'm realistic
enough not to expect that level of service from Wikimedia; there's simply
not the personnel to do it.

I think we all appreciate, Domas, that notifying customers is not the #1
priority when our excellent team of paid and volunteer developers are
fighting a pitched battle with wayward squids - all of us know getting the
system working is the top priority, and anyone who's sat back and watched
wikimedia-tech during a serious problem knows how incredibly diligent and
focused you all are. Wiki(p)(m)edians who forget what "collaborative work"
means should watch you folks when you're taking care of the serious business
for a free lesson.

It would be worthwhile, however, during a relatively quiet period to tweak
the error messages (perhaps make them more generic and all purpose?). There
are some useful ideas, particularly Tim's, in this thread, and it appears
Thomas has volunteered to do much of the heavy lifting on it.

Thanks to you and to all of the team who worked to address this situation
yesterday, you did a good job. I know we don't say that nearly often enough.

Risker/Anne