WotC forums down for a week or two?

[tmatk]

You all really need to re-evaluate the technical competence of your web staff if you need to be down for a week or two to perform an upgrade. I design the backend of enterprise web applications for a living, and if I proposed 1-2 weeks of downtime everytime our software was upgraded, I'd be out of a job in a flash. At the least, is there not a staging environment to which your new website software can be installed and tested against while you leave your current website up and running? This is standard practice in the industry.

I have to agree. Shutting down your entire site for that long is just... bizarre. I don't care who you are or what upgrades you are planning, you will lose many viewers.

 

[Belorin]

IMO neat as in "wow this is pretty cool".

Well, okay it's not like you've steered us wrong before, I have faith in you Rouse!

Bel

 

[Nifft]

If you know that, then you would also know that discussing your internal procedures and choices with random people outside the company is not SOP.

So, really, you should know you're not going to get an answer.

My guess would be that something unexpected happened in a bad way. I just can't see a smart company taking down such a popular resource voluntarily.

But yeah, I'll echo Umbran in saying we're unlikely to find out what.

For Morrus, I have one word: Crisitunity.

Best of luck to both boards, -- N

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

If you know that, then you would also know that discussing your internal procedures and choices with random people outside the company is not SOP.
So, really, you should know you're not going to get an answer. There is probably a good business reason, amounting to, "Having the boards down is a pain, but for some particular reason(s), keeping them up is expensive."

I was supplying information, not looking for a response. It's unheard of in the industry (mostly because it's completely unnecessary), and I was letting Scott know that. Given the track record of WotC's technical staff, it's more than likely that they're unaware of a better way to proceed.

Seeing these kinds of shenanigans irks me on a professional level, and when I see them I'll speak out about them.

 

[Umbran]

Given the track record of WotC's technical staff, it's more than likely that they're unaware of a better way to proceed.

Um, no. You see, there's three basic explanations for technically flawed performance - they don't know what they are doing, they don't care what they are doing, or they are operating under constraints of which you know nothing.

Assuming either of the first two is... a tad insulting. If you lack information, do not attribute to malice that which can be explained by ignorance. Then, do not attribute to ignorance that which can be explained by SNAFU.

 

[possum]

I definately wasn't expecting to see the boards down when I tried to log on this afternoon. I just hope nothing's lost or something.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Um, no. You see, there's three basic explanations for technically flawed performance - they don't know what they are doing, they don't care what they are doing, or they are operating under constraints of which you know nothing.

Assuming either of the first two is... a tad insulting. If you lack information, do not attribute to malice that which can be explained by ignorance. Then, do not attribute to ignorance that which can be explained by SNAFU.

I hear what you're saying, and that's a motto I live by, but there is no credible scenario that permits a major company's website to be down for a week or two... so I stand by my statement. And easy on the snark please.

 

[AllisterH]

Well, technically, the website isn't down.

Their FORUMS are but everything else seems fine.

 

[coyote6]

Yeah, and didn't they announce that ahead of time? I remember hearing before Gen Con that their message boards were going to be down.

ENWorld's been down for days at a time, too, albeit usually unscheduled. I can remember RPG.net being down; GR has taken their message boards offline for a couple of days; probably some I'm forgetting, too. I'm not sure having message boards down for a while is all that uncommon, though two weeks seems uncommonly long.

Maybe they're just giving the moderators a much-needed vacation.

 

[Wrox]

There is no credible scenario that permits a major company's website to be down for a week or two

As a software architect I too find this decision a bit odd. Even adjusting for the remote possibility that the two forums cannot run side-by-side (which should be a requirement of the QA process in any event), anything more than a few hours of downtime is straining credulity.