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Yes, but this coupled with the fact they shut down things that don't otherwise really require a human to actively working proves that it's all just a political

by rplst8 8y ago

Yes, but this coupled with the fact they shut down things that don't otherwise really require a human to actively working proves that it's all just a political ploy.

lowercased 8y ago
Some bits no doubt require some human intervention, and if it wasn't updated, would cause confusion. The census site seems to be a decent middle ground. Banner at the top says "NOTICE: Due to a lapse in federal funding portions of this website are not being updated." Still functional, but if something's not updated, you know why.
baddox 8y ago
I don’t dispute that shutdowns are political ploys, but I don’t think that the actual implementations of shutting down are necessarily part of that ploy. Whether a human is required to run something is not the relevant factor. What’s relevant is the cost.
sdenton4 8y ago
Well, bandwidth isn't free... Replacing a larger site for large data downloads with a simple 404 will certainly bring down costs.
guiambros 8y ago
> .. proves that it's all just a political ploy. Security maintenance, keeping databases up, monitoring the various systems, risk of DDoS, answering to users' inquires, bandwidth... - it requires real money to keep any production site live. Given that these folks are basically working without pay, I don't blame them for wanting to put a cover page saying "Sorry, we're down", and call it a day.
- IanCal 8y ago
  Many are not legally allowed to work for free or be ask people to work (I forget which). The range of people allowed to work (even for free) is pretty limited to dealing with loss of life or property.
ggggtez 8y ago
Bandwidth costs money. It's likely technically cheaper to serve a 404 than to serve the data. Besides that, it's not what costs less, it's what LOOKS like it costs less.
- hermitdev 8y ago
  If saving money is the game, it's cheaper still to turn off the servers.
ezoe 8y ago
Web sites are not maintenance free nor cost free. Sudden traffic spikes, hardware failures or new vulnerabilities can easily make web sites down. It need manual human intervention to restore. If that human intervention is not possible due to the law, It's best to just shutdown.

by rplst8 8y ago

Yes, but this coupled with the fact they shut down things that don't otherwise really require a human to actively working proves that it's all just a political ploy.

lowercased 8y ago

Some bits no doubt require some human intervention, and if it wasn't updated, would cause confusion. The census site seems to be a decent middle ground. Banner at the top says "NOTICE: Due to a lapse in federal funding portions of this website are not being updated." Still functional, but if something's not updated, you know why.

baddox 8y ago

I don’t dispute that shutdowns are political ploys, but I don’t think that the actual implementations of shutting down are necessarily part of that ploy. Whether a human is required to run something is not the relevant factor. What’s relevant is the cost.

sdenton4 8y ago

Well, bandwidth isn't free... Replacing a larger site for large data downloads with a simple 404 will certainly bring down costs.

guiambros 8y ago

> .. proves that it's all just a political ploy. Security maintenance, keeping databases up, monitoring the various systems, risk of DDoS, answering to users' inquires, bandwidth... - it requires real money to keep any production site live. Given that these folks are basically working without pay, I don't blame them for wanting to put a cover page saying "Sorry, we're down", and call it a day.

IanCal 8y ago
Many are not legally allowed to work for free or be ask people to work (I forget which). The range of people allowed to work (even for free) is pretty limited to dealing with loss of life or property.

ggggtez 8y ago

Bandwidth costs money. It's likely technically cheaper to serve a 404 than to serve the data. Besides that, it's not what costs less, it's what LOOKS like it costs less.

hermitdev 8y ago
If saving money is the game, it's cheaper still to turn off the servers.

ezoe 8y ago

Web sites are not maintenance free nor cost free. Sudden traffic spikes, hardware failures or new vulnerabilities can easily make web sites down. It need manual human intervention to restore. If that human intervention is not possible due to the law, It's best to just shutdown.