4 ms·

Can we please stop posting major system incidents and status pages for major cloud/SaaS providers? What's the point? Post mortems - TOTALLY fine. But just link

by mbesto 5y ago

Can we please stop posting major system incidents and status pages for major cloud/SaaS providers? What's the point? Post mortems - TOTALLY fine. But just linking to a specific incident is IMHO not valuable to HN and just takes unwarranted frontpage space.

disgruntledphd2 5y ago
I think it's so people realise it's not just them.
- mbesto 5y ago
  Makes no sense. If you're having issues wouldn't you just go directly to <insert service here>'s status page first? Why HN first?
  - 0x0000000 5y ago
    Because status pages lie.
  - astrosi 5y ago
    In many cases the status page of a service is an unreliable indicator (e.g. AWS's) so I find HN / Twitter to be a much better signal that an incident that affects many people is happening.
  - crent 5y ago
    Status pages are just not reliable unfortunately.
aerovistae 5y ago
I find this valuable. -Sometimes for conversations about alternatives -Sometimes for conversations about the product's stability history -Sometimes just for solidarity in frustration
- mbesto 5y ago
  > -Sometimes for conversations about alternatives So then submit a post mortem and drive the discussion there. Or alternatively post a "Ask HN" if you're legitimately considering alternatives. > -Sometimes for conversations about the product's stability history Which are readily available on those provider's status pages. > -Sometimes just for solidarity in frustration Isn't that what Twitter is for? Why should the frontpage be littered with <insert provider here> My point is this - let's say GH goes down 8x over 2 weeks for 10 minutes each. Should there be 8 posts on the frontpage about GH going down each time? No, there should be ONE, otherwise the valuable discussions you're referring to get lost.
thieving_magpie 5y ago
I can understand your viewpoint but just to offer a counter I always check HN for major outage news when it comes to github/AWS/GCP/Azure. There have often been comments with bits of information as to the cause and remediation efforts.
- mbesto 5y ago
  > bits of information as to the cause and remediation efforts. That's what post mortems are for. Happy for people to submit those. Also, why are cause and remediation efforts important to you? If you rely on the service and it goes out, what more are you going to learn here that would help you? Genuine question. > I always check HN for major outage news when it comes to github/AWS/GCP/Azure Why not just check those status pages? Or check Twitter? HN seems like a weird place to check for it...
  - chrisfosterelli 5y ago
    HN is frequently discussing outages before the status page updates... (I recognize not in this case, but I certainly noticed this outage and checked HN before the status page was updated)
  - thieving_magpie 5y ago
    > Also, why are cause and remediation efforts important to you? Because I have to provide information to others in my company about why X is not doing Y. These bits of information help. > If you rely on the service and it goes out, what more are you going to learn here that would help you? Roughly the same answer - though I'm also just actively curious what's going on as well in the moment. >Why not just check those status pages? I do. HN often has more information. >Or check Twitter? HN seems like a weird place to check for it... I don't want to.
dtech 5y ago
The point is notifying the active community here and discussing the reason(s) and impact of the outage, or in GH's case their regularity I guess
- mbesto 5y ago
  So then write a post that says "Ask HN: What is going on GH's being out X many of days". Otherwise you get 6 posts across weeks with the same discussion.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bob1029 5y ago
If there was no virtual public space in which to tar and feather shameful technical practices (or at least review them honestly), they would probably be even more prevalent. I also see these as an excellent learning opportunity. Typically, it is a lesson in managing complexity.
bobthechef 5y ago

by mbesto 5y ago

disgruntledphd2 5y ago

I think it's so people realise it's not just them.

mbesto 5y ago
Makes no sense. If you're having issues wouldn't you just go directly to <insert service here>'s status page first? Why HN first?
- 0x0000000 5y ago
  Because status pages lie.
- astrosi 5y ago
  In many cases the status page of a service is an unreliable indicator (e.g. AWS's) so I find HN / Twitter to be a much better signal that an incident that affects many people is happening.
- crent 5y ago
  Status pages are just not reliable unfortunately.

aerovistae 5y ago

I find this valuable. -Sometimes for conversations about alternatives -Sometimes for conversations about the product's stability history -Sometimes just for solidarity in frustration

mbesto 5y ago
> -Sometimes for conversations about alternatives So then submit a post mortem and drive the discussion there. Or alternatively post a "Ask HN" if you're legitimately considering alternatives. > -Sometimes for conversations about the product's stability history Which are readily available on those provider's status pages. > -Sometimes just for solidarity in frustration Isn't that what Twitter is for? Why should the frontpage be littered with <insert provider here> My point is this - let's say GH goes down 8x over 2 weeks for 10 minutes each. Should there be 8 posts on the frontpage about GH going down each time? No, there should be ONE, otherwise the valuable discussions you're referring to get lost.

thieving_magpie 5y ago

I can understand your viewpoint but just to offer a counter I always check HN for major outage news when it comes to github/AWS/GCP/Azure. There have often been comments with bits of information as to the cause and remediation efforts.

mbesto 5y ago
> bits of information as to the cause and remediation efforts. That's what post mortems are for. Happy for people to submit those. Also, why are cause and remediation efforts important to you? If you rely on the service and it goes out, what more are you going to learn here that would help you? Genuine question. > I always check HN for major outage news when it comes to github/AWS/GCP/Azure Why not just check those status pages? Or check Twitter? HN seems like a weird place to check for it...
- chrisfosterelli 5y ago
  HN is frequently discussing outages before the status page updates... (I recognize not in this case, but I certainly noticed this outage and checked HN before the status page was updated)
- thieving_magpie 5y ago
  > Also, why are cause and remediation efforts important to you? Because I have to provide information to others in my company about why X is not doing Y. These bits of information help. > If you rely on the service and it goes out, what more are you going to learn here that would help you? Roughly the same answer - though I'm also just actively curious what's going on as well in the moment. >Why not just check those status pages? I do. HN often has more information. >Or check Twitter? HN seems like a weird place to check for it... I don't want to.

dtech 5y ago

The point is notifying the active community here and discussing the reason(s) and impact of the outage, or in GH's case their regularity I guess

mbesto 5y ago
So then write a post that says "Ask HN: What is going on GH's being out X many of days". Otherwise you get 6 posts across weeks with the same discussion.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bob1029 5y ago

If there was no virtual public space in which to tar and feather shameful technical practices (or at least review them honestly), they would probably be even more prevalent. I also see these as an excellent learning opportunity. Typically, it is a lesson in managing complexity.

bobthechef 5y ago