So yesterday afternoon I was prepared to click around sub and wait to bring in the new year. I had a few more hours of the free shop, and figured I'd chat a bit and do some quests. Except the site wont load. At all. Browser says I cant connect, or something like that. I refresh a few times, but nothing. So I go to facebook, nothing there about it being down. Look at Twitter. Nothing there about it being down. So what do I do? I close the tabs and fuck off for the rest of the night.

Now Im not saying subeta is to blame for the fact that I barely play anymore, but the downtime and horrible communication regarding it is definately a factor. When there were all those errors, If I was trying to do anything and got one I'd just say fuck it and close the tab. I have so many things I could be doing that I dont need to be stressing myself out with one site and its errors.

So this seems a bit harsh, but the fact that staff communication still has to be brought up in regards to the site not working after how many years? Means that maybe its time for us to stop being all "We know you tried your hardest hahaha, we love you guys! Omg you posted on our thread yayayayay" and more like "Hey can you please get your shit together?"

Also before someone tells me about the status page or whatever - Im not bookmarking it, and when the browswer wont even load an error page with the kumos or whatever on it, I cant get to it. And the fact that I have to bookmark a page to tell me what the hell is wrong with a game I play is just weird. Like, hella weird.

Ok. Rant over.

The thing is, the site downtime also hit on both a weekend( which is usually when staff have off) and during a national holiday. Staff aren't on 24/7 nor should they honestly be expected to. I don't fault them for not immediately noticing when chances are they were spending time with friends and family during the new year and thus, may not of been immediately notified when it occurred. Furthermore, it did get fixed once staff were notified of the issue and it got fixed pretty quickly as far as I know. The site went down in the early morning/afternoon and by 5 pm or so was back up which was when I came back on since I wasn't on during the early morning and afternoon for the most part.

I also may simply be an optimist, but I do think that the communication and overall site performance has gotten better on the part of the staff. The site is working a lot faster now than it has in years past and Luminaire ran without a hitch which was always an issue in years past.

[edit] Replying to a comment below mine, but didn't want to make another post:

Unpopular opinion time: I think there should be one or two staff on call - so to speak - for instances exactly like last night where the site was both down and hiccuping until nearly 11 PM EST. I know it's an inconvenience and users are likely to go on about staff having a life and all, I respect that, I truly do. But each time something like last night happens, these topics pop up. :I

I can understand that, and the frustration that occurs when the site goes down, but realistically that just won't happen. I was a user administrator from 2007-2011 on site, so I was part of staff but I wasn't a programmer nor did I know anything about server and programming issues with the site. The most I could do was re-direct to appropriate programming staff and that was still dependent on if the appropriate staff were on to fix an issue like what happened yesterday.

The amount of staff that could realistically fix a programming/server issue on site is few as most subeta staff aren't programmers. There's a limited number of staff that can fix such an issue and it just isn't realistic to expect those few staff to be on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in anticipation of the site going down.

Of course, I say that as a run of the mill user on here right now.

I meant more akin to having people who could come in on a moment's notice if necessary, "stand by" was more of a want of a better term. If that makes sense. Having someone on standby 24/7 365 would be daunting and a little impractical. XD

Ah. I'm still not sure how practical that is since it is largely dependent on where an appropriate staff member is at a given time. I know staff get notified, but where they are and how fast an issue like this can be fixed if staff isn't there right away though I'm not sure that can be guaranteed though.

Also, in general, I'd rather that staff have time off and be able to spend it with their family and friends occasionally.

As would I. There's no way I can say it without sounding really rude. OTL

See, you took a nap and thats why the site broke. Im placing this squarely on your shoulders, Amber. :P

The thing is, Im sure the site got up within a decent amount of time. But because the downtime just keeps happening - once I get an error, or a site is down screen, I don't bother checking back. Im not saying you guys aren't doing everything possible when shit hits the fan, im just saying that it happens so often that some people just don't want to deal with the stress of it anymore. I dunno, I wanted to bitch about it because I missed out on free shop stuff. And I've missed out on months of playing because now when something goes wrong I'm just like "Whatever, I'll play a steam game." and try as I might to get back into subeta, its like every time Im ready to dedicate myself theres just more things that are making me close the tab and be like "I have other things I can be doing."

Again - Im not saying y'all didnt fix it quickly. I didn't stick around to find out how fast. But there was nothing on FB and so I didnt bother logging back in for the rest of the day/night.

I can understand wanting better communication, I've even griped about it on previous feedback threads like this. But whenever the site goes down, I at least give them a few minutes to update places like the status site and such (which I really think refusal to use the site that they have expressly given us for such communication is silly, but that's whatever). I don't expect them to always have someone around to notice the exact second that something is wrong and immediately make a post about it, as long as they're able to get to it within a few minutes or so.

Since the major problems with the 502/504 errors has been resolved, it's gotten much better to the point where I haven't really experienced any major site downtime. If the site goes down, just check back every few minutes or so while doing something else. I don't really see a reason to not check back for hours just because there wasn't an explanation right away. Give them a chance to figure out what's wrong, it will probably be addressed quickly.

The status page was worthless anyway. I checked it numerous times while the site was down/wonky and it was never updated that I saw. It still hasn't been updated about whatever was happening.

http://status.subeta.net/

Im not asking you guys to feel bad. I dont want anyone chained to the computer unable to enjoy their lives. But the fact is you're losing users because downtime keeps happening. Again, not about how fast it was fixed, but the fact that stuff had to be fixed is driving users away. Gone are the days where a lot of the people I know would wait for Sub to come back, and now instead are doing what I do, and thats fucking off to find something else to do with their free time.

I've noticed significant improvements since the server move, and much less downtime than there ever used to be. Last night is probably the first time that I can really think of that we've even had downtime since the major 502 errors were fixed, and it wasn't even down for very long.

Are you trying to say that Subeta should never go down ever? Because plenty of bigger sites have downtime sometimes, as long as it's not a constant problem it's okay. And it hasn't been constant recently, so I'm just not sure what your point really is.

I don't really see a little downtime here and there as a big issue, as long as it's addressed quickly.

Not never, but it feels like any time I go to give the site a whirl again and refind my enjoyment in it it goes down. I know if I was around every day for hours like I used to be, it wouldn't feel like that. But meh. ANYWAY. Im glad shit got sorted fast.

I get that instant gratification is huge now but it's ridiculous that a small amount of downtime during a holiday is something that upsets people and gets them ranting and lecturing staff. Like, it reminds me of customers at my work who constantly call the store I work at or come and pound on the doors on holidays because how dare we be closed for a day.

If a website is such a big part of your life that a little bit of downtime makes you rant and rave... yeah, you need some new hobbies.

I'm so tired of reading threads where people are taking a website so seriously and saying, "This is why people are leaving!" when I'm still seeing new players joining and plenty of activity, just not in the forums so much since forums seem kind of passé these days.

As soon as I encountered errors and mentioned them this weekend, Amber was already on it and replied promptly, more than once actually. I was actually really impressed with how quickly several things were resolved.

As someone who left for a year: I didn't leave because of downtime. I left because the wardrobe wasn't working and came back when one did. In fact, MANY of my friends left for the same reason. So I entirely disagree that a little downtime during the busiest holiday weekend Subeta has is discouraging users who aren't already feeling demotivated.

Personally, I believe that any web-based business, like Subeta, should have scheduling set for their staff so that there is never a time when there is not a member of staff at a minimum looking in every 10-20 minutes to make sure the site is working properly.

It seems like the vast majority of the time that Subeta has an extended downtime, it is because it happened when staff was off. Everyone deserves time off, but a well managed business will allow for both.

Because I have a different opinion? Nah, especially since threads here often devolve into a mess of people whining over silly things. It's healthy for them to see that not everyone shares that viewpoint. Maybe it'll remind them that there are more important things in life and that it's not good to be taking things that happen on a virtual pet site so seriously.