Why has Fluther been down a lot lately?

It’s definitely not your imagination. It seems the servers have been going down just about every day, and so far we can’t figure out why. We’re trying to solve the problem. Thanks to everyone for being so patient!

It’s probably just Christmas.
I am down a lot more than usual during the holidays, too.

Maybe Dr. J has been making too much merry.

Gittin down wiv ma stay at homies!!

Yes, same here, it’s been down since yesterday again and I am only able to access the site via. back door entry. heh
Googling the site and then entering by one of the google links. Same about a week ago for several days. Good to know it’s not our imagination or computers. :-)

P.S. Once on the site hitting “home” brings up the “over capacity” error page, so, am only able to navigate by choosing the “just for you” or ” activity” links.

Has it?

Yay! I just managed to get back in via my bookmark and….I can also get “home” again
.Oh, home sweet home! haha

^^Yay

Yes; could not get on yesterday when typing fluther.com in Search.

I had trouble on fluther mobile yesterday, and I’ve been having problems on my laptop on and off today as well.

It’s because the servers are shutting down a little at a time, in preparation for the end of the world tomorrow.

The only way I have been able to get in is to do a search and then click on the “just for you” link.
Clicking on the home tab at the top of the page throws me right back to the “over capacity” page.

@YARNLADY Yes, exactly the same for me, but seems to be okay again the last few hours now.

@YARNLADY Yup, me too. I call it ’‘the backdoor entrance’’. XD Last time that happened to me though, Auggie suggested that I go in my history and clean my cache, and then start up my browser again. So that works pretty good, although it won’t work if the site is still down. (as there’s no way to tell if the site is down just from getting that page, or if it’s cuz your PC is being ass like mine)
But it isn’t now, so try that if you still get the ’‘Doh!’’ page.

@Symbeline Haha..me too. :-p
I knew it wasn’t my PC as I have cleared the cookie cache twice in 3 weeks for this same issue.
Nope, this is clearly an internal affair,maybe some of those in jelly management are having a festival of happy brownies. Theonlyissue withmycomputeristhespacebarhasbeenstickinglately.

It’s been going down every morning this week around 10 am EST. I wonder if it is being hit by a lot of connection requests and it gets overwhelmed? Perhaps some kind of denial of service attack? Or attack by a bunch of bots—which doesn’t make sense since bots can work at any time.

Is there any reason to think a bunch of people might be trying to log in at the same time in some way that might cause the servers trouble?

Hi everyone. I know this is a problem, and I’m actively working on fixing it.

Currently I’m not sure what the problem is. I don’t believe it’s an issue we’ve seen before, and it hasn’t been easy to track down so far, but we’re committed to figuring it out and getting back to the smooth uptime you’ve all been used to.

Will update when I get to the bottom of things.

Thanks! @ben

Ben is Instagram with less bacon.

Wonder if it’s the Revenge of Randy.

@Jeruba Oh, I laughed out loud at that one, thanks for my laugh of the day

LOL….Randy rides again

I’m just kidding, of course. Gee, I certainly wouldn’t wish to encourage him. I think paying attention to him whenever he shows up is just what he wants.

Randy is totally awesome! He asks the best absurd questions. I know most people don’t get it, but they inspire me.

Then again, maybe Fluther’s been down lately because it’s not getting that shiny red convertible for Christmas.

I agree, Randy is two tons of fun. lol

@ben: Thank you!

@wundayatta : Really? Have you ever seen him ask a question that was not about how to go back in time on the internet so he can listen to a radio station from the year 2000? In what way do his questions inspire you?

@Fluther: DAWWW, Dr. J has a hat and candy cane. So cute. I just had to share that with someone!

@bookish1 Yes, really. I answer them whenever I get a chance. They are absurd questions, and inspire all kinds of flight of fancy for me. I’m a little surprised that you don’t get this. You always seemed to have a bit of whimsy in you, but perhaps not. In any case, different people respond in different ways to different stimuli. You can be sure that I love Randy’s questions. Oddly, for the longest time, I never saw any, and wasn’t sure I believed they really existed. But lately, I’ve been seeing some of them before they get modded.

Unfortunately, fluther doesn’t like whimsy. Every once in a while they will let me ask a whimsical question, but usually they get modded, which pisses me off. I don’t need to be pissed off, so I don’t ask them any more. Which is sad.

I think you can get away with a question like that if you explain that it is whimsical, but of course, that destroys the question. People have to figure it out themselves, or the fun is taken out of it.

ah so Fluther didn’t like my Viking Dr J did they? Christmas assbug!

Randy is a flat out troll or someone suffering from a mental problem. Either way, he should not be encouraged.

@wundayatta: I am very much a whimsical person and find it attractive in others. I just don’t see where the whimsy lies in asking the same question every single time (I have seen the same question 5 or 6 times), with the only variation consisting in what sort of abusive names he calls the “stupid people”...

@bookish1 I don’t think I can succeed in explaining it to you. Trust me when I say I enjoy his questions. He is completely over the top. And while the questions have elements that stay the same, they also have parts that change. In any case, creativity is based on the person being creative. It’s about what you do with it, not what you are given. It’s like doing improv. You never say no. You always say yes. If you put yourself in that frame of mind, I assure you you will find the creative juices flowing.

As to trolls—you know I don’t understand the concept and don’t believe it is a useful concept. As to mental health, the absolute wrong thing to do is to ignore him. He should be sympathized with and brought into the fold. But this is not a place for treating people. This is a place for fun. Intellectual entertainment. Which means that what we bring to the questions is more important than what the questioner wants or intends.

I know that no one agrees with me, so there’s not really any point in discussing this. But I assure you that it is possible to take a constructive point of view about just about anything and turn it into humor or whimsy if you so desire. And I do.

@wundayatta Nah I see where you’re gettin’ at. But you’re right, this right here isn’t therapy, at least that’s not what Fluther is for. I mean if someone asks, yes, we can help, and perhaps even SOLVE problems…but I see your point.
So I guess there’s nothing we can do, but to flag him.
I’ve often wondered about Randy, whether he’s a troll as is defined, or somebody with real serious mental problems. I see what you’re saying, but unfortunately I don’t have the brain power, or the sympathy; I’m an asshole- to go anywhere beyond laughing when he writes something like and I only want the nice people to answer assholes I mean it bastards. Come on, that’s funny! That’s why I’m kind of hoping it is a person just fucking around whenever they get bored, and not somebody who’s not actually aware that they’re offending the community. :/ I personally do not feel offended at all though
I usually reply with something lame to his questions, but I always flag them…what more am I supposed to do though? maybe I shouldn’t write anything stupid I guess

And here I was, thinking that I had broken Fluther, because when all of this business started a few days ago, I was trying to post multiple recipe links to one of @Adirondackwannabe’s Q’s about vegetarian Christmas foods and I thought for sure I had broken Fluther because I “linked prematurely” or something like that. Glad to know that I wasn’t the cause of the problem. : )

Don’t break Fluther, @Kardamom! Else I may have to whip you. :p

Will you? ; – P

I asked Santa, specifically, hee hee

@Kardamom Well, she can’t whip you on Christmas, because that’s what I asked Santa for, and @augustlan can’t be in two places at once. Unless she’s actually Santa, because then…....... OMG @augustlan is San…........ holy shit, I think I’ve just had an epiphany!

^^ OMG! I think you just figured out who Santa really is!!!

Shhhh don’t tell anyone else!

HO, HO, HO

Wait, are you Santa or the Jolly Green Giant?

^^ If she is, maybe she’ll give us some of those niblets with butter. I love those!

Hahaha. You guys are so silly. <3

As JillTheTooth used to say, sooner or later every thread comes round to food.

@JillTheTooth : ) Miss her and her daughter.

Me too. :(