Internet Hell

If you're like me, you live and die by the Internet.

On the other hand, if you're a normal person, you may not be aware that access to many websites has, for the last couple of days, been severely curtailed by what seems to be a problem at a single server site.

(I am predisposed to assume that any malfunction of the Internet is the result of a concerted attack, but there is as yet no direct evidence that this is true today. On the other hand, The Principle of Hanlon's Razor suggests that we "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.')

Or, in the quote from Forrest Gump:

Bumper Sticker Guy: [running after Forrest] Hey man! Hey listen, I was wondering if you might help me. 'Cause I'm in the bumper sticker business and I've been trying to think of a good slogan, and since you've been such a big inspiration to the people around here I thought you might be able to help me jump into - WOAH! Man, you just ran through a big pile of dog shit!
Forrest Gump: It happens.
Bumper Sticker guy: What, shit?
Forrest Gump: Sometimes.

[Ed: "Shit Happens"]

Here's the dialogue from the Unofficial IPSC List, bemoaning the fact that it is currently (as of this time) impossible to enter the Brian Enos website and forum:

R** B***** posted some information on the USPSA forums - apparently a datacenter had an electrical fire, and one of the [thousands of] sites they hosted is the benos forums. Last info I saw said that they estimated it would be back up mid-day today (Sunday)


At 05:08 AM 6/1/2008, B**** Po***** wrote:
>There are more and more sites east of me that I can no longer reach... I wasn't too worried, it's just the internet.... NOW I CAN'T REACH BE [sic -- "ME"?] !!!! Something has gotta be done!

Another possible resource is the Kim Komando Show; specifically from her weekly newsletter (dated Saturday, May 31, 2008):

THE WEB IS STRUGGLING; IF THINGS ARE SLOW, THAT'S WHY
You might already have heard about the Internet's problems. One of the Internet's main lines is not moving data properly.

I'm writing this on Friday evening. The Internet has been working sporadically all day for us. My director of IT, Ray, compares it to a highway that's partially closed. Traffic is moving, but it is slow. All you can do is grin and bear it.

If you received this newsletter early Saturday, you might be OK. If not, now you know why. If you can't get into my site (or another site), try later.

My experience it that the situation is inadequately described by "Traffic is moving, but it is slow."

When I signed on at 5:30 pm on Sunday, I discovered that my weblog comments (hosted by Haloscan) were not available. A half-hour later, they appeared.In the meantime, I attempted to enter an order to www.tigerdirect.com which is an online vendor of computer stuff. Things went just fine until I attempted to verify my order and confirm my VISA card, at which time I received a warning that the URL was "not available". (An hour later, I could confirm my "check-out" of my "cart", which should be familiar terminology to those of you who order goods online, although the quantities had been modified ... I'm still waiting for the order to be posted online so I can correct the order via telephone.)

Going further back, on Tuesday I received an email from www.statcounter.com, which is an online service which tracks traffic on my blog. The email stated that my recurring (monthly) billing was interrupted because my VISA card expiration date of record indicated that the card had expired. I replied via email that "My VISA card is not expired" and suggested that the email was a "Phishing Expedition". A reply from the vendor assured me that the original email was legitimate. Eventually, I had to re-enter all of my billing information to resume the service.

Again in the meantime, I received an email from the same service to the effect that PayPal service had been "interrupted", and it was no longer reliable: payments from PayPal had been double-entered, then all payments later deleted from the account, and charges were either missing, doubled, or otherwise found to be erroneous. These emails were sent both Wednesday and Thursday. No, they were not duplicated, but it indicated a great deal of uncertainty about the reliability of on-line financial transactions.

Finally, after 6pm today (Sunday, June 1, 2008), I found that accessing my blog was delayed to the point of non-accessibility. I cannot, as of this moment, access my Haloscan account ... although it was readily accessible an hour ago.


IF you are experiencing similar incidents of "Internet Hell", my only advice is to mirror Randy Cassingham's "This Is True" website (you may choose to subscribe, it's worth the price of admission" and get a bunch of "Get Out Of Hell Free" cards.

As nearly as I can tell, nobody has any better ideas.

Watch this space.
If you can't see it, the problem has not yet been resolved.