All servers down? (UPDATE: plz post advance warnings on the forums)

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

I'm surprised no one's made a thread about this, seeing all servers have been down on and off for a few days now.

At first it was just the three (Survival, Creative, Equestria) servers, I think that was in the middle of last week or somesuch. Lobby worked just fine back then, but now it often doesn't either. I keep seeing the message in this screenshot, then I have to try over and over until it finally loads.

I know it's not on my end, because I've been able to get on another server while PArc was down. Plus, sometime last weekend, I commented on the servers being back up and someone said yes (minutes before losing connection again).

Any information on what could be happening? glitches from the server's mod(s), hacker...?

 

EDIT: (For the sake of memory, I decided to keep what I'd first written. Also wanna say I'm sorry if I sound whiny, because the following isn't intended to be a complaint; it's just some remarks on the staff's choice in communication and a little request.)

So okay, I shoulda joined the Discord group sooner... I found the link to join it after I made this thread. When I talked about this issue, Hazel found the downtime notice Perish had made last Thursday.

Now I'd like to point out, this forum is a part of Poniverse which PArc is directly tied with, so I'd think it's the #1 source of information any reasonable member would go to. At least, the main platform after the more immediate source that is the Discord chat.

I don't have a Twitter so I can't follow that, but even if I did, I don't find it logical to use Twitter as the main source of Poniverse-specific information.

If anything, this forum is the best candidate, seeing it is, in fact, part of the Poniverse network (people make threads to ask for help here, for that very reason). Please, please staff, make a thread here whenever you plan something. Even if the forum itself is down during the predicted event, at least people will know what to expect in advance.

The Discord server is second best choice since it's a gaming-specific chatting platform, meaning we're likely to go there for things pertaining to Poniverse. That makes it ideal for an occasional progress update on the maintenance or other changes occurring, even while the forums are down.

I don't see any such reasonable explanations for Twitter... it just doesn't make sense.

EDIT: I've learned that tweets could be pinned, so I guess that makes things easier for everyone who relies on that. I do wonder whether the pinning also affects the Poniarcade main page's feed?

Edited September 21, 2017 by Feather Spiral
joined Discord group, learned reason

[Libra 11,691]

You could just use discord.

see, the problem with wanting poniverse on poniverse is that it takes longer. With twitter, they caqn just simply tweet out something. But with public threads, it tasks more time and not everyone is guarenteed to see it.

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

Well yes, I'm using Discord now, I already conceded I should've done that sooner, I'll reckon it again if I must.

Twitter may be quicker and more practical on the spot, but like I said, new tweets push your warning down until it's off the feed. And not everyone is guaranteed to see that either, to be honest.

As opposed to the forums in which posts are split among threads, meaning your advance notice (and discussion about it) isn't out of the picture as people post other things.

I'll definitely pay attention to the Announcements forum (probably this one? I've found old downtime notices on there) and the Discord server more, from now on.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Feather Spiral
found subforum I was looking for, added link as a reference for myself

[Libra 11,691]

23 hours ago, Feather Spiral said:

Well yes, I'm using Discord now, I already conceded I should've done that sooner, I'll reckon it again if I must.

Twitter may be quicker and more practical on the spot, but like I said, new tweets push your warning down until it's off the feed. And not everyone is guaranteed to see that either, to be honest.

As opposed to the forums in which posts are split among threads, meaning your advance notice (and discussion about it) isn't out of the picture as people post other things.

I'll definitely pay attention to the Announcements forum (probably this one? I've found old downtime notices on there) and the Discord server more, from now on.

New tweets don't push down anything unless your following more then one person.

simply I prefer twitter because its faster, with forum posts needing more timer to make.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Ninetales

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

On 9/20/2017 at 5:01 PM, Ninetales said:

unless your following more then one person

I meant the tweets on the Poniarcade main page. (which I noticed has stopped at July 2 btw)

What I was saying is: tweets about other Poniarcade-related stuff push down the notice (and updates) about server downtimes. Unless you're checking the feed frequently and catch the message before 5 more messages are posted, you'll have no idea.

For the record, I've learned since that tweets could be pinned (but does it also affect the Poniarcade main page? I wonder) so that makes things easier for everyone involved.

I'll edit my OP accordingly and suggest we drop this matter from now on. I won't dispute a thread lock because the issue has been solved pretty much 100%.

[Libra 11,691]

8 minutes ago, Feather Spiral said:

I meant the tweets on the Poniarcade main page. (which I noticed has stopped at July 2 btw)

What I was saying is: tweets about other Poniarcade-related stuff push down the notice (and updates) about server downtimes. Unless you're checking the feed frequently and catch the message before 5 more messages are posted, you'll have no idea.

For the record, I've learned since that tweets could be pinned (but does it also affect the Poniarcade main page? I wonder) so that makes things easier for everyone involved.

I'll edit my OP accordingly and suggest we drop this matter from now on. I won't dispute a thread lock because the issue has been solved pretty much 100%.

right. Its just personal preferences. I'd rather have a tweet that can be made in a few seconds then something that would take an hour.

but hey, we have our preferenfes. have a good day.

[Jeric 46,850]

Social media to report outages (planned or unplanned) is a widely used standard practice. It is also especially helpful if multiple platforms are affected -- something that has happened here in the past. 

[AppleDashPoni 165]

We tend to report outages on relevant social media and via notices on Discord - unfortunately most of our staff aren't big users of the forums. I try to post update logs here, however, because it's a good place for that content to stick around and be referenced forever. I can try and have staff make a best effort to post about downtime here, though!

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

On 9/21/2017 at 6:52 PM, Sylveon said:

something that would take an hour.

It literally takes two seconds to Ctrl+C what you typed in Discord/Twitter, then maybe ten seconds to open the forums to make a thread and Ctrl+V. Besides, it's not "just personal preferences" - the whole point of my previous posts was to argue the logical reasons behind this request.

Thank you for your consideration @AppleDashPoni

[Libra 11,691]

24 minutes ago, Feather Spiral said:

It literally takes two seconds to Ctrl+C what you typed in Discord/Twitter, then maybe ten seconds to open the forums to make a thread and Ctrl+V. Besides, it's not "just personal preferences" - the whole point of my previous posts was to argue the logical reasons behind this request.

Thank you for your consideration @AppleDashPoni

Fair enough.