Stormraven
Trusted Member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2010
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In this XenFans discussion I'll be explaining how you can handle downtime. Please feel free to share your views and opinions within this thread.
Downtime is something that we have all experienced at some point and no doubt will continue to experience in the future. Not only is it an inconvenience, but the longer a website or community is down, the more members you could be losing out on.
There are two different types of downtime:
Planned:
Planned downtime is essential for server moves, software upgrades or sales and ownership changes that will requires more than just half an hour of downtime. This type of downtime will be pre-planned so you can inform your community what changes will be happening and therefore when it will happen and for how long.
Unplanned:
Unplanned downtime could be a result of many things, such as hardware failure, system failure, DNS or domain issues etc. It can be damaging to your community, especially if it happens on a regular basis or for long periods of time.
In my opinion, social media is the answer. Most websites nowadays have a Twitter account or a Facebook page that your members can follow, which can be used to inform your community of planned downtime. It's also a valuable tool when it comes to unplanned downtime, so as soon as you find out what the cause is, you can inform members what is going on and how long your community will be down, it may be an inconvenience, but informing your members is important as they won't appreciate being kept in the dark. Here's an example of a Tweet I would write on my Twitter or Facebook page:
I've run many communities in the past and I always do my best to inform my member base of what is going on. Although, when it comes to upgrading forum software such as XenForo, it's not essential, as it would online be offline for less than 10 minutes. Try not to bombard members with Tweets and emails every time you take your site down for less than 2 minutes to sort something out as they will get annoyed, but when you plan to take it offline for more than 20 minutes, then it's a good time to inform everyone.
It's important to plan ahead, when you can. Obviously unplanned issues will be out of your controls but bring the news to your audience when it's ready to be shared, find out what the situation is and when it will be resolved, be truthful and honest with them and they will understand and continue to return to your community.
Please feel free to share your experiences and any tips you may have. If you notice any errors, please let me know. I hope you found this article informative and if you have a request for my next one, please send me a quick message.
Here I’ve talked quite extensively about the importance of social media, so please take the opportunity to follow XenFans on Twitter.
Downtime is something that we have all experienced at some point and no doubt will continue to experience in the future. Not only is it an inconvenience, but the longer a website or community is down, the more members you could be losing out on.
There are two different types of downtime:
Planned:
Planned downtime is essential for server moves, software upgrades or sales and ownership changes that will requires more than just half an hour of downtime. This type of downtime will be pre-planned so you can inform your community what changes will be happening and therefore when it will happen and for how long.
Unplanned:
Unplanned downtime could be a result of many things, such as hardware failure, system failure, DNS or domain issues etc. It can be damaging to your community, especially if it happens on a regular basis or for long periods of time.
In my opinion, social media is the answer. Most websites nowadays have a Twitter account or a Facebook page that your members can follow, which can be used to inform your community of planned downtime. It's also a valuable tool when it comes to unplanned downtime, so as soon as you find out what the cause is, you can inform members what is going on and how long your community will be down, it may be an inconvenience, but informing your members is important as they won't appreciate being kept in the dark. Here's an example of a Tweet I would write on my Twitter or Facebook page:
A situation like this actually happened to me just a couple of days ago. All my websites recently went down due to unforeseen circumstances. Apparently there was a major issue at the datacenter. Obviously my first port of call was to contact my host to see what was going on, it was only then that I noticed their website was also down. I understand that down time is inevitable and I didn't mind, but they didn't update their Twitter account or post an update on their Facebook page informing us what was going on and how long services were going to be down for. There wasn't even an apology for the inconvenience caused. I could understand if it was a free service and they forgot to update us, but when it comes to a hosting provider, I think it's essential for them to keep us in the loop especially when some people rely on their services for business purposes or even for just a hobby.
I've run many communities in the past and I always do my best to inform my member base of what is going on. Although, when it comes to upgrading forum software such as XenForo, it's not essential, as it would online be offline for less than 10 minutes. Try not to bombard members with Tweets and emails every time you take your site down for less than 2 minutes to sort something out as they will get annoyed, but when you plan to take it offline for more than 20 minutes, then it's a good time to inform everyone.
It's important to plan ahead, when you can. Obviously unplanned issues will be out of your controls but bring the news to your audience when it's ready to be shared, find out what the situation is and when it will be resolved, be truthful and honest with them and they will understand and continue to return to your community.
Please feel free to share your experiences and any tips you may have. If you notice any errors, please let me know. I hope you found this article informative and if you have a request for my next one, please send me a quick message.
Here I’ve talked quite extensively about the importance of social media, so please take the opportunity to follow XenFans on Twitter.