Concerns with RTM Outages and Availability
(closed account) says:
I have some concerns about RTM. I know I'm probably being a bit nit-picky, but seeing as I'm a paying Pro user, I feel I have the right...
Today was yet another day that there was extreme slowness with RTM - through multiple networks and reported by various users - and eventually a "We'll be back in a bit" message. This message asks you to visit the RTM Status Blog, which as has been the case in the past, there is no information on what's going on. Last update was about something that happened the day before with e-mail processing.
One should just look at Twitter and how people were getting irritated with outages and no explanation to see that it's not a good way to do business. They eventually created a status blog that is updated very soon after there is a problem and keeps you informed as to how the situation is being resolved and when it is resolved. While it may not fix the problem, it gives the users a bit of a better feeling knowing that something is being done. I get very irritated wonder if there is someone out there even looking at the problem. For all I know everyone is asleep or drunk and has no idea that there is a problem.
If RTM can't address the reliability issues, please at least address your communication of what's going on when there are issues. RTM is a great service most of the time, but if you can't do this then I don't know how I will be able to justify purchasing a pro account again when it is time to renew.
Today was yet another day that there was extreme slowness with RTM - through multiple networks and reported by various users - and eventually a "We'll be back in a bit" message. This message asks you to visit the RTM Status Blog, which as has been the case in the past, there is no information on what's going on. Last update was about something that happened the day before with e-mail processing.
One should just look at Twitter and how people were getting irritated with outages and no explanation to see that it's not a good way to do business. They eventually created a status blog that is updated very soon after there is a problem and keeps you informed as to how the situation is being resolved and when it is resolved. While it may not fix the problem, it gives the users a bit of a better feeling knowing that something is being done. I get very irritated wonder if there is someone out there even looking at the problem. For all I know everyone is asleep or drunk and has no idea that there is a problem.
If RTM can't address the reliability issues, please at least address your communication of what's going on when there are issues. RTM is a great service most of the time, but if you can't do this then I don't know how I will be able to justify purchasing a pro account again when it is time to renew.
(closed account) says:
I have to agree. There's something very wrong with RTM today, and seeing nothing on status.rememberthemilk.com or the blog is quite frustrating. I know you guys are on the other side of the world and it's 1 am for you right now or thereabouts, but we really can't wait until you get up to get an update. Emily? Anything?
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
I apologize for the lack of status updates. :(
I just wanted to make clear that we're very much aware anytime there is an issue affecting the speed of RTM (our monitoring systems alert us to the slightest slow down; the team is also across multiple timezones so there's always humans monitoring the site around the clock, too).
Any issues are worked on immediately (even it's 4am in the engineer's timezone :). Unfortunately some of this information hasn't been making it's way to the status blog; when it's 4am and something needs fixing, the engineer is usually primarily concerned with making sure that the site is running smoothly (and sometimes the status blog is forgotten!).
I'm going to ensure that the status blog is kept up-to-date with all issues (and that any engineers fixing issues make sure to communicate and update the status blog before sleeping when issues are fixed at 4am :)
I've posted on the status blog regarding the recent issues.
Hope this helps!
I just wanted to make clear that we're very much aware anytime there is an issue affecting the speed of RTM (our monitoring systems alert us to the slightest slow down; the team is also across multiple timezones so there's always humans monitoring the site around the clock, too).
Any issues are worked on immediately (even it's 4am in the engineer's timezone :). Unfortunately some of this information hasn't been making it's way to the status blog; when it's 4am and something needs fixing, the engineer is usually primarily concerned with making sure that the site is running smoothly (and sometimes the status blog is forgotten!).
I'm going to ensure that the status blog is kept up-to-date with all issues (and that any engineers fixing issues make sure to communicate and update the status blog before sleeping when issues are fixed at 4am :)
I've posted on the status blog regarding the recent issues.
Hope this helps!