Next time I build a status page it will simply be a static HTML with green indicators and some random metrics, looks like it is the industry standard. :facepalm:

Your actions are extremely unlikely to change if the downtime is for less than half an hour. So what exactly do you expect to happen here?

(Yes, I got annoyed at a thousandth comment that essentially says the status update is not instantaneous and perfectly reflecting the situation)

* not lying

* not having to dig out our logs and proofs for SLA reasons on obvious fuckup.

> (Yes, I got annoyed at a thousandth comment that essentially says the status update is not instantaneous and perfectly reflecting the situation)

It's not about it being minute behind reality, it's about it lying in entirety. Why you have so much problems with understanding that ?

And it's a common comment I see 10min after some service having issues: "the status page is still green" - yes, people are probably still logging in to things and figuring out if the issue actually is internal.

If it is up to person to change it then it as status page is useless, might as well look at reddit whether people are complaining...

https://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.co...

It’s all the same

Stage 1: Status is manually set. There may be various metrics around what requires an update, and there may be one or more layers of approval needed.

Problems: Delayed or missed updates. Customers complain that you're not being honest about outages.

Stage 2: Status is automatically set based on the outcome of some monitoring check or functional test.

Problems: Any issue with the system that performs the "up or not?" source of truth test can result in a status change regardless of whether an actual problem exists. "Override automatic status updates" becomes one of the first steps performed during incident response, turning this into "status is manually set, but with extra steps". Customers complain that you're not being honest about outages and latency still sucks.

Stage 3: Status is automatically set based on a consensus of results from tests run from multiple points scattered across the public internet.

Problems: You now have a network of remote nodes to maintain yourself or pay someone else to maintain. The more reliable you want this monitoring to be, the more you need to spend. The cost justification discussions in an enterprise get harder as that cost rises. Meanwhile, many customers continue to say you're not being honest because they can't tell the difference between a local issue and an actual outage. Some customers might notice better alignment between the status page and their experience, but they're content, so they have little motivation to reach out and thank you for the honesty.

Eventually, the monitoring service gets axed because we can just manually update the status page after all.

Stage 4: Status is manually set. There may be various metrics around what requires an update, and there may be one or more layers of approval needed.

Not saying this is a great outcome, but it is an outcome that is understandable given the parameters of the situation.

Slack is definitely down even though their status page says otherwise.

Incentives matter. If there is no penalty for misrepresenting the current state of an outage, you are going to find that company driven status pages are going to be frequently inaccurate.

We recently improved our status reporting because our old status system might not accurately indicate if only a part of our service went down, so it might show green even though (some) customers definitely saw very obvious downtime.

Wait what? And SO agreed? Where can I learn about this?

In those cases status pages are more likely to have a lovely spectrum of yellows and oranges to choose from, but a distinct absence of red, but very few companies will say that they're fully green when they know there's issues. Green when you're down is usually more of a symptom of process problems in how outages get reported or resolved (no documentation, manual processes for updating, long communication chains from support teams to engineers).

How many customers will think you look dumb? If you admit downtime, will the accurate reporting drive away more new customers, than the inaccurate reporting drives away due to you looking dumb?

"Looking dumb" is not a reasonable factor. Damage to your public image is, but that's divorced from looking dumb. It's entirely possible Slack is saving money by not admitting their downtimes, because it leaves a better image.

Slack now has the outage listed:

https://status.slack.com/calendar

The online cynicism is something I've never understood. It assumes the world is filled first first-order simpletons & somehow only the poster rises above it.

People aren't dumb & companies aren't dumb. People will notice a status tracker isn't accurate. They will have reduced confidence in the company. Companies know people will notice & think this way, so they generally don't engage in this type of deception. I'm sure there are exceptions, but in general, status pages have tended to be accurate in my experience.

I find that using slack from IRC, and having the option to deprive some people/channels to notify me is very helpful to reduce the amount of distractions.

featurewise I really have no idea. I just use localslackirc.

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=%40SlackStatus * Downdetector: https://downdetector.com/status/slack/

They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled.

The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men.

On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed.

Except for one man armed with an AK-47, and a Honda full of silver. As he stood on the bluff, looking down at the desert spread for miles before him, a man approached, darkly.

“Instead of silver bars, have you considered blockchain for this?”

Still claims 100% uptime for May.

https://status.slack.com/2023-05-17

> Uptime for the current quarter:

> 100%