TPB Status on webpages

[ProjectVRD]

As some of us already know there is a major issue with uploading and receiving a 500 Internal Server Error, however there is a lot of confusion over where the cause of problem resides and no front facing alert so more and more threads are created for the same issue.

As the TBP itself is still accessible, why not put a small status message for everyone to see like so:

TBP Service Status: Users are reporting 500 Internal Server errors when uploading torrents. Admin is aware and attempting to fix. For more information see <TBP blog post link>.

If this is implemented as a ticker tape it will get peoples attention and also let the uploaders know (before asking questions) that there is a genuine issue. This can also be amended for future issues as appropriate. It would include a link to the Blog section which is probably underused by Admin and more importantly site visitors, coming from a job that deals with customers these particular service downtime related blog posts are best created with comments disabled... trust me, we don't want to consume your time with petty complaints.

When there is no TBP Service Status message everyone will know that the whole TBP service is up and running as normal.

[Spud17]

We don't need banners on TPB alerting users that some uploaders are experiencing particular issues - we have the Site Issues forum here that cover a wide range of uploading errors/glitches etc.

If people want to check the status of TPB, all they have to do is click the yellow 'TPB Status' link at the top of any forum page.

The reason more and more threads are created for the same issue is that many users simply don't read around the forum before posting. They panic, believe they are the only ones facing whatever issue it is, then post a thread about it right next to another thread covering the same topic.

Incidentally, TPB doesn't have any customers, it has users. People who pay/subscribe to a service (like your ISP or cable company) can be defined as customers. Those who use torrent sites are not.

[contrail]

I believe we don't need a banner because people would just freak out.