Random Fastmail Deaths

noelos · 22 Feb 2002, 02:01 PM

This is getting worrisome. That twice in the past couple of days I've been using Fastmail when I've been confronted with:

-----
FastMail mail service is down
The FastMail mail service is currently down for maintenance. We try and keep these as few and far between as possible, but please be patient. We should be back again in a few minutes. See our forum for status updates.

Thanks for using FastMail

FastMail webmaster
-----

The funny thing is that after a few minutes it starts working again where I left off - so obviously the web-server is continuing to work. So question is - what's causing this problem and is it likely to continue? I know its early days and teething problems are expected but unexplained/unwarned downtime really makes things look bad.

Jeremy Howard · 22 Feb 2002, 02:22 PM

When we commit new code we have to cycle the web server to get it to read in the changes. This takes 20 seconds, during which time you see this screen.

We avoid unscheduled outages (even such brief ones) but sometimes we have urgent code fixes to commit. In this case we had to update our code yesterday to fix a problem where credit cards that expire this month were not being accepted. Today I fixed a problem where people who used 4-digit rather than 2-digit years for there credit card expiry date were being rejected. Hence the two 20 second outages.

With tens of thousands of people using the system all around the world, unfortunately some people will have been unlucky enough to try to access a page at exactly these times. And the unfortunate dynamic of having a forum is that when someone sees a message 2 days running, it is bound to get mentioned on the forum. Well, it certainly keeps us honest! But don't worry--it's not a sign of any problems with FastMail.FM; you won't see these messages often, and when you do just try again in a couple of minutes and you'll be up and running again.

If you compose a large email and get this message when you try to send, then don't press anything! Wait 5 minutes, and then click the 'refresh' button in your browser. Your message will then be sent.

merrie · 22 Feb 2002, 02:29 PM

"With tens of thousands of people using the system all around the world...."

Tens of thousands?!?

:-D

Jeremy Howard · 22 Feb 2002, 02:40 PM

Yes. But I'm not going to be more specific, sorry...

***Edwin*** · 22 Feb 2002, 02:48 PM

"Tens of thousands" sounds like a very reasonable number (though hopefully it will grow much more soon

)

It also shouldn't be a surprising number, unless the original poster was surprised that it wasn't HIGHER than that!

Free email is a very viral product. To give you a "for instance", I now have close to 37,000 users of the emailaccount.com free email service and - apart from the IMO cool domain name - it doesn't have 20% of the features Fastmail.fm was offering free until a few days ago (and Fastmail.fm's free-level service still has it beat now, of course, but the differential is less...)

That's with relatively minimal promotion, and in just 14 months of service.

Now imagine a REALLY cool service such as Fastmail.fm... and think of the word of mouth effect they must be getting

merrie · 22 Feb 2002, 02:49 PM

Wasn't asking! I'm just glad to know that. I hope most of them have become at least members.

merrie · 22 Feb 2002, 02:51 PM

Edwin, I'm just naive, I guess. :-) Thanks for explaining more about it.

Jeremy Howard · 22 Feb 2002, 02:58 PM

Edwin's being modest. His service is extremely well marketed, and he deserves every one of the customers he's got as a result. Getting 37,000 customers in around a year is impressive, however you look at it.

FastMail.FM hopefully will grow a lot in a few months, since we'll start adding tag-lines to guest accounts (well, we'll be asking guests to add their own at least), and now that we're not in 'Preview' I think more people will be prepared to sign-up. And with paid accounts we'll be able to afford an affiliate program so you might even see our name popping up around the place...

merrie · 22 Feb 2002, 03:27 PM

One more thought--

Knowing there are at least tens of thousands of us, the personal email replies from the Rob and Jeremy, not to mention forum replies, are even more impressive.

I've even written "no need to reply" when sending technical feedback (trying to save you the work), but I always get at least a few words. :-)

Jeremy Howard · 22 Feb 2002, 05:12 PM

Actually, writing "this is low priority", and "no need to reply" etc is a great tip for getting fast personal service from both of us... We're suckers for that kind of courtesy you see...

22 Feb 2002, 02:01 PM	#1
noelos Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 21	Random Fastmail Deaths This is getting worrisome. That twice in the past couple of days I've been using Fastmail when I've been confronted with: ----- FastMail mail service is down The FastMail mail service is currently down for maintenance. We try and keep these as few and far between as possible, but please be patient. We should be back again in a few minutes. See our forum for status updates. Thanks for using FastMail FastMail webmaster ----- The funny thing is that after a few minutes it starts working again where I left off - so obviously the web-server is continuing to work. So question is - what's causing this problem and is it likely to continue? I know its early days and teething problems are expected but unexplained/unwarned downtime really makes things look bad.

22 Feb 2002, 02:22 PM	#2
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	When we commit new code we have to cycle the web server to get it to read in the changes. This takes 20 seconds, during which time you see this screen. We avoid unscheduled outages (even such brief ones) but sometimes we have urgent code fixes to commit. In this case we had to update our code yesterday to fix a problem where credit cards that expire this month were not being accepted. Today I fixed a problem where people who used 4-digit rather than 2-digit years for there credit card expiry date were being rejected. Hence the two 20 second outages. With tens of thousands of people using the system all around the world, unfortunately some people will have been unlucky enough to try to access a page at exactly these times. And the unfortunate dynamic of having a forum is that when someone sees a message 2 days running, it is bound to get mentioned on the forum. Well, it certainly keeps us honest! But don't worry--it's not a sign of any problems with FastMail.FM; you won't see these messages often, and when you do just try again in a couple of minutes and you'll be up and running again. If you compose a large email and get this message when you try to send, then don't press anything! Wait 5 minutes, and then click the 'refresh' button in your browser. Your message will then be sent.

22 Feb 2002, 02:29 PM	#3
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	"With tens of thousands of people using the system all around the world...." Tens of thousands?!? :-D

22 Feb 2002, 02:40 PM	#4
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Yes. But I'm not going to be more specific, sorry...

22 Feb 2002, 02:48 PM	#5
*Edwin* Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: UK Posts: 3,118	"Tens of thousands" sounds like a very reasonable number (though hopefully it will grow much more soon ) It also shouldn't be a surprising number, unless the original poster was surprised that it wasn't HIGHER than that! Free email is a very viral product. To give you a "for instance", I now have close to 37,000 users of the emailaccount.com free email service and - apart from the IMO cool domain name - it doesn't have 20% of the features Fastmail.fm was offering free until a few days ago (and Fastmail.fm's free-level service still has it beat now, of course, but the differential is less...) That's with relatively minimal promotion, and in just 14 months of service. Now imagine a REALLY cool service such as Fastmail.fm... and think of the word of mouth effect they must be getting

22 Feb 2002, 02:49 PM	#6
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	Wasn't asking! I'm just glad to know that. I hope most of them have become at least members.

22 Feb 2002, 02:51 PM	#7
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	Edwin, I'm just naive, I guess. :-) Thanks for explaining more about it.

22 Feb 2002, 02:58 PM	#8
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Edwin's being modest. His service is extremely well marketed, and he deserves every one of the customers he's got as a result. Getting 37,000 customers in around a year is impressive, however you look at it. FastMail.FM hopefully will grow a lot in a few months, since we'll start adding tag-lines to guest accounts (well, we'll be asking guests to add their own at least), and now that we're not in 'Preview' I think more people will be prepared to sign-up. And with paid accounts we'll be able to afford an affiliate program so you might even see our name popping up around the place...

22 Feb 2002, 03:27 PM	#9
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	One more thought-- Knowing there are at least tens of thousands of us, the personal email replies from the Rob and Jeremy, not to mention forum replies, are even more impressive. I've even written "no need to reply" when sending technical feedback (trying to save you the work), but I always get at least a few words. :-)

22 Feb 2002, 05:12 PM	#10
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Actually, writing "this is low priority", and "no need to reply" etc is a great tip for getting fast personal service from both of us... We're suckers for that kind of courtesy you see...