Read the blog post here.
UPDATE: Chris explains “Showcase Magic“:
RevolvingDork says:
The super-slowness ( worse than regular slowness ) is being caused by the showcase registration rush, which started at noon EST.It should be out of our systems in a few minutes — it’s almost sold out.
Posted at 12:37 pm, April 13 2007 EST
From his lockdown post:
RevolvingDork says:
Showcase-specific lag is done with, now we’re jsut in regular lag territory: 5078920
Posted at 6:14 pm, April 13 2007 EST
No comment - feel free to post below.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
From the blog:
AARGH! We don’t even have enough capacity to handle planned internal events?
April 13th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I wish I understood more about these slowdowns:
what’s actually happening with the servers,
what’s going on behind the scenes (technically speaking),
how much traffic is too much,
if all functions tax the servers equally,
if this is a hardware or code issue,
what’s being done short term and long term to alleviate the problem,
why we’re now at the point that even planned internal traffic causes as much of a problem as external shopper traffic…
April 13th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
not totally on topic, but I’ve had numerous family and friends tell me they often can’t even open my shop page, let alone the etsy mainpage. It just takes too long to load.
:P
April 13th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
dyno in free verse
(and of course I agree completely)
April 13th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
My reaction too.
Dyno,
I agree - I don’t want to micro-hover, but as a seller, I’d just like to know where the issues lies so I can PLAN. I distinctly remember the comment about etsy growing in pace with revenue. IMO, that’s not the case if the whole system flows like molasses in a snowstorm when it is hit by something which shouldn’t come as any surprise. Blaming “unexpected surges of traffic” may work the first time or the second time, but c’mon, we’re talking about the SELLERS who KNOW about Showcase trying to grab a slot.
You know, if they were out in SV for a dog and pony show with VC (I suspect this is the case because I thought there was a mention of being on Sandhill), I hope they secured more cash if that’s the issue. Hire more people, get more equipment, whatever. Just stay ahead of the anticipated needs.
April 13th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Soap - I wrote something similar about “unprecedented traffic” with documentation here:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5071139&page=11
April 13th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
It took all of my willpower not to try to keep re-loading this morning. It was slower than my mom’s computer used to be–and she had dial-up with a 1998 Gateway!
Maybe they (Etsy) could get help from the guys at Fark.com or something–they seem to have a ton of traffic, and never have any problems. Their site’s not as pretty though…(I don’t know any technical info here, obviously).
April 13th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Elizabeth,
Thanks - yes, exactly what I was thinking.
Unpredictable - when there is an unplanned review/mention of the site.
PREDICTABLE - growth curve, trajectory.
((( remainder of comments deleted ))))
__________________________________________
So we don’t have to flip back to that page (or worry about it loading or not), here is Elizabeth’s post, to which she refers above:
April 13th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
So we don’t have to flip back to that page (or worry about it loading or not), here is Elizabeth’s post, to which she refers above:
April 13th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
This issue is really a serious one. The frustration of knowing what sales are like for me when there IS traffic getting through versus not is especially bang-head-against-wall like. That said:
I know someone in the embedded programming world who’s kind of a guru and over 50 - serious programmer with a lot of longevity. My brief chats with him about this issue have yielded his suspicion that it is a VC issue, that it’s kind of a 1-2 dance where you grow to the breaking point, then hopefully get an influx of capital then grow to that capacity. Kind of like koi in a tank. Really demanding koi who may eventually be whale sized. I could be completely mistaken, but this was the scenario painted for me one day the moment I said “yeah, it’s been totally floored by a digg hit before and lately it’s crawling, you just can’t get in…”
I’m sure Etsy isn’t going to talk about what VC people and what angels they may be talking to or seeking out, but I’m on the assumption that that’s a lynchpin, FWIW.