Suggestion A channel or domain to check AS status and updates

[selinee]

Hi, I don't know if it was just me, Anime-sharing was down for almost a day yesterday with the 522 error.

Now it's back but the long down time did make me fear whether the site was gone for real.

Therefore, would it be possible for the staff to create a channel like Telegram, IRC or Discord to post important announcements related to AS? If a chat channel is too much, then a simple domain or external site for checking the status would be nice to have.

For example Discord has https://discordstatus.com/ for checking service issues. Some piracy sites I know also have a page where they post alternative domains (in case unfortunate things happen if you know what I mean) and to write staff updates - it can be a simple html page or a notepad somewhere.

If Anime-sharing already has something for this that I'm not aware of, I'd love to be pointed to it, thank you.

Edit - I indeed was not aware, AS does have IRC. I didn't know about it before so I couldn't join yesterday Still I'm not sure if it's used for announcements and stuff?

 

[ann10]

Yeah It was down the same for me too.

 

[LazyMuffin]

I just took sneak peak at the IRC channel and it looks semi-dead cause the topic was last updated in 2016. Although it's still surprising there's still XDCC bots in there except you can't see the packlists

 

[ArtoriaPendragon]

Same here, the site was down for at least 20 hours, unbelievable. Yesterday when the 522 error occurred, I was viewing threads.

 

[Shine]

Checkmate's been a bit busy lately, so he hasn't been able to give any updates. Please don't worry.

 

[selinee]

Ah yes I understand the Admin's busy! Hope I didn't come off as demanding.

I just thought this would be a neat thing to have in case unexpected situations/emergencies happen. The status page doesn't need to be updated regularly (under normal circumstances, there's not much to be updated anyway), what I had in mind is more like a short announcement somewhere if AS goes down, then users can know if it's "gone for real" or it's just "Hey guys, we're not dead. Having technical issues for some hours."

This site has so many rare resources, a small status page during downtime would be a nice reassurance.

IRC channel exists, though I agree it's pretty dead. Not surprising that it's not used much these days, many casual users probably don't know what an "IRC" is to begin with, except for people in specific communities or trackers and stuff.

 

[Checkmate]

Hello,

While prolonged downtime for ASF is rare, please understand that our budget for public-facing service monitoring systems or looking glasses is quite limited. To keep costs low, most of our monitoring is done in-house, and we do not have a public status report to avoid additional expenses. Given the limited utilization for a status report page, the cost is not justified.

We also avoid social media due to frequent scams impersonating us and soliciting money from members. We previously maintained some presence but shut it down to protect the community.

Regarding the IRC server, please note that it is not very useful for downtime reports unless you use an IRC bouncer. Because all messages are streamed directly to your client the moment they are broadcast via the IRC server, none are stored on the server itself. This means you will not see any previous messages when you connect.

That said, I have written a rudimentary status report page that displays in place of the ASF forum when the website is down. Unfortunately, it was never fully completed. However, following this recent incident, I have added it to the to-do list for the next ASF version upgrade. This will at least allow us to communicate service status and expected restoration times to our members more effectively.

Thank you for your understanding.

 

[selinee]

Thank you for the reply I'm glad to know we can get some basic status report page next update! Not that anyone would wish for such incidents to happen frequently, but preparation is still great to have.

Thank you for your hard work maintaining this wonderful forum as well!