secret downtime
Why is unannounced scheduled maintenance so ridiculously fucking common these days?
I tried to login to Citibank's website just now to pay my bill. No go. I get some random "General Error" with an even more vague definition of what is (or isn't) happening when I try to log in. Last time something like this happened I told them about it after the fact and they denied that there had been any problem, so this time I called them up right away. I'm told that they might be doing scheduled maintenance until 03:00, but they don't know whether they are doing maintenance tonight or not. OK...... They can however confirm that if they are indeed doing maintenance, I will not be able to login until it is complete. Hmmm... homepage says nothing about maintenance, neither does the error message. Finally, they suggest I try to reset my password. If there is a chance you're doing maintenance now, is this really an ideal time to fuck around with resetting my password?? Morons.
Dear Citibank: I made the following just for you. Please feel free to copy and paste it to the top of your website as appropriate:
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WE'RE BUSY DOING PREVENTATIVE DEVASTATION RIGHT NOW. FEEL FREE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD IF YOU CAN'T LOGIN, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT IT'S NOT GOING TO FUCKING WORK AT ALL UNTIL WE'RE DONE.
LOVE,
CITIBANK
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