Today Six Apart's TypePad which hosts Somewhat Frank and thousands of other blogs was down for about 10 hours. I apologize to anyone that was trying to view the last week worth of posts on Somewhat Frank. Basically, TypePad had rolled my blog back to December 10, 2005. I was concerned that this outage not only would cause my readers to be frustrated and confused but I was also worried about losing content. Also in my work at the Tribune our blogs were also affected by this
outage so I was helping to manage the chaos caused by the outage.
I took action by contacting Six Apart who owns TypePad first via the TypePad contact email address. I also took the liberty of contacting Anil Dash a VP at Six Apart to let him know. Of course he was already well aware of the issue and emailed me back apologizing for the inconvenience and emphasizing an understanding of the seriousness of the outage. I contacted Anil again via AOL instant messenger thanking him for his response. I am pretty understand about technology related issues due to my extensive technology background so I am somewhat sympathetic. However, I am sure other bloggers will not be as kind.
We will see how this outage ultimately tarnishes Six Apart's reputation. There are not really too many other options that offer as may features in a hosted blogging solution. I have decided I am going to stick with TypePad and see what happens. However, I have decided to change my operating/blogging procedures a little bit. Previously, I would post directly to TypePad without any backup system. Now I am testing out a few different desktop client software options that sync up with TypePad and allow me to save my posts locally prior to posting them online. That way I have a backup of my posts in case TypePad goes down again and loses data. I actually have written this post using w.bloggar a free software that allows you to create posts with the need of an Internet connection. Additionally, I have read good reviews about ecto another similar desktop blog software. For other options check out this post on Ian's Messy Desk which charts out many options. I hope Six Apart can navigate out of this bad PR day, maybe fellow TypePad user Steve Rubel can help them out with spinning this.
Check out TypePad's status blog for specific information about the situation. Also Niall Kennedy has cleared his Friday night schedule to set up post outside Six Apart to find out more details.
UPDATE: Check out Anil Dash's post on his sh!tty day at TypePad. Also Niall Kennedy followed up his earlier post with an exclusive interview post.
