10 ms·

I think it's particularly interesting to watch some internet event go "mainstream" and watch even large services like reddit strain under the load. Put some per

I think it's particularly interesting to watch some internet event go "mainstream" and watch even large services like reddit strain under the load. Put some perspective around how many people true mainstream media services reach.

Codhisattva 14y ago
Yes indeed. The scalability of Amazon.com is truly a work of engineering genius.
- RandallBrown 14y ago
  From what I've heard from Amazon employees, it's barely holding together and hardly genius. Of course, that same scalability (AWS) is what powers Reddit and dozens of other major websites.
  - Codhisattva 14y ago
    It's been a few years but when I saw Amazon's architecture overview presentation at OSCON it was brilliant work.
jvanderwal 14y ago
I would be very interested in seeing some traffic stats once this is over.
sukuriant 14y ago
I was just going to say that. While, Reddit's not "down" for me, every time I click the "show more comments" button, red text that says "loading" shows up and it ... never ... loads. Considering Reddit's usual traffic, this must be a truly unprecedented weight on the servers.
mindcrime 14y ago
Weird... I am guessing that if Obama was going to be on Reddit, they would have given the Reddit staff some early notice, in order to add some extra preparations for the load. Or maybe not, does anybody know if there's any sort of normal protocol around this sort of thing?
- citricsquid 14y ago
  The AMA mods often arrange high profile AMAs amongst themselves -- or with the reddit community staff involved -- so it's likely they were aware before hand. I can't check the sidebar because reddit isn't responding, but they normally have the "upcoming" AMAs in the sidebar and lots of are listed days/weeks in advance.
  - duck 14y ago
    I think this was a surprise as it wasn't listed there until 30 or so minutes ago.
- ChiperSoft 14y ago
  The reddit admins knew. Heuypriest himself confirmed the validity of the AMA.
  - _delirium 14y ago
    Since I'm not up on the Reddit staff, in case anyone else is wondering, Hueypriest is Erik Martin, Reddit's General Manager (formerly Community manager) https://www.twitter.com/hueypriest https://www.twitter.com/hueypriest
  - acomar 14y ago
    Kn0thing jumped in to confirm it too.
calinet6 14y ago
I'm very interested in how quickly they manage to bring it back up. ... so naturally I'll refresh it every few seconds.
- throwaway1979 14y ago
  Can't create an account now ... grr ... and I really wanted to ask a question :(
Aldor 14y ago
To be fair (as a longtime redditor), reddit is guaranteed to go down after anything slightly out of the ordinary (and even then it's not too uncommon).
Aldor 14y ago
To be fair (as a longtime redditor), reddit is guaranteed to go down after anything slightly out of the ordinary (and even then it's not too uncommon).
spyder 14y ago
The difference is that the "true mainstream media" is one-directional, so they are just broadcasting the show. If there would be a show with Obama answering telephone calls on live TV or radio, then very few calls could be heard live. If Reddit would do only broadcasting then it would be an easier problem because reads can be cached easier then reads + writes.

Codhisattva 14y ago

Yes indeed. The scalability of Amazon.com is truly a work of engineering genius.

RandallBrown 14y ago
From what I've heard from Amazon employees, it's barely holding together and hardly genius. Of course, that same scalability (AWS) is what powers Reddit and dozens of other major websites.
- Codhisattva 14y ago
  It's been a few years but when I saw Amazon's architecture overview presentation at OSCON it was brilliant work.

jvanderwal 14y ago

I would be very interested in seeing some traffic stats once this is over.

sukuriant 14y ago

I was just going to say that. While, Reddit's not "down" for me, every time I click the "show more comments" button, red text that says "loading" shows up and it ... never ... loads. Considering Reddit's usual traffic, this must be a truly unprecedented weight on the servers.

mindcrime 14y ago

Weird... I am guessing that if Obama was going to be on Reddit, they would have given the Reddit staff some early notice, in order to add some extra preparations for the load. Or maybe not, does anybody know if there's any sort of normal protocol around this sort of thing?

citricsquid 14y ago
The AMA mods often arrange high profile AMAs amongst themselves -- or with the reddit community staff involved -- so it's likely they were aware before hand. I can't check the sidebar because reddit isn't responding, but they normally have the "upcoming" AMAs in the sidebar and lots of are listed days/weeks in advance.
- duck 14y ago
  I think this was a surprise as it wasn't listed there until 30 or so minutes ago.
ChiperSoft 14y ago
The reddit admins knew. Heuypriest himself confirmed the validity of the AMA.
- _delirium 14y ago
  Since I'm not up on the Reddit staff, in case anyone else is wondering, Hueypriest is Erik Martin, Reddit's General Manager (formerly Community manager) https://www.twitter.com/hueypriest https://www.twitter.com/hueypriest
- acomar 14y ago
  Kn0thing jumped in to confirm it too.

calinet6 14y ago

I'm very interested in how quickly they manage to bring it back up. ... so naturally I'll refresh it every few seconds.

throwaway1979 14y ago
Can't create an account now ... grr ... and I really wanted to ask a question :(

Aldor 14y ago

To be fair (as a longtime redditor), reddit is guaranteed to go down after anything slightly out of the ordinary (and even then it's not too uncommon).

Aldor 14y ago

To be fair (as a longtime redditor), reddit is guaranteed to go down after anything slightly out of the ordinary (and even then it's not too uncommon).

spyder 14y ago

The difference is that the "true mainstream media" is one-directional, so they are just broadcasting the show. If there would be a show with Obama answering telephone calls on live TV or radio, then very few calls could be heard live. If Reddit would do only broadcasting then it would be an easier problem because reads can be cached easier then reads + writes.