[Outages-discussion] Outages Message List Scope

[Peter Beckman]

Agreed, and thanks for saying something.

Though, from some standpoints, Slack being down could be considered a
communications failure... but I agree, clarification should be given.

Appropriate posts (based on my reading of the "Mission Statement"):

     * Network link down or packet loss (show your work)
     * Telecommunications issue (voice, video, SMS)
     * BGP flaps
     * DDOS affecting network latency
     * generally packet delivery and receipt related

Maybe appropriate:

     * Large cloud/service provider outage (some communication may be
         dependent); e.g recent AWS S3 US-East issue, CloudFlare Security issue
     * AT&T 911 Outage
     * Mobile Network outage/issue
     * MicroTik Zero Day

Not appropriate:

     * Web service is down (endpoint related) e.g. Slack, Twitter, Amazon
         retail, Facebook
     * "I'm seeing a problem, are you?" posts -- either know or don't post
     * "Me too" posts unless you are adding to the discussion with
        additional, not before seen detail
     * After-the-fact posts "Yeah, I saw that happen"

I do not represent the Outages list, this is my personal take on what
should or shouldn't be here.

Oh, and this should go to -discussion.

On Thu, 9 Mar 2017, Jason Grider via Outages wrote:

> Is a 504 – Gateway Error something that falls into this mailing list’s
> scope? I’m asking because I’ve only been subscribed for a few days and
> between a 10 minute outage at Slack generating ~25 messages over the
> course of 5 hours and an (most likely internal to Invidia) HTTP server
> error I’m wondering how much filtering I may need to put in place to get
> the pieces of information I need from the chaff of events that have a
> limited blast radius. There is no disrespect intended to anybody about
> what has been sent to the list. I’m just trying to set my expectations in
> line with the data I’ve asked for. :)
>
> From the signup page: https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/outages (bold is my emphasis)
> "The primary goal of this mailing list ("outages") is for
> outages-reporting that would apply to failures of major communications
> infrastructure components having significant traffic-carrying capacity,
> similar to what FCC provided prior to 9/11 days but they seem to have
> pulled back due to terrorism concerns. Some also believe that LEC's and
> IXC's also like this model as they no longer have to air their dirty
> laundry. Then again, this mailing list is not about making anyone look
> bad, its all about information sharing and keeping network operators &
> end users abreast on the situation as close to real-time information as
> possible in order to assess and respond to major outage such as routing
> voice/data via different carriers which may directly or indirectly impact
> us and our customers. A reliable communications network is essential in
> times of crisis.
>
> The purpose of this list is to have a central place to lookup and report
> so that end users & network operators know why their services (e-mail,
> phones, etc) went down eliminating the need to open tons of trouble
> tickets during a major event. One master ticket - such as fiber cut
> affect xxx OC48's would suffice. We hope this would empower users and
> network operators to post such events so that everyone could benefit from
> it. “
>
> Then again “OC48” may date that statement a little bit. :)
>
> “Thank you and have a great day!” I say from the confines of my shiny
> silver flame suit.
> Jason Grider
>
>

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Peter Beckman                                                  Internet Guy
beckman at angryox.com                                 http://www.angryox.com/
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