According to TypePad, it was the victim of "bot attacks" yesterday (don't ask me what that means), resulting in TypePad websites, including this one, being sporadically unavailable throughout the day. Sorry for the inconvenience. I've received no fresh updates yet this morning, but everything seems to be working normally for the time being.
If you try to log on and can't, please try again later. That's not very satisfying advice, but it seems to be the best I can do at the moment. It's what I'm doing myself.
—Mike, Semi-Competent TOP Webmaster*
UPDATE from TypePad at 11:32 a.m. ET Thursday: "Teams have been closely monitoring the service and Support is available to you via usual channels. We'll continue to work on resolving the bot attacks affecting the service and apologize for the recent inconsistent uptime. We'll update here when we know more."
*Remember that term? Apparently the more modern term is "Website Manager." I think my actual title would be Administrator, or Admin, meaning I have privileges to make changes.
From https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-are-bots
"It is estimated that up to half of all internet traffic today is made up of computer bots carrying out certain tasks . . . "
Who knew?
Posted by: Dave | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 10:52 AM
I had trouble posting my comment yesterday. Probably just as well as it allowed me to tone done my rhetoric somewhat. I see the comment was posted so I guess I'm not a bot.
It's no doubt too early to ask for your decision on re-branding the site.
I was relieved to see that you went back to writing about photography - the G9II. Your post quickly distilled the significance of the camera compared to the other sites that wrote about it. That's why I come back.
Posted by: Grant | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 12:10 PM
Webmaster? Hah, I was a Chief Sysop on Compuserve.
If that doesn't date me...
Posted by: Joe | Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 08:26 PM
I think it was funny that you said “if you try to log on and you cant then try again later”. Was that tongue in cheek? Because by definition if you cant log on then you dont see the message to try again later. Haha.
Posted by: John Cecilian | Friday, 15 September 2023 at 07:54 AM