Late last Thursday evening I noticed that my Learning Aloud site was not responding. I moved most of my content to a BlueHost site a couple of years ago so I could quit worrying about such things. Commercial sites have the same problems my own servers have but they do a better job of backing up content and they have more experience fixing things.
I assumed the problem was unique to my site. I tried the chat to connect to customer service. The chat service kept claiming I had chosen to cancel the chat. I tried the phone number for support, but it was busy. This was a clue that the problem might be a general one.
I did a Twitter search and it became clear that my problems were not unique.
Twitter turned out to be an interesting source for information, but also the comments of many frustrated customers. Some customers were frustrated that Bluehost was not forthcoming with information about what was happening. Why were there no email notifications or tweets from Bluehost. Some had somehow learned what the company was dealing with, but doubted it. One explanation pointed to a concern with widespread viruses on Bluehost servers. Many claimed they were moving their accounts elsewhere and others jumped in with suggestions.
I received an email several hours later indicating the city of Provo had experienced a major power issue and Rocky Mountain Power had requested Bluehost to shut down all electical systems. My sites were up the next morning.
This was an interesting experience with the power of the social Internet. A group of strangers immediately shared what information they had. Evidently, the crowd does not necessarily generate much wisdom when the participants are frustrated and probably concerned about their content. I do think BlueHost made some critical mistakes in not keeping customers informed as the situation unfolded. Lesson – take a deep breath and see how things look in the morning.