Scheduled maintenance and what will be unavailable posts 91–120
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
I had written a reply contradicting post #88 and deleted it. Here is what survived.
Two things can be true about scheduled maintenance at once: the mechanism is plausible and the evidence for the size of the effect is thin. Most of the argument here is people defending the first against attacks on the second.
One question about the transition rather than the policy: what happens to topics that are in flight when it takes effect? The announcement is clear about posts and silent about drafts.
Somebody will have a better source than mine, and I hope they post it.
Scheduled maintenance: if the site is going offline for maintenance, advance notice will be posted here with the duration and scope.
It is worth stating the boring hypothesis before the interesting one.
Thank you for announcing it in advance rather than after. The number of places that do the reverse is remarkable.
That is a description of practice, not a recommendation of it.
The arithmetic in post #94 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
I disagree with the framing of scheduled maintenance above, and I think it is a substantive disagreement rather than a terminological one. Setting out why, so it can be checked.
The reasoning depends on an assumption that is doing a lot of work and is never stated. If the assumption holds, the conclusion follows. I do not think it holds generally.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Practical note on scheduled maintenance: write down what you expect before you look. The number of times I have found what I went looking for is higher than chance would allow.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Building on post #97 rather than restating it.
Staff announcements, policy changes, and scheduled maintenance. Read-only except for questions clarifying what was announced.
The interesting part of this is the exception, and I do not understand the exception.
Building on post #100 rather than restating it.
I have three months of notes on scheduled maintenance and the honest summary is that the trend is real and the week-to-week numbers are noise. I nearly drew the opposite conclusion from the first fortnight.
Nothing to add on the substance. Thank you for taking the question at face value.
Reframing scheduled maintenance slightly, because I think the disagreement is about the question rather than the answer. If the question is "does it happen", yes. If it is "how often", nobody here knows.
One question about the transition rather than the policy: what happens to topics that are in flight when it takes effect? The announcement is clear about posts and silent about drafts.
If that is already documented somewhere, ignore me and link it.
Post #104 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition.
If you are new and reading this thread for the answer to scheduled maintenance: the answer is conditional, the conditions are in the third reply, and the rest of the thread is worth skipping.
Where I part company with post #103, and it is a narrow parting.
Offering a way to settle scheduled maintenance rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision.
The edit is clearer. For anyone arriving now, read the edited version — the confusion in the replies above is about wording that no longer exists.
Scheduled maintenance: if the site is going offline for maintenance, advance notice will be posted here with the duration and scope.
Confirming post #110 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
If someone has run scheduled maintenance properly I would rather read that than my own reconstruction of it. Posting mine only because the thread has gone quiet.
On post #110 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.
Agreed on scheduled maintenance, with one qualification that I think matters. The reasoning holds for the case as described. Change the starting assumption and it does not, and the starting assumption is the part nobody states.
Thank you for announcing it in advance rather than after. The number of places that do the reverse is remarkable.
I am aware this is the third time this month I have made this point.
Where I part company with post #113, and it is a narrow parting.
A methods point on scheduled maintenance rather than a substantive one: if the comparison is not like for like, the difference you are measuring is the difference in method.
This is the answer, and the reason it is the answer is the more useful part.
Scheduled maintenance notice. The site will be read-only for a short window; nothing will be lost and nothing needs doing at your end. If a post fails to submit during it, the draft survives.
I have no financial interest in anything named in this thread and I want to say so before I comment on scheduled maintenance, because it is the sort of subject where it matters.