Serves them right it crashed

Their statistics point to problematical website design. They claim 15,000 (unique) visitors on Monday, with 3 million page hits. If correct (3,000,000 divided by 15,000), there are 200 elements on the fire warning page, each of which must be requested and served up to each user.

I counted 28 objects on the TFS page, meaning there’s a whole lot of clicking going on …

The page would be bloody slow to load, and bloody hard on the server. Serves them right it crashed.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/13/2791582.htm

Govt under pressure over fire website overload

The State Opposition has criticised the Government over a communication breakdown during yesterday’s bushfires.

Millions of hits on the Tasmania Fire Service’s website during the height of yesterday’s emergency in the Derwent Valley caused it to crash.

The Liberal Leader Will Hodgman says it is disturbing the website failed at such a crucial time.

“The experience in Victoria, the horrendous experience there, shows us how careful we need to be but also how vigilant we need to be,” he said.

“Communication is an essential element of protecting Tasmanians and their homes against the fire risk.”

Tasmania’s Acting Premier, Lara Giddings, says the internet should not be the only source of information during a bushfire threat.

Ms Giddings says the fire service website is just one avenue for keeping informed.

“They do use local ABC radio to ensure that people are kept informed as to what is happening in their local area as well.”

“We do need to ensure we’ve got various communications mechanisms open for Tasmanians of which the internet is just one.”
Peter