Impressed to see a full set of newspapers at the newsagent's again today despite all the snow havoc, chaos etc.
Even more so after listening to BBC Radio 4's PM programme last night and hearing about all the transport and information websites that went down because there was too much demand. It seems an inherent fault of the internet that when a site is really popular and at its most needed it crashes.
I know I live in London, but the capital seemed at a complete standstill yesterday morning - yet the papers got through. People who distribute newspapers are the unsung heroes of the industry
"It seems an inherent fault of the internet that when a site is really popular and at its most needed it crashes". I'd argue that the fault isn't inherent in the network, it is simply a result of bad contingency planning. Organisations like the BBC have in place deals with high capacity mirror services like Akamai to ensure that during news events like the London suicide bombings in 2005 the site keeps getting served, regardless of the high volumes of traffic. They also have procedures in place to reduce the amount and type of content served during those spikes.
ReplyDeleteOur newspaper boy delivered the paper 20 minutes late yesterday (Monday) and on time today (Tuesday). In fact, I joked that I was going to go down and complain when I saw him yesterday. Pleased I gave him £20 at Christmas. He deserved every penny.
ReplyDeleteGood point Martin and well done John's newspaper boy. Thanks for your posts.
ReplyDeleteI think there is something heroic about people battling through the night to deliver newspapers in all weathers while we are tucked up in bed.