Delays on URL submissions

The " I don't know" answer gets old too.

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Giving that answer is just as frustrating as reading that answer.

Yet, it is the most informative, most polite answer we have.

[Humor mode on]

We consider, but rejected:

• Go away son, you are bother us.
• We know but we aren't telling you.
• Illegal question -- user banned!
• It will be available in exactly (insert random number) days.
• Our directory; our business.
• Now serving #204

[Humor mode off]

On a serious note, I've done that type fo work (but on a smaller scale) and while one can make an estimate of time to repair based on experience, there are always complications, especially when the problem is hardware based.

The obvious solution to: "just replace the *&%&* part and get it running again" is what the techs are trying to do, but in complex servers, simply relpacing the bad part does not always fix things -- and one attempted fix may create a cascade of other problems.

So when you have the servers all disassembled -- with parts and cables all over the place -- and the users come in screaming, demanding an answer, you toss them a bone (i.e. it should take 7-10 days) and hope you are right (and you doubly hope the users will go away, leave you alone and not try to help -- otherwise 7-10 days will turn into three weeks in the blink of an eye.).

I hope the serious part (and the little bit of humor) helped.

Once the hardware is fixed, there is the problem of configuring it, and then adding all the data back on ... and there is a very big load of that ... and then adding back all the scripts and getting them running again, and then testing that it really is working and not just temporarily faking it ...