[39426] in North American Network Operators' Group
The MSN Messenger
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Sat Jul 7 00:17:38 2001
Date: 6 Jul 2001 21:17:02 -0700
Message-ID: <20010707041702.22359.cpmta@c004.sfo.cp.net>
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To: nanog@merit.edu
From: Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>
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Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
Since it is always difficult to predict how long it will take
to fix a problem, the question for the PR people always is:
Do you say as little as possible, hoping it will be over soon?
The problem with this strategy is if your problem continues for a long
time, you look incenitive or even incompetant.
Do you confirm you have a problem, and provide customer updates?
The problem with this strategy is you draw attention to minor issues,
which few people would have noticed otherwise.
After four days, Microsoft finally added a statement to their MSN
Messenger web site. I guess Microsoft's PR people decided they
couldn't make things worse at this point.
> July 6, 2001/8:00 pm PST
>
> MSN Messenger is currently experiencing a service outage for many
> customers on a worldwide basis. We wholeheartedly apologize for the
> inconvenience you may be experiencing. Our operations team is working
> diligently to restore full service (including restoration of all
> personal contact lists) as soon as possible. We are working around
> the clock to have MSN Messenger up ASAP. We expect to have the service
> restored by the end of the day today. Please continue to check back
> for updated status reports. Thank you for your patience.
>
> The MSN Messenger
