User:Bigtimepeace/WikipediaDownMarch2010

Visual representation of the reaction of many internet users to a brief Wikipedia outage in March of 2010.

On Wednesday, March 24th, 2010, Wikipedia.org went offline for several hours in much of the world because of an overheating problem at the web site's European data center, per a post on the Wikimedia tech blog. The story was covered by a number of media outlets. [1][2][3]

Being that we are in the age of Twitter (or tweeting, or something) reaction was fairly swift among denizens of Web 2.0 culture. For about half an hour I monitored a couple of live feeds (mostly Twitter posts) that popped up as I was looking into the problem with Wikipedia. I pulled nearly 90 comments from those feeds and have pasted them below. These were taken completely at random, and I basically grabbed anything that offered any sort of reaction or commentary on the fact that Wikipedia had "gone dark." I figured it might be worthwhile to save these somewhere before they disappear down the Twitter memory hole—taken collectively I think they are fairly interesting.

These are in no particular order, excepting the last comment which I think rather sums up the general reaction. I've retained the # and @ symbols which Twitter users often employ in their posts, so these are all basically verbatim.

Reactions to Wikipedia going offline

Wikipedia is down! Oh no, I can feel my attention being less distracted by the minute.
Wikipedia down! #wikipedia apparently due to server cooling issues, funny the only time I need it for something...it's down
Whoa. Wikipedia is down. I feel dumber already.
Ahhhhh!!! Wikipedia is down!! Repent, the end is nigh!!
OK, Wikipedia has been down for 15 seconds and my whole life is already thrown off.
You don't realize how much you rely on #Wikipedia until it goes down!
Wikipedia seems to be down? I notice once more again how much I use it daily. Hope it's back soon.
wikipedia down? its officially the end of the world =/
Wikipedia is down. Bummer.
Wikipedia is still down! Honestly when I actually need it for something is when its down.
Wikipedia is never down! I thought Wikipedia was infallible.
wikipedia is down.. my life is in shambles
Wikipedia goes down - homework across the world remains incomplete.
Wikipedia is down, or is this a ploy to show us just how useful you are?
Wikipedia was down and I felt so... lost...
oh god wikipedia is no more, how will i find out what things are
Wikipedia's vanished. I'm calling it: the first sign of the apocalypse. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES (or a real encyclopedia. Up to you.)
It's quite shocking how often I would go on wikipedia, now that it's down, I just keep visiting the 'couldn't connect to server' page :P
So I just tried to get on Wikipedia, and it isn't loading. I assume the world has ended in some way.
Wikipedia is down. For the time being, everything on the Internet is either true or false.
disappeared from the web. 'Oops! Google Chrome could not find en.wikipedia.org' it says. I'm bereft.
I want #wikipedia. #boohoo
Omg, what? Wikipedia is down. How the hell am I supposed to pass my 'A' Levels now? :/
rocking back&forth in a ball in corner of cubicle RT @newscientist The global brain just partially shut down - wikipedia is inaccessible
Wikipedia: Epic fail
Wikipedia is down...I feel nervous...which is probably weird.
Wikipedia is down! I already feel the knowledge tumbling out of my head!
Wikipedia is down. What in the hell am I going to do now? Pay attention in class?
Better go and run amok in the streets
Health care passed AND wikipedia is down. Buy your ammo and water now before walmart gets busy, general mass.
Wikipedia is DOWN! Neitzsche warned us about this day--the day all truth would die.
One wonders if the wikipedia outage is due to their recent pleas for funding.
Courage now. Wikipedia will be back up soon...
2 users have told me they can't get to http://www.wikipedia.org/ and I can't either. One user just said, "is life worth living now?"
Wikipedia does down. The Library of Alexandria burns again.
Wikipedia is down!!! How will I pretend I know everything?
wikipedia is down for me. google search is now useless
Why is my Wikipedia completely F*CKED UP?!
oh yeah, wikipedia would totally go down when I need it for a politics essay. argh!
Wikipedia went down last night. Imagine all those Uni students staring blankly at a 404 screen!
Oh no. Wikipedia is broken. What happens now?
Theres a story on slashdot. WIKIPEDIA BROKE! teh internets is over
WIKIPEDIA IS DOWN!!! Wanna bet it was China?
Arg, Wikipedia, why are you not working?? How am I meant to do my homework now, i could look at an actual encyclopaedia but...
Looks like Wikipedia is out for a while... thank god Google caches everything. :-P
No no no, Wikipedia is not allowed to be offline. No! What about all the stuff I don't know yet?
when wikipedia's down, you realise how much you actually use it...
Wikipedia being down makes me sad... :(
OH NO! Wikipedia has actually gone down! How am I supposed to copy and paste into my dissertation now??
wow, wikipedia IS down ... tears
English Wikipedia is down. It's as if millions of college papers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Wikipedia's down! THE END IS NIGH!
Among the most amusing tweets was one which read: "Oh no! Wikipedia is down! [citation needed]"
Wikipedia has been down for hours! OH NO! Are encyclopedias still out there?
Wikipedia is down. The world might end.
How can we be expected to fact check our stories? Wikipedia is down!
On no wikipedia is down... It's the end of civilisation as we know it p-)
ZOMG WIKIPEDIA IS DOWN! HOW WILL I ANSWER IRKING QUESTIONS? HOW I WILL I GET INFO ABOUT RANDOM ASS THINGS?
wikipedia is down! how will my brain function?
Wikipedia down! Now where will I get my slightly suspect information about everything?
Oh no! Wikipedia is.. *gulp* Down! What WILL the world DO???
Is Wikipedia down for everyone right now?! Because I can't search for anything & I am FREAKING. OUT.
Speaking of Wikipedia going down, does that mean that we have to use ..................Books to find things out?
sweet mother of god, wikipedia is down!
Wikipedia is down! Emergency Management Plans activate everywhere! Panic in the streets! Oh, the humanity! :P
Wikipedia is down. Should. Have. Donated. More.
Wikipedia has been down for quite some time now. This is frustrating.
Wikipedia goes down – a stark reminder of the things we take for granted
... is down. All accumulated knowledge has been lost. I'm off to invent fire now.
First the Library of Alexandria and now Wikipedia. Not sure how much more of this I can take!
Anxious looking student leaving my building bellowing into her phone, "Wikipedia's down!Wikipedia's down!"
Where will NBC get their news sources???
Why is Wikipedia down?! It's like the universe has abandoned me.
Is Wikipedia down? "Oops! Google Chrome could not find en.wikipedia.org" Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
Wikipedia is officially down. How am I supposed to live???? You have no idea how much this has crippled me. Well, at least it wasn't Google.
If Wikipedia wasn't down right now, I'd be so much more productive.
The wikipocolypse begins...
Brilliant, wikipedia is down when I really need it D:
Can anybody estimate the financial loss due to this stoppage of wikipedia ...it wud be interesting ...
Is wikipedia down? This is making me realize how much I rely on wikipedia.
Is Wikipedia down? I may be going insane.
Hamlet? Without my ability to look that up on Wikipedia, I'm merely going to assume it's something sold by Dennys.
How can wiki not be working? This is much scarier than Twitter being down :-| wikipedia has never not worked D:
Yeah, Wikipedia still seems to be down. Wanted to find out how old Pascal Zuberbuhler is. Had to work far too hard for the answer
Wikipedia is down right now. As a result, my role of providing basic background information in class discussions is shot.
wikipedia is down, facebook is acting screwy...must be China getting back at the west for google
lJWHEGFKJHEWF WE'RE ALL GUNNA DIE. wikipedia is DOWWWN.
so @wikipedia is down and everybody is freaking out