An Apology

I don't normally blog about my day job here, but I'll make an exception this time. If you're a regular at Wired.com, you may have seen the following monstrosity covering virtually every page of our site from about 10:00PM PST last night till sometime early this morning:

This ad, which doesn't have a close button, also didn't go away. It made the site unreadable, which is even worse than the whole site going down altogether, because it looked like we did it on purpose.

Suffice to say, we didn't. It was bug, combined with a quality assurance breakdown, combined with alert system breakdown, combined with a time zone issue (the site is administered from the East Coast). But the bottom line is that it was a major screw-up, and we're getting to the bottom of how it happened.

We've received hundreds of emails and comments complaining about this, and with good reason: it's about the worst thing you can do to a website, and we're just sick about it.

Anyway, please know that we're working hard on finding out what happened and why and ensuring that it never happens again. Many apologies.

Comments

[Brian]

Chris,

I saw you speak on your Long Tail book tour in Seattle last year.

I wanted you to know that my heart sinks with yours. I've been in the software quality business for over 20 years and I know how this feels.

I trust that everyone at CondeNet is doing their best to solve the problem and put safety measures in place to make sure it doesn't happen again.

After the dust settles, you may want to consider posting the results of the after action review. One sure way to quiet angry customers is to let them know how problem happened and what you're doing about it.

Brian
Seattle, WA

[Nuno Machado Lopes]

Nice one Chris - a frank apology is worth so much more - can anyone really stay upset? Not really. Keep up the great work. S#$t happens!

All the best
Nuno
Lisbon Portugal

[Kathy Egan]

I have 2 children who will be choosing colleges in the next couple years. Do you have any advice for a way for them to get some experience in some of the new skillsets they will require to compete in the virtual marketplaces? Do you need a couple of remote interns for the summer?
Sincerely,
Kathy
Buffalo, NY

[Dave Allen]

Chris,

Although that was an unfortunate incident it gives us a great example of radical transparency by you and Wired....

[hughw]

This happens to all kinds of flash ad sites! I've seen it a hundred times. I hope you identify the issue and let us kniow whether it's a flash bug or pilot error we need to educate the planet's web layout authors about. It's maddening.

[Ben]

Hmmm... sounds like fodder for yet another book: The Short Tale of Advertising. ;) Not the first time this has happened, and certainly not going to be the last time. Whether it's flash gone wild or oversized images exploding all over, it sucks, it's embarrassing, but 2 days from now very few people will remember it. cheers!

[Irene Grumman]

Good apology. I agree that when the causes and solution for a glitch are known, they should be made public.

[Goofyy]

I wrote in about it. I was impressed to hear back. I hope you get some compensation for the trouble this has caused your ogranization.

[fsdf]

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[Jimmy Gambier]

Chris,

I agree with the other comments that it's commendable of you to admit to an error and that you are working to correct it.

I do hate those flash ads though! I wonder how AT&T feels about this - the clickthrough rate must have been amazing!

[TSop]

AT&T sucks.

[BillyWarhol]

Tara Hunt would love to see this!!

oh yoy*

;))

i wish i had all my old WIRED mags*

i loved the colourz of the Spinez*

George Lucas + Burning Man*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billywarhol/488394345/

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[kabin]

thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner