Slight problem with the database...

Just now, I hit “next thread” in MPSIMS. For some reason, I got that gray screen that informed me “There seems to be a slight problem with the database, something something, An email has been dispatched to our technical staff yadda yadda.”

Is that true? I kinda hope not. I backpaged and clicked the thread again and it came up immediately, so there “seems” to have been no real problem. I don’t like the idea of Jerry the Tech God’s inbox getting crammed up with e-mails every time there’s a misstep; he’ll get fed up. No wolf-crier I!

No, no real e-mail is sent. The message is vB-boiler plate, and just hasn’t been changed.

What you experienced is a temporary time-out, for which the server sends you the boiler plate message. Or it just times out without sending it - you never know in advance. But it’s the uncertainties in life that make it interesting, no?

Didn’t jdavis post once that all auto-generated error emails end up in /dev/null?

(i.e. the web equivalent of Disney’s The Black Hole)

Mostly they’ll go right to the trash, but in case of a bigger error these mails could help to trace the cause, so I guess they’re kept enabled.