That seems a silly argument. I don’t follow the Straight Dope Twitter feed (or any Twitter feeds for that matter), but in this extraordinary circumstance I made a point of seeking out the SD one to see if any information was available. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
It’s at the bottom of every page, whether you are logged in or not.
That will get you in contact with the right folks if you have trouble logging in.
Y’know- that’s a really good point. I don’t think anyone of us thought about Twitter. We were posting on the SDMB group on Facebook and providing some updates at GB, but that is insufficient for the casual user.
I found the webmaster address on the page that said “you can’t log in”.
Hence the reason why I said I would pass on the suggestion that it could be used for announcements in the future. I’m not sure that was even thought of in the rush to fix the problem.
Who is the group owner?
I want to make sure I’m messaging the right person.
I truly don’t know why I didn’t see it. :smack:
My emphasis.
I did. I tweeted to @Str8dope_com but got no reply.
During the recent outage, no one knew what was going on except it looked a lot like a DDOS. Management wasn’t communicating (or wasn’t able to communicate) with the teaming masses in a meaningful way, leaving most of us to fend for ourselves and speculate what was going on. Creating a sock was one way to test if the board could be accessed by a new name even if not by an old one. It was just a test and an attempt to learn what we could.
Other circumstances might suggest other methods of response. In all cases, it would be best if management would be more forthcoming with info, IMHO.
I don’t know how to find the group owner (which probably means that it was so painfully obvious that I missed it), so I just messaged the first admin. I ended up approved in a few hours. As has been mentioned already you don’t need to be FB friends with someone to send them a message (although they might miss it if they aren’t checking for messages from non-friends).
ETA The FB group is “Straight Dopers”
It’s been a while since I signed up on FB. I probably sent a message to an admin as well.
If you go to Redirecting... there should be a “Join Group” (or similar wording) button to the left of the “Share” button in the lower right of the big Straight Dope header image… That will allow the admins to see your request for approval.
As far as I can tell, you can’t see the Facebook group unless you have a Facebook account, but you can read tweets from @Str8dope_com without having a Twitter account. So as the last person in the world without either a Facebook or a Twitter account, it would be helpful if communications came via both systems.
If you can’t FIND the group, sending a message to the owner can be a bit tricky.
ETA: Thanks to Canadjun for supplying the group name.
I for one am pretty grateful for those who took the trouble to make socks. I mean, I was planning to wait it out, anyway, but it was nice to check in and see that the problem was universal and that some people had posted and explained.
I agree straight dope needs a facebook page. I can’t believe I am saying it, but it is true. :ritualistically spits:
It has one.
That’s not official, is it? I’m part of that one, but I meant one run and maintained by Ed. It doesn’t even have to have frequent posts, as noted earlier - just posts when needed.
Oh. I didn’t know that’s what you meant.
I don’t think there needs to be a Facebook page. At times when global messages need to be sent out, Twitter is the most efficient way. Even if you hate it and never use it any other time. Heck, people in revolutions, riots, and natural disasters use it to keep in touch at those times.
Quoting from the group description:
So, they may want you to do more than “Join group”
Ditto this for me too.
Another strategy: Close your browser, shut off your computer and go outside for some exercise and fresh air.
I was able to read the board even though nobody could log in. For at least a few hours, that more-or-less satisfied my cravings. And enabled me to see all those remarks by all those sockses, so I knew it wasn’t just me. (My e-mail to webmaster was answered, but I got that the following day.)
After that, I just followed my own advice:
Had I gotten any more desperate, my next reaction would certainly have been to look over at Giraffe’s place, where I was confident the matter would be under discussion. We have so many members in common at both places, and SDMB is so often discussed over there, it’s the obvious place to go.