We try to never have scheduled downtime during trading hours, but recent site performance has been so unreliable that we need to break this rule and take very aggressive steps. Tonight, we will be bringing down the C2 site in order to carry our Phase 1 of our hardware upgrades. (Phase 1 will not solve all of the problems we have been experiencing, but it should help noticeably. Phase 2 will likely occur in about a week or so. The schedule depends on when new hardware arrives and is installed in our data centers.)
Tonight, Thursday night September 3 at 9 PM Eastern US (Friday, September 4, 1 AM GMT) the site will go down for up to one hour, although actual downtime will likely be less than one hour.
If you are a system vendor and you have open positions, and you are concerned that you may want to close them during this time window, you should consider closing your positions before the downtime occurs. You can of course re-open them, if appropriate, afterwards.
I know this is a great inconvenience for all users, and I beg for your patience and understanding. I hope the likely benefit of greater stability and fewer unplanned interruptions will be worth this inconvenience.
On a more general note, thank you for sticking with us during this recent period of site instability. The site’s growth has taken everyone here by surprise, and – while growth is usually a good thing – it certainly isn’t when it comes at the cost of loyal users’ trust. We’re doing everything we can, and spending whatever it takes in time and money, to make things work better. I hope we’ll see improvements soon.
Matthew
I only suggest you realize that although the new C2 design is what the future may hold, that there are a lot of people who prefer the existing C2 design, and being shut down or hobbled in the near future will cause a lot of unhappiness.
Normal IT operation migration paths are that the old and new run in parallel for an extended time, to ensure functionality, transition and user satisfaction.
So far, the new C2 design needs a lot of work and thought. When I do go in (about 20% of the time), I find myself logging off and returning to the existing C2. I strongly suggest you implement a LOT of the many user suggestions that sit on lists or on forum pages. The new still feels very Beta to me…
I also strongly suggest you consider tha idea of making the new C2 modular, so people can somewhat customize their own home page.
I agree with the above post. I find the revised site to be unappealing visually, and in terms of navigation.
IMHO, there was nothing wrong with the original site, it was (is) a brilliant piece of programming.
My only beef with it is that it needs some good art direction (colors, placement, etc.), because it smacks of being a bit homemade. If it was my site, I would be hiring a good freelance art director, not more coders.
But in terms of operation, trading, etc., I found no faults with the original site.
If it ain’t broke, why try to hard to fix it?
