One of the most frustrating and confusing things about technology and especially network technology is the fact that a web site can appear to be in perfect working order one minute and be broken, non-responsive, slow or unreachable the next.

Why does this happen? The answers aren’t often simple, but one of the most common problems with technology in general and web sites in particular is that they are either not documented properly or not tested properly. In some situations, they are neither. Without putting too fine a point on it, releasing untested software is guesswork, even if it is an off-the-shelf application with minimal additional options. [Read more…]