eandh, what happened exactly when you tried to use the site at 5:30?

Meanwhile, for the 4:03 club, just to be clear, your raison d'être remains and will continue to do so for a while longer. Last night's changes were, alas, not for you. We're on the case, I promise. When we finally sort you out (next week hopefully) you can heap your tech love upon us.

Right, here goes.

dooneygirl, as I mentioned earlier, we're working really hard on a fairly complex plan which will mean we no longer have to shutdown for a few minutes each night around 4am. No promises but it'll probably be up and running some time next week.

Grublin, thanks!

That (the downtime you just experienced) wasn't it; that was something else and was unplanned.

I said after 11 and after 11 it will be. Unless I change my mind. But I won't. Probably.

It won't be until at least 11.

"Hmph - you were offline at about 4.15 this morning. Isn't that enough?"

We do that every night, in order to have a bit of a sweep up, put new batteries in and put a note out for the milk man.

However, I am working on a master plan which will soon alleviate the need for all that, so you can enjoy us in all our 24/7 glory.

It's nothing to do with smileys. That's BigTech's thing and besides, you scared him so much last time he won't ever go near them again.

I don't know exactly when. Some time after I've made and eaten the dinner and before I go to bed.

I am not sure the duration of the outage warrants the test card to be honest.

The reasons for the downtime are far too dull to discuss; you won't notice any difference when it's back. Feel free to make up your own reasons though.

"How long will you be down?"

I beg your pardon?