smegwina wrote:Please remember that unless anyone here has access to server logs, or has interrogated the host server itself, everything we say is pure conjecture.
The only thing that is certain is that the servers were overloaded.
Was it a DDOS? Possibly.
Was it the frantic clicking of the public? Possibly.
There are only a few people who know, and we aren't them!
Would CW knowingly mislead? Unlikely, but look at the Bremont fiasco.
Could they be given incorrect information by the host? Possibly
Could we all be jumping to premature conclusions? Probably.
Is it all getting a bit out of hand with the "I'm not buying any more"/statements? Definitely
There are only two certainties.
1 - CW need to get a handle on their IT capacity/capability. They have issues with virtually every sale, and it is simply astonishing that these issues keep reappearing. Sales fall over, stock systems appear to not be linked to purchases, order tracking seems non existent and there is a general immaturity about their whole IT infrastructure.
The above are basic web storefront requirements and I hope they have a deep dive look at their whole structure from an IT/ecommerce platform perspective.
Now, whilst frustrating, none of the above is malicious, and we need to remember that.
What doesn't help on an overstretched system is people link hopping, adding random numbers to baskets to see how many of a particular product are left, etc etc, so we need to realise this as well.
The second certainty is even if it were a DDOS attack, data integrity will still be maintained. A DDOS is simply an overload of the servers by a vast number of automated requests, as opposed to someone poking around in the databases.
Think if it as a server flashmob. Ever seen the news reports of masses of people trying to force themselves into a shop and getting stuck when the doors to a store are opened on bank holiday sale day? That is essentially what happened here. A DDOS attack would be if there were also a couple of hundred/thousand random people added to that crowd. It simply overloads the capacity of those doors to cope.
Please let's remember to keep a sense of reality.
Rant over...
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