China’s government is still figuring out how servers work. Either that or it’s hilariously naive, specifically about what might happen when 1.3 billion people are offered a fast, convenient way of submitting formal complaints.
You know, because what would anyone have to complain about?
On Monday, officials launched an online petitioning website (State Bureau for Letters and Calls). That same day, it crashed. Wall Street Journal reports:
Many Weibo users said they expected the crash due to the number of potential petitioners. Some interpreted the government’s use of a server that couldn’t handle the first-day traffic as a sign of insincerity.
Tech in Asia helpfully adds that this has happened before:
In its fight to battle corruption and abuses of power, Chinese government bodies have launched a series of “citizen reporting” websites over the years, and they almost always get demolished by high levels of early traffic. An anti-corruption website launched in 2007, for example, crashed on the first day due to unexpected traffic. A similar site launched in 2009 also went down on day one for the exact same reason.
The site’s back up, by the way. Enjoy it while it lasts.
This is just another way for the government to keep track of the people. They will now get a list of people who are complaining about shit and will silence them accordingly.
好久不见, ActiveX. These PRC sites are like walking through a Computer Museum.