I guess this is applicable to any social media platform or other similar systems. Is it because there are always bugs to address, so it’s never really running smoothly, or other reasons?
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The site is running smoothly *because* all the staff are constantly doing things. And it’s not just the engineers. Moderators are removing bad content, lawyers are responding to requests from governments, project managers are making sure projects run on time, and accounting staff are paying all the bills.
It’s like saying “this hotel is running very smoothly. Why would it matter if 80% of the staff left?” It’s the constant, almost invisible effort of the humans that keeps it going. Sure, the building isn’t going to fall down. But there’s not going to be enough staff left to wash and change the sheets, make guest keys, change the air filters, start the giant coffee pots in the morning, receive deliveries of soap, or pay the electric bill.
There’s a whole class of people called Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) whose whole job is to keep large websites working. Here’s a very fascinating thread from an experienced SRE just listing all the ways a large tech company can collapse:
I've seen a lot of people asking "why does everyone think Twitter is doomed?"
As an SRE and sysadmin with 10+ years of industry experience, I wanted to write up a few scenarios that are real threats to the integrity of the bird site over the coming weeks.
— Mosquito Capital (@MosquitoCapital) November 18, 2022
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