Wildest 36 hours ever!
It’s been a pretty crazy day-and-a-half here in omgland, and I’m finally able to take a quick break from the deluge of support emails and bug reports to share an update.
On Thursday evening (local time), someone linked to omg.lol on Hacker News. I noticed it when I saw one of our servers start to go a little nuts, and sure enough the logs quickly pointed to the HN article as a source of traffic.
I pulled up the post and started looking at the comments. Things were pretty negative at first, which was unnerving, but I resisted the temptation to join in and try to add to or defend anything. As a veteran of late-80s BBSes and the 90s-era internet, I know how that always ends.
Then, the sign-ups started. A few at first, and then—before I could even process what was happening—an unyielding stream. I had never seen anything like it, and it was absolutely unreal. Since launching the service in 2019, its growth has been entirely organic. Things have always been very slow and steady, its spread driven by happenstance or through the occasional small reference someone might drop on a social site. And this has been fine with me, since I’m just one guy doing everything. There’s never been any hurry for growth as far as I’m concerned.
All day Friday the sign-ups continued, and then by Friday evening omg.lol was linked by my long-time internet hero which just sent me over the moon. ❤️
So, how did things turn out? All things considered, pretty well! First, the servers didn’t die (though one came a little close, heh). And our membership grew by 1,070 people since Thursday evening. That’s a 63% increase in total membership, and I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that.
Longtime omg.lol members know that I love to push new features as often as I can and keep things interesting around here. And that’s not going to change at all! But the influx of new people and activity brings some new support demands, as well as a need for me to do a little more prioritization of the boring back-stage stuff that I typically keep putting off because, well, it’s not any fun for you. I plan to spend the next week or so fixing some bugs and bolstering some support processes, and then we’ll be back to our regular wellspring of innovation and fun (or something that tries to feel that way, at the very least).
Thanks to everyone who joined recently (and before recently, too!). I know there can be some trepidation when signing up for something new and unfamiliar, moreso when it’s a smaller (or in this case, tiny indie) service. I’m sincerely humbled and grateful for everyone who takes a chance on this little slice of the internet, and I look forward to keeping things healthy, happy, and fun for all of us well into the future.
Your internet pal,
— Adam