Ask HN: Why isn't ThePumpkinLady being protected by CloudFlare?

2 points by ThaddeusQuay2 ↗ HN
I just read this glowing article (#1) about how great CloudFlare has been for ThePumpkinLady (#2). I clicked on the link, expecting that her site would not only come up without any problems, but that it would do so blazingly fast. Instead, I got the following message, which has been repeated, each time, after several attempts.

"Website Offline, No Cached Version Available

The website you are trying to access is currently offline. The most likely causes are the server is down for maintenance, there may be a network problem, or the site may be experiencing excessive load.

The site uses CloudFlare in order to help keep it online when the server is down by serving cached copies of pages where they are available. Unfortunately, a cached copy of the page you requested is not available, but you may be able to reach other cached pages on the site.

If you continue to receive this error after you believe the site is back online, you can retry a live version of the site."

How can there not be a cached copy of the main page? The reason I care is because I was about to sign up for a paid account with CloudFlare, and figured I would first look at a real example. ThePumpkinLady could not be a more real example, given that Halloween is only two days away. Does anyone have information about the problem in this specific case, or any specifics regarding problems that you have had with using CloudFlare on your own site, especially when under heavy load? Thanks, in advance, for any useful information or advice.

#1: http://blog.cloudflare.com/tales-from-the-pumpkin-patch

#2: http://pumpkinlady.com

1 comment

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 12.0 ms ] thread
I get a cached copy when I click on the link in the blog post. Not so when I type the URL directly.