Eish! If you're experiencing issues accessing your favourite websites tonight, you're not alone. A widespread Cloudflare outage is causing chaos across the internet, affecting everything from social media to government websites. Here's the scoop:
What's Going On?
Cloudflare, a major content delivery network (CDN), experienced a significant internal service disruption. This has resulted in widespread "500 errors" – basically, your browser's way of saying the server is having a major jol. The problems started around 20:48 SAST and impacted services globally.
Which Sites Are Affected?
Reports are flooding in about problems accessing a wide range of online services. Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) experienced intermittent issues with loading posts and playing videos. Even ChatGPT was reportedly affected. Some gamers are also reporting disconnects from games like League of Legends and VALORANT, although it's not yet confirmed if this is directly related.
Is It Fixed Yet?
Good news! Cloudflare has identified and implemented a fix. As of around 00:00 SAST on November 19th, they are monitoring the situation. X appears to be back to normal, but keep an eye out for lingering issues as services fully recover.
Why Is This Happening?
Cloudflare's role is to speed up and protect websites. When their services go down, it can have a ripple effect across the internet. Think of it like a major highway being closed – everything grinds to a halt. While the exact cause of the outage is still being investigated, it highlights the importance of reliable internet infrastructure.
What Can You Do?
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do except wait for the services to fully recover. Check Cloudflare's System Status page for updates. In the meantime, maybe grab a cuppa rooibos and chill until the internet gremlins are sorted out!