— by Lin McNulty, Editor, Orcas Issues —
I could offer any number of seemingly valid explanations as to why yesterday’s story about RockIsland’s service interruption came to be posted on Orcas Issues. Each of those explanations can only end with “Lin blew it.”
I received email notification from RockIsland Communications of a scheduled disruption yesterday afternoon. I immediately posted it and then began to plan ahead so that something would post this morning before things went down.
As I was falling asleep last night, I realized that the RockIsland notice had been sent to my personal email address, not Orcas Issues and that perhaps it wasn’t going to be a scheduled outage for everyone. As I drifted off, I made a dreamy mental note to check on that, and correct if needed, first thing in the morning.
So, no internet connection this morning. When I finally got back online at about 3 p.m. today I found a message from RockIsland’s Dan Burke:
“This article was meant for a small group of people who live on [specific street], which you happen to be one. This is not an island-wide or county-wide notice. Can you please retract this post?
“The message was sent to specific customers (less than 100) about the potential for short periods of disruptions. Most services will automatically switch to other sites and not see disruptions. This message was not intended for mass, or public distribution.
“Crews are performing this work during daylight hours due to safety requirements. We know the internet is a MUST right now, and we would not cause disruptions unless it was absolutely needed. The product of this work will be increased performance for our customers.”
So there you have it. Sorry for any undue anxiety.
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Thanks Lin. I was one of those who received Rock Islands message yesterday, had no problem except for my Linksys getting confused. A reboot fixed that.
Your note may have assisted some of those in the smaller group, unfortunate that it caused widespread panic, hysteria and confusion ;) but I’m sure that our famous “island resilience” kicked in and most will survive.
Lighten up folks and Smile! You’re on Orcas Island
Lin. You made an honest mistake and owned up to it. That’s a rare thing these days….
I actually had forgotten about it until I read your retraction!
Hey, we’ll always take things that swing a story to the good news side of things – thanks for the correction, and phew!!!
The irony is that not only did I not get a personal notification re RockIsland’s shut-downs, but I failed to read your article. I came home today at 2:30…everything ticking, , but clocks telling me there was an outage.
How do you like them apples?
Aww, Lyn, glad all’s well – and for those of us who were scrambling to get alternate strategies, plans A, B and C… it worked out well for future disruptions! Truly there’s a “silver lining” for every oops…. you’re the best, Lyn. And Rock Island rocks on as usual with our fabulous island community just smiling brighter! Thanks all y’all!!
Thanks for the update on the update, Lin. As life changes!