When a web site is linked from the tech news site Slashdot it’s not uncommon for the resulting traffic to bring the host server to a crawl, or in a worst case scenario, to it’s knees. Even the most high-powered redundant servers are susceptible to being overcome by too many simultaneous attempts to access their content. When a webmaster says “I’ve been slashdotted” there may be some pride in their voice, but more likely they’ve spent the day trying to keep their web server online and responding at least in some manner until the traffic dies down and things return to some semblance of normalcy.
You may be aware of my Color Classic Web Server project that I launched in July of 2004 on the anniversary of the Apollo moon landing (that was coincidence, not forethought). This trusty, cute computer that was released before most of the world knew there was an internet is now serving web pages 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from my home at http:///colorclassic.com and generally gets 4 or 5 hits a day as a result of google searches.
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