why not roll out the healthcare.gov?

[Divine Discontent]

Last edited Tue Oct 1, 2013, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

With possibly millions trying to get on it's of course not working. It either doesn't load the security questions you set up for account password help, or if it does, and you set the "favorite restaurant" etc, and hit enter, it tells you it failed in setting up an account for you on the site. I've tried every hour a few times. The chat help also just hangs, and no one has responded to me once on it. Why not do as google does with soft roll outs or phased in based on state, or zip code, or last 2 digits of birth. This is a massive program (I understand that, that's why I'm asking why not a roll out). Hopefully it'll be resolved in a few days when the congestion slowly fades away as more get signed up. (still trying, I'll try again tonight and see if I get lucky)

[Tx4obama]

1. It's like a release of a new movie everyone wants to see. Folks stand in line all night...

... and some at the back of the line don't get thru the door.

Seems like folks would know better to wait a couple of days to go to healthcare.gov when the traffic is lower instead of everyone trying to access the page all at once - it is not going anywhere, it will still be there next week, and next month, etc.




Edited to add the word 'week'.

[steve2470]

6. agreed nt

[Divine Discontent]

8. dear Tx4obama

"Seems like folks would know better to wait a couple of days" - so why is it even open then?


It's an ugly first impression in a time when our party doesn't need them. Widespread negative reports already about it, which is quite unfortunate. A roll out would have been much more aware of the reality of what was going to occur if you just say okay, America sign up!

[steve2470]

11. I'm guessing you've never played World of Warcraft, correct ?

WoW is operated by Blizzard Entertainment, a huge corporation with tons of servers. They KNOW at every expansion, there WILL be problems. Even with their money and resources, they still have problems on the first day. We players and ex-players have learned to expect it. Don't want problems ? Don't play on the first night.

The only company I've ever known to 99.99999% avoid problems is Google. Then again, Google gets massive data loads all day long, and not a load that goes from 0 to 20 million in one minute.

Just trying to be informative, and not snarky.

[Divine Discontent]

13. I know you're not being snarky, but thanks for saying that anyhow

this isn't blizzard WoW, it's the fed gov't who had years to prepare a site, and I find it sad that they didn't think a roll out was much more prudent. We're not trying to battle each other online in a game, which would overload any server I can easily attest, it's a signup page that could have easily been set by zip codes starting with 0, then 1, and so on, as to when you could sign up, having a failure rate of nearly 100% (it is 100% for me, just to get signed up for the website, not even to the insurance portion) would not occur with a well-planned roll out is all I'm saying, and the bad press it is generating on USA Today and all the other sites, and TV news saying in typical fashion the gov't can't get anything to work, etc... is just really short-sighted. But, whatever, I know it will be good come a few weeks from now. Just an obvious SMH moment as to why they didn't want to prevent bad press for it, when they could have.

[DireStrike]

41. The fact that it isn't a major game company makes it worse, not better.

Companies have an interest in everything going smoothly on launch. Only about half of Washington wants the ACA to succeed, and the other half is trying to sabotage it constantly.

[PoliticAverse]

24. Google handles this by doing selective beta testing, gradually adding more and more people

to the 'beta test' until virtually everyone that wants it is using it.

[Divine Discontent]

28. they're amazing, really. thanks

[Keefer]

2. They could have rolled it out

gradually, by SS #, state, zip code, years of birth, anything except all at once.

[Bandit]

4. It has been being rolled out for four years now.

Are you just learning about it?

[Keefer]

7. Huh?

All I'm suggesting is instead of letting 300 million people, (an admitted exaggeration,) try to create accounts on the same day, enrollment could have been phased in gradually.

[Divine Discontent]

10. some take great offense to any semblance of disapproval here...

the flock to the threads and post as fast as they can to challenge any thoughts that go astray! LOL

[Keefer]

16. I understand, but...

I showed no disagreement, I was just offering suggestions to prevent the crashes that were inevitable when so many people tried to log-on the first day. It turned out just like a denial of service attack.

[Divine Discontent]

9. exactly! so many ways to roll it out! ugh... so many thousands of hours of time wasted

don't tell people the site is up and go sign up, then have them get a horrible first impression of Obamacare.

[bunnies]

3. Im guessing this is why people have 6 months to sign up.

Doesnt seem too unreasonable to me.

[steve2470]

5. I think it's a no win for HHS

If they had rolled it out gradually, there would have been screams of discrimination and lack of access, blah blah. The screamers would not have wanted to listen to reason.

The current situation, imho, is to be expected. The only way it would have worked semi-perfectly is to spend a huge amount on servers, like Google does. I can't see HHS doing that with their budget.

It's good enrollment goes up to March 31st of 2014.

[Divine Discontent]

12. having the entire country get "your account couldnt be created" is worse

a roll out and an explanation would suffice for most people. I am getting text after text (I'm pretty connected) from people complaining about the site, and asking for help. I'm just relieving some of my frustration here by asking why wouldn't they do a rollout, which of course, is seen as anti-Obama to certain people.

sigh

[Ohio Joe]

14. Don't be so dramatic... The entire country is not getting that message

There are crap loads of people trying to sign up on day 1 and with so many people, there will be issues of handling them all. Be patient and keep trying.

[Divine Discontent]

20. I've yet to have one of my contacts tell me that anyone has signed up successfully

I haven't talked to them in a few hours, so hopefully, several have gotten people signed up. all I stated is that a roll out would have been much more successful, because you shouldn't say a site is up and running, if it's really not. all the sign up has is a few boxes to fill out with your email address, and that's not working. no biggie, got months, but it's a waste of time if it's not going to work, so we'll have to see how often the denial of signup occurs.

[steve2470]

26. at 3 AM I signed up successfully

For right now, it's pretty futile to sign up from maybe 7 AM to 10 PM EST. People need to wait or sign up very late night or at 3 AM if they are still up and coherent.

[Ohio Joe]

32. oh... You know noone that has signed up... It must be everyone...

Look around, even FAUX, who want every opportunity to slam it is not trying to pass off bullshit like this. Plenty of people have signed up with little or no problem.... Sheesh

[PoliticAverse]

35. You highlight a problem with the government doing a slow rollout for something like this.

One thing they could have done is picked a date like Oct 7th for the launch then announced it was online a few days earlier
'for beta testing' using a low key announcement to add people in a more gradual manner.

[steve2470]

37. yes that would have been better nt

[Divine Discontent]

42. +1

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Much ado about nothing

In two months, nobody will remember the first day glitches. In ten years, hardly anyone will remember that people ever complained about the ACA. The website issue is so minor that it hardly bears mention.

[Divine Discontent]

17. doesn't negate the failed preparation, but whatever. I didn't plan it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. It's a non-issue

But by all means seek out the negative. We can revisit this thread in two months when nobody gives a shit.

[Divine Discontent]

23. now you're being a jerk.

you're quite talented at that. Saying a roll out would be better is not seeking out the negative. Good Grief!

[FSogol]

22. Whaaaaaaa! Computers are hard!

[Divine Discontent]

25. now enters the smart asses!

[FSogol]

27. and the name callers.

[Divine Discontent]

30. what do you want? the ability to be a jerk without being told don't be a jerk? geez

[FSogol]

31. Whatever. Hope you have better luck signing up next time. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

34. there ya go! that's better. good job :) n/t

[DireStrike]

19. Still a better launch than SimCity.

Major software developers still have problems with launches all the time. It's not surprising that poor decisions would be made.

Disappointing, yeah, but not surprising.

[Divine Discontent]

21. lol. yep.

[NightWatcher]

29. Give it a break. It's Day One and there are 48 million uninsured

No website can handle the traffic it is getting. You've got more than 2 months to sign up to be eligible on Jan 1.

[Divine Discontent]

33. give what a break? I asked why didn't they do a roll out? seriously, way too touchy folks...

[Skinner]

36. You know how everyone lines up to buy the new iPhone, and then they run out of iPhones?

It's okay. The scarcity makes people want it more.

Personally, I whould have preferred to be able to access the site today. But the bigger picture is this: I would rather the stories in the press be "Obamacare websites overloaded by massive demand" rather than "Obamacare websites come online and nobody cares."

[FSogol]

38. +1. n/t

[steve2470]

39. good points !

[Divine Discontent]

40. yep, a bad side to it being locked up, but in turn, a good side to show people want it

of course, the naysayers just reply with "yeah, it's free". sigh... lol

good to see you, btw! I pray all is well with you.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

43. Also, it's not a trivial thing to bring up a webserver that gets Facebook-volume hits on Day 1.

I hope they're working with Akamai or other CDN's, or will be very soon.

[Ellipsis]

44. It's called field testing and it has to be done.

At some point or another you have to roll out the program and take what comes... and until that system comes under stress you won't see the problems. Frankly they are doing marvelously well considering it's been less then 24 hours; Absolutely impressive given just the sheer number of hits they are getting.... and they are making adjustments as they go, give it a few more days before you make any judgements.

[Divine Discontent]

45. that's why I like what the others have said about Google doing the beta and soft opens

that makes sense, but yes, hopefully in a week, it'll all be fixed. it's too bad it's not ready to go, but it's too late now, it's off and running.

just got my 18th "Important: Your account couldnt be created at this time. The system is unavailable."

I help a lot of people sign up for things, so I really hope soon to be on it so I can reply to the requests for help without saying, "I can't until the site is working".

[Ellipsis]

46. Do it during off peak hours... Also Obama said they are expanding server capabilities as we speak

Call it a soft open if you like.

The pipe is only so wide...

You can empty a pool with a garden hose if you want but it'll go a lot faster with a culvert. It's more cost effective to ramp up to demand then regret unneeded outlay and commitment especially since the program doesn't take effect till January one. They will put needed infrastructure in place to handle demand and demand will ease after initial curiosity.