Comment by dempseye

It's not a good practice, but I've done it. The thing is, most live high traffic websites are doing things that are absolutely pointless and the world would not be greatly harmed if they went down. It might even be improved!

It's not my job to prevent some assholes from taking whatever risks they want with their piece of shit non-critical website, once they're in full possession of the facts.

Actual critical systems where lives are on the line are another story completely.