Comment by QuantumNomad_
3 hours ago
I told a friend one time, what if there was a web site that had opening hours.
He said, you can already see the opening hours of all the stores and stuff on Google Maps.
I said, no, not a website like that. I mean, the website itself is open 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, and outside of that it’s closed.
My friend looked at me and just said, why?
Idk, I think it would be neat, I said.
My friend didn’t get it. This guy gets it.
You should interact with government sites more. I'm sure you'll love it when you finally found the time and motivation to do something about the bureaucratic task you've been procrastinating for weeks and then get told that the web site is currently closed.
https://dafyddvaughan.uk/blog/2025/why-some-dvla-digital-ser...
I don't need to imagine. This is how government and bank websites work in Japan. It's maddening how frequently online services are closed in the evening and weekends.
Example: the government e-tax service's operating hours schedule
https://www.e-tax.nta.go.jp/info_center/index.htm
There is a full week of maintenance this month, and it's unavailable after midnight on Mondays and Sundays until 8:30am.
The server sits underneath Shintaro's desk, the guy needs a break once in a while.
> website itself is open 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, and outside of that it’s closed.
So you want people to read your blog at work because when they are off it's closed?
No, I want them to take time off from work to read the blog. Just as they do when going to the DMV, bank, doctor consultation,etc.
> My friend didn’t get it. This guy gets it.
They laughed at Einstein, but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Plenty of these exist. The biggest I'm aware of is B&H Photo Video.
How does this work with time zones?
When you visit my site you are visiting my timezone. Same as if you tried to call me on the phone in the middle of your day but I was asleep during my night.
What attracted me to computers as a kid in the 90s was the promise of an always-on, never moody, deterministic machine. That was magic and finally a fixed reliable point in life, forever. Plus, with the internet, suddenly the world came closer, no matter timezone, things are always there.
We are already killing the deterministic part with LLMs. I can't trust the machine anymore to do tomorrow what I told it yesterday.
Now we also want to remove the always-on aspect? Arbitrarily? Because it's ...cool? I don't get it.
2 replies →
Why stop there?
When you visit my website a notification pops up on my phone and I have to set HTTP response manually.
It's also audio-only, because if you called me on the phone you wouldn't see any UI, would you?
Exactly :)