Incident with Github.com [resolved] • Hacker News Board

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#261

Post by slowin » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC

MontagFTB wrote: post #87

aleksandrm wrote: post #27

Can anyone shed some light why GitHub is having so many problems lately?

Their infrastructure is buckling under increased demand from AI generated code. Imagine the software development lifecycle is a river blocked by several dams- necessary processes that also slow the water’s volume and speed. Writing the code was a very big dam upstream, and successive dams didn’t need to handle a lot of water. With that dam busted wide open, the torrent of code is inundating downstream processes. GitH…

I mean, that’s what they say but it doesn’t pass the sniff test. Which other major service struggles so much with basic scaling? They’re not serving streaming video, they’re not a real-time system. Any problems scaling should have been fixed years ago. Especially with all of Microsoft’s resources behind them.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#262

Post by nerdix » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

ieie3366 wrote: post #100

To everyone who is angry: calm down. Github’s servers are constantly on fire as their usage increased something like 50x due to LLM sloppers pushing large amounts of trash code Unless you have a emergency hotfix (you don’t), go hit the gym or walk outside. If a work tool going down triggers you enough mentally to start angrily ranting online, it’s a sign you need to chill out and focus more on your health

Wouldn't be surprised if we lost free private repos because of the slopocalypse. Though most don't seem to be shy about sharing their slop with the world so I'm not sure if that will actually increase stability.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#263

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

Arubis wrote: post #99

This is starting to feel like Twitter. For a variety of reasons, we had a centralized place where everyone of a particular set of persuasions could connect, and this had outsize benefits for the community as a whole. That place is becoming untenable, and with the loss of goodwill and stability, the community’s started to dissipate. But there isn’t one obvious transition candidate, so the diaspora is finding itself sp…

[deleted]

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#264

Post by polycaster » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #206

askonomm wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an overly optimistic view of things. For a lot of us GitHub is critical infrastructure, which if it goes down loses us and our customers money.

I'd be curious what the statistics might actually be for people who are directly affected because their business is suffering vs. people affected because their employer's business is suffering.

For Germany it's roughly 1:11 if you go by the self-employment rate (~8% of the workforce).

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#265

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

ieie3366 wrote: post #100

To everyone who is angry: calm down. Github’s servers are constantly on fire as their usage increased something like 50x due to LLM sloppers pushing large amounts of trash code Unless you have a emergency hotfix (you don’t), go hit the gym or walk outside. If a work tool going down triggers you enough mentally to start angrily ranting online, it’s a sign you need to chill out and focus more on your health

[deleted]

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#266

Post by poisonborz » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #187

noosphr wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily we already have a distributed version control system that can take over github: https://fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/index.wiki I suppose people can use git too if they ever figure out how to send emails from a dedicated client.

> Luckily we already have a distributed version control system that can take over github Surprised that this wasn't just a link to Git. The biggest benefit of Git over predecessors was that it enabled decentralization. Github re-centralized the common case for the sake of convenience.

Github and other providers before proved that git itself is just a small part of managing code, there's a lot more needed for a full workflow, and it's meaningful for it all to be tightly coupled.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#267

Post by slowin » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

perrygeo wrote: post #62

aleksandrm wrote: post #27

Can anyone shed some light why GitHub is having so many problems lately?

Github's, COO Kyle Daigle, claimed that the number of commits has increased 14x since last year. So shear scale has something to do with it. I don't know of too much software already operating a planetary scale that could easily absorb a 14x bump in a year.

GitHub is pretty tiny compared to something like YouTube and Instagram. Both of which have much better uptime.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#268

Post by icepush » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

Arubis wrote: post #99

This is starting to feel like Twitter. For a variety of reasons, we had a centralized place where everyone of a particular set of persuasions could connect, and this had outsize benefits for the community as a whole. That place is becoming untenable, and with the loss of goodwill and stability, the community’s started to dissipate. But there isn’t one obvious transition candidate, so the diaspora is finding itself sp…

I think that, exactly how 95% of the people that left Twitter eventually returned, we will see a similar outflux of people from Github and the vast majority of them will quietly be back in a few months.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#269

Post by nixgeek » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

OtomotO wrote: post #255

duxup wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And like Twitter most people will keep using it anyway?

Just in the US. I have ONE European client... ONE of dozens who use GitHub. EVERY other client I've ever worked with used their own gitforge or at least bitbucket...

Selection bias then as the majority of European companies are for sure not hosting their own Forgejo or GitForge.

Re: Incident with Github.com [resolved]

#270

Post by geraneum » Mon, Aug 17, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #111

webel0 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I object to the notion that having "american born engineers" is the cause of their issues.

It ain't the cause, but is definitely an enabler, because foreign talent on work visas effectively depends on their job much more so than their domestic counterparts and are thus very unlikely to push back against unreasonable demands or workload.

I don’t watch sitcoms anymore. I come read HN for these gems.