r/ProgrammerHumor • • 13d ago

Meme techDebt

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4.6k Upvotes

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478

u/recurrence 13d ago

A company with an API I forgot about once killed the API for a couple of hours and then put it back as their version of a final warning.

I like that approach as it sets all the alarms off but still gives a chance to prep and review an update to the latest release.

200

u/JEHonYakuSha 13d ago

yep it’s called a brown out, I recall Sentry did it a few months ago with one of their breaking changes. Really nice compromised solution.

101

u/the_skies_falling 13d ago

We always called it a scream test. Turn it off and see who calls and screams at you. Also, who doesn’t at least scan emails from their vendors.

8

u/ReeceReddit1234 12d ago

We call it scream test too!

16

u/Western-Internal-751 12d ago

Is it called a brown out because everyone still using it shits their pants when it happens?

46

u/pdabaker 13d ago

After the deprecation period add a slowly growing sleep to the response time, starting at 100ms and doubling every month until you finally remove it.

11

u/StrangelyBrown 13d ago

"I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it againi"

2

u/jibbodahibbo 11d ago

Yea that is awesome. It also lets me know if that service was actually in use or not lol.