High Traffic Leads To Times Website Technical Problems

The newly relaunched Times Online website has seen a 500% increase in traffic, which has caused technical problems leading to many people being unable to see the revamped pages.

Users have complained that pages on the new site loaded either very slowly, or in some cases, not at all.

In a report in the Guardian, Tom Whitwell, the Times Online comment editor, is quoted as saying that changing 400,000 pages simultaneously had boosted traffic to almost five times its normal level.

In a post on the MediaGuardian.co.uk blog, Whitwell said: “There are about 400,000 pages on the site, and this morning, they all changed simultaneously, which meant that every search engine spider came to visit us. Along with the extra traffic from promoting the site in the paper, we’re getting about five times normal traffic.

“Obviously our plans for coping with that traffic weren’t effective and people coming to the site, including us in the office are finding it very slow – sorry about that.

“As for the content – we’re really proud of it and it’s frustrating people can’t see it properly. That said, I hate it when my supermarket moves something, and some readers will have that experience. Once you’re used to the new site, it should be much quicker and easier to use than the old one.”

The new Times site was launched yesterday, with News International spending £10 million on the new-look website (see The Times Relaunches Website).

The revamped website features more audio-visual content and includes links on each webpage taking users to updates.

News International: 020 7782 3922 www.newscorp.co.uk