More On Omaha.com's Problems

The problems the Omaha World-Herald's online portal, Omaha.com, has had in handling large amounts of visitor traffic have been well documented. But now, more than just Nebraskans are taking notice.

"Reflections of a Newsosaur" is a blog written by Silicon Valley CEO Alan D. Mutter. The former city editor of the Chicago Sun-Times later became the second-in-command editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Today, he is a managing partner of Tapit Partners, a two-man, think-tank that helps business owners create successful companies.

In a post titled, "Flat-footed in Omaha," Mutter takes the paper to task for problems he says were not technical, but editorial.

"The poor coverage evidently was caused by a lack of contingency planning on the part of editors, web producers, reporters, photographers and all the other people who are responsible for rapidly, thoughtfully and accurately gathering the information and visual assets necessary to tell a story like this in the age of multimedia."

For more than 24 hours after Wednesday's shooting, access to Omaha.com has been sporadic. Subscribers attempting to access the on-line "E-Edition" have also encountered an error message, rather than the standard sign-in dialogue box.

Perhaps most telling are the comments logged by professional journalists around the country (who are not posting anonymously).

[Update at 5:23 p.m.]
Omaha.com stripped its web content to a single page, containing a single story and the following message:

"We are sorry. Omaha.com is experiencing extremely high traffic.The site is still operational, but it may take some time for you to access it."