Encyclopedia of Life

Poorly done and over clicked?

Rod Page has a post worth reading in which he's "deliberately critical" of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). You should be able to visit the EOL at that link. Only you can't, as of two days following the release. You see, they weren't able to handle the 11.5 million hits they received within the first few hours of going live. We're only left to wonder whether this thing will ever get off the ground.

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Only you can't, as of two days following the release. You see, they weren't able to handle the 11.5 million hits they received within the first few hours of going live. We're only left to wonder whether this thing will ever get off the ground.

Odd ... I visited it once yesterday and twice today without any problem ...

By Scott Belyea (not verified) on 28 Feb 2008 #permalink

11.5 million hits says a lot about the interest that is out there in having open access to biological information. I think it is a very encouraging sign. Technical details remain to be worked out, and Rod Page has some very useful comments, but let's not lose sight of the point of the whole thing: open access to 200 years worth of otherwise unavailable knowledge.