or it could be a malicious attack? I doubt most facebook users even know what HN is.
IMO it's probably a lot of us tech workers watching in awe of what's going on when a big tech company craps itself.
Actually, my experience with FB (I have an account, but don't spend much time, there), is that it is packed with grayhairs, like me.
I think the younger folks have other venues they frequent.
This is essentially a reverse network effect: because so few young people are on the platform, few other young people see a reason to use it.
We like to throw anyone over 40 into the skip (especially in the tech industry).
It has caused some issues.
The company does have a fairly young, highly-paid, workforce.
I assumed the user base.
That being said, I've seen theories that certain non-FB sites are slow just because DNS lookups are so backed up.
I have been getting a Hacker News error message more often then usual today. So I don't think it is just DNS.
This seems to happen for .com but not other TLDs so maybe .com is getting hammered?
If most Facebook users knew what HN was and congregated here when FB was down, the site would be utterly crushed.