I meet the Bloglines Plumber too often

Here’s a guy I’m getting tired to see. He’s the “Bloglines Plumber” and he comes on to my screen every time Bloglines is down for “a little fixer upper”.

Hi,

I’m the Bloglines Plumber. Bloglines is down for a little fixer upper. We’ll now be back at 1 Am Pacific Time. Bloglines will be all better when I’m done with it.

Thanks,
The Bloglines Plumber

The down time wouldn’t be much hassle if it:

1) Didn’t happen so often; and
2) Didn’t affect a vital part of my media monitoring.

I wouldn’t accept a “little fixer upper” on a regular basis for my email client, nor do I think it is acceptable that Bloglines goes down now and then. RSS has become an important channel for my news consumption. I use it for monitoring media, reading important blogs, monitoring the blogosphere for mentions of my company’s brand etc. It’s nothing I am especially pleased at being locked out from for several hours. Sure, they often do it during non-office hours in the US, but hey, the blogosphere is awake 24/7 so when it is a convenient time for an upgrade in the US, it is not in Sweden. Perhaps it would be possible to run the service on a limited scale while doing the upgrades. I don’t know how, I just feel that if this continues I might have to abandon Bloglines for a more reliable service.