Nairaland, a popular Nigerian forum website, was taken down on Monday after its founder, Seun Osewa, admitted that he had overlooked an abuse report.
Osewa said in a statement that he had received a report about offensive content on the site, but he did not take it seriously enough. He said that he should have removed the content immediately, but he did not.
As a result, the site’s host, Cloudflare, took down Nairaland’s server. Osewa said that he has since removed the offensive content and is working with Cloudflare to get the site back up.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, the founder explained that though the said offensive content had been removed, the server user interface was still experiencing a delay.
Osewa posted, “Nairaland’s server was taken down because I overlooked an abuse report that was originally sent on the 14th. After the takedown, I removed the offensive content.
“The UI for bringing back the server didn’t work so it took hours to get support on how to get that done. Minutes after the forum was brought back, they took the server down again with no warning.
“I’m guessing that the content I removed was still cached on Cloudflare servers, so they could still see it. I have cleared the caches now, but they are not communicating. I hope they will communicate tomorrow.
“If you have any ideas for working with abuse teams, please share. My track record is abysmal.”
Meanwhile, Nairaland users have expressed their support for Osewa and have offered suggestions for how to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Here are some posts:
I'm sorry guys.
Nairaland isn't coming back today.
It's a human issue, not a technical issue.
This did not need to happen at all.
A little oversight caused this.
I'm begging them.— Seun Osewa
(@seunosewa) December 18, 2023
Does anyone have information on what’s happening with Nairaland? Typically, it is part of my nightly routine to check the site before bed, but it appears the page is down tonight. Could it be a technical issue, hacking, or something else?
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) December 18, 2023
So much to say about nairaland but we don't take criticism well so
https://t.co/BvG1MqNKtz
— Neto (@docneto) December 19, 2023
Good. I should have done my report too. Never thought of it.
Nairaland has been used as a BIG tool to bring disrepute to Nigeria. Most of the opinions shared are divisive, hate filed, insulting to the senses, & a propaganda haven. I'm shocked you don't sensor anything there. https://t.co/VJCXUBPGiO
— Queen (@ThatIsokoLawyer) December 19, 2023
Now that everyone know reporting nairaland for abuse will bring down their servers, more people will do this in the near future. If they don’t setup their own private servers, might be the end
— Luminous (@OlumideSamuel_) December 19, 2023
Knew niggas was crazy when I saw a thread on nairaland and they were arguing David vs Wiz for like 3 years. Dem dey update the argument every two weeks.
— MINZU (@MinzNSE) December 10, 2023
What on earth brought Nairaland down? I’m sure this would be resolved but it will be great to learn from what went wrong so that some of us raising similar platforms can be careful. @seunosewa wishing you Godspeed and instant resolution to the issues.
— Lanre Adeola (@Lanredeola) December 19, 2023