$ date -u
Sat May 9 10:15:48 AM UTC 2026
Hi all, it looks like discuss.online’s automatic SSL juju didn’t work right and the existing cert expired just a bit ago:
$ curl -vI https://discuss.online/
...
* Server certificate:
* subject: CN=discuss.online
* start date: Feb 8 06:59:01 2026 GMT
* expire date: May 9 06:59:00 2026 GMT
* issuer: C=US; O=Let's Encrypt; CN=E8
I’m sure it’ll get fixed, but … this is where the Far Side comics are hosted. 911 yall break glass beep the pagers we’ve got a code 2319 people. Save the cows.
Update awhile later: SSL cert was replaced. The cows have tools, which leads to engineering degrees and rapid repairs.
Let’s encrypt reported an incident yesterday. The issuing stopped working on their end. They were working the problem already.
Edit: pure speculation as the timing of the incident matches. Could also be a bodged update routine, or something else.
I don’t think that was the problem. Auto renewal should have been a month ago.
/agree.
For those who don’t know, the default certificate update bots working with let’s encrpt checks everyday the server certificate and replace it when its expiration date is in less than a month.
This delay let enough time to fix any update issues (on your side or let’s encrypt side) that could occur. These systems works quite well and for free!
So definitely not an responsibility of let’s encrypt here.
In would be cautious with words like definitely. You don’t know if the client works automatically or people request certs manually and just slipped into the downtime.
Both issues (bad practice and bad timing) could have in a fringe accident coincided.
But my first message read to certain, too. Updated that with an edit.
deleted by creator
Certbot renews the cert 2 weeks before expiry. I suspect either a broken cronjob or a missing webserver reload.
Oh my, that sounds bad. I wonder how many certs were up for renewal… thanks for sharing I didn’t see this in the news.
