PR industry reacts with humour and panic as Gorkana database goes down

Throughout this morning, users trying to access the database are met with an error message that reads: "MyGorkana is currently under maintenance. Please try again later."

A spokeswoman for Gorkana told PRWeek that the company's IT team was working to fix the issue, but said late morning that there was no indication when the database would be back online. Gorkana has asked PRs on Twitter to "bear with us".

Dominic Hiatt, managing partner at Rhizome Media, said: "Gorkana has a knack of going down when you least need it to, namely first thing in the morning when stories are breaking. Sometimes it feels like we'd be able to better communicate with journalists through smoke signals and carrier pigeons."

A number of PR pros also took to Twitter to express their concern. Many politely asked (probably through gritted teeth) when normal service would resume:

@Gorkana Can you update your customers on how long maintenance is going to take please?

— Hamish Thompson (@HamishMThompson) November 28, 2017

@Gorkana when will the site maintenance be finished? Thanks

— Camilla Mosley (@camillafmosley) November 28, 2017

Others, however, were a little more dramatic:

All PR's when @Gorkana is down... pic.twitter.com/Lw65hHtu8r

— Oli S (@oli_sonenfield) November 28, 2017

When @gorkana is down pic.twitter.com/TehVc9p6S2

— Bethanie Jane (@BethanieJane) November 28, 2017

However, for journalists, the issue might be a cause for celebration:

Gorkana is down. How I imagine journalists everywhere today: #journorequest pic.twitter.com/Arwt33lqd0

— Dominic Celica (@DomCelica) November 28, 2017

But for those who prepared their media lists in advance, there really isn't much of an issue:

Me, sliding into journalists' inboxes while Gorkana is down for everyone who didn't prep their media list in advance pic.twitter.com/S1wlz66o0z

— Lucy-Ellen Steadman (@LucySteadman) November 28, 2017