On June 26th, 2024, the website One Million Checkboxes (OMCB) launched with the unique concept of one million global checkboxes that users could check, and it would be checked for everyone on the site instantly. Surprisingly, within hours of launching, tens of thousands of users checked millions of boxes, causing the site to crash frequently. The site gained popularity from sources like Hacker News and Twitter, attracting overwhelming traffic. The site faced challenges in scaling, causing crashes and downtime. While the author didn’t anticipate this level of activity, they embraced the short term solutions and made adjustments to handle the increasing load. Despite technical challenges and unexpected popularity, the project showcased an innovative approach to real-time global interaction.
https://eieio.games/essays/scaling-one-million-checkboxes/