It's time to clean the internet.

I mentioned earlier that I love hoaxes and urban legends. I received information below of a "concerned" customer of mine. It seems he doesn't want his e-Commerce site to be down for a full 24 hours.

I was forwarded the e-mail below by my son. If I understand this correctly my clients will be unable to access the site I have hosted with your company. This concerns me as I was guaranteed 99% up time for my e-Commerce site during normal operating hours. Please let me know how you plan to address the situation.

INTERNET MAINTENANCE ANNOUNCEMENT
IT IS URGENT THAT YOU DO NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM FEBRUARY 28th 23:59 GMT (11:59 PM) UNTIL 00:01 GMT (12:01 AM) MARCH 2nd.
It's that time again. As many of you know, each year the Internet must be closed down for a 24-hour period of time in order to receive maintenance or a "Tune Up if you will".
Many dead links on the World Wide Web will be removed, as well as ftp links that are no longer used. Lost e-mail will also be removed from the system at this time.
Although the down time for maintenance will be an inconvenience for many people, you will find this will allow for a much more efficient and faster responding internet.

This year, the "Tune Up" will occur from 23:59 GMT (11:59 PM) on February 28th until 00:01 GMT (12:01 AM) on March 2nd. During that 24 hour period, dozens of powerful Internet bots at key locations around the globe will simultaneously scan the Internet and complete the desired maintenance jobs wherever they may be required.
To help protect any valuable data you may have on the Internet from possible corruption, we highly recommend you take the following steps before this 24 hour maintenance period begins:
1. Disconnect all terminals and LANs from the Internet.
2. Disconnect all Internet servers from the Internet.
3. Refrain from connecting any computer, or any other Internet connection device, to the Internet in any way.
Note: The term "other Internet connection device" includes such devices as WebTV.
Again, we understand the inconvenience this will cause many people. And for that, we apologize. However, the great increase in Internet performance you will experience after this short period of maintenance will far outweigh any problems it will cause.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Global Internet Maintenance Organization
Webmasters: It is very important that the entire Internet community be notified of the upcoming Internet maintenance before it gets underway. Please direct all of your users and personnel to read this notice ASAP!
Please pass this announcement to all other Internet users you contact as well.
Thank you.

My reply to him was short and sweet:
Your e-Commerce site won't experience any down time. We are on the Global Internet Maintenance Organization's mailing list and have already booked several back generators to keep our sites up and running. However since your site requires 99% up time during these twenty four hours we will have to increase your yearly support amount.

* All names have been removed to protect the Technologically Challenged.

Update : A quick search on About.com's Urban Legends shows the letter my customer received. I'm still debating on whether or not to let him know he's been had