This is just great. I had a very similar experience with http://openexchangerates.org - hacked it together and left it running, and only realised just how popular it had become when, one morning 6 months later, I woke up to over 20 emails, all saying similar things to what the woman said to OP.
"What the hell! It's been down for a day already! When is it coming back?"
I was pretty bemused, so I checked the server logs and found that it had been hurtling along at what looked like 60,000 requests per day (I later found out it was closer to 200,000).
Needless to say I jumped in, fixed it, and got talking to the users who relied on the project for their businesses or personal projects - it's been a blast.
edit - it's since been completely rewritten, so I can't say the code went unchanged..
"What the hell! It's been down for a day already! When is it coming back?"
I was pretty bemused, so I checked the server logs and found that it had been hurtling along at what looked like 60,000 requests per day (I later found out it was closer to 200,000).
Needless to say I jumped in, fixed it, and got talking to the users who relied on the project for their businesses or personal projects - it's been a blast.
edit - it's since been completely rewritten, so I can't say the code went unchanged..