On Feb 27th,2015 this was what i saw.and i quickly shouted "No.Not again.

I thought the hackers were back

Let me explain what happened, buh before doing that, understand that most error codes starting from “5” are server side errors.

Nairaland uses cloudflare being that it is one of the best CDNs out there. The main error that you can encounter in the case of Cloudflare is error 522. This error occurs in both Cloudflare free and pro version(don't know which NL uses). But, however, here Cloudflare is not the player of the game.

On Feb 27th, a certain thread was posted including photographs purported to be Professor Osibanjo's Parents, when correct details about the images emerged about the counter-thread came up with correct explanation of the photo came up as well.
Millions of users queried that particular page thereby overloading the server.

WHAT NAIRALAND SHOULD DO?
Ditch out the plugin or module that supply database queries to its server often. So that its server will be free enough to serve Cloudflare. Find out which plugin is slowing down the site; spotting down the hyperactive plugin should be the first go in this case.
As per Pareto’s principle, “Roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes”. 80% of the time, error 522 occurs due to faulty plugins, NL should query its server's database more often.
For monitoring the profile or activity of each of the plugin, NL may have to install the P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler). On installing this plugin, it monitors all the activities of the plugin silently. Including the number of database queries it makes, activities, monitors any server load issues caused by the installed plugins. It also displays the impact caused by the plugins on page speed and others. E.g. What is the number of SQL queries per visit? Using this plug-in NL can easily jot down the plug-ins that are causing server load issues and act accordingly.

Also, Caching plug-ins are there to minimize the number of database requests or queries issued a show to the server per visit. The most commonly used images and resources are cached in visitors’ browsers. Thus rendering them page quickly the next time they visit the blog(Nairaland). It makes any page load @ supersonic speed for returning visitors. Using caching plug-ins can greatly decrease the number of queries supplied to NL's server. It does reduce the chances of HTTP error 522.

Other tips
1. Minimize the use of plug-ins especially visitor tracking plug-ins.
2. Look out for minimalist themes.
3. Reduce graphics and external JavaScript.
4. Take a look on the page speed suggestions and score.

i tell U, i was not happy too when i saw dat. But was optimistic

I was happy too. I thought PDP guys were at it again. I just read recently that FG bought some new toys to track Nigerians. I said, they must be running trials.

Anyway, God pass them. #Change all the way!