Maybe to avoid repeated questions like this there should be a set place on at least the home page to have a notice of potential issues. Sort of like a status of the general system, since there's a lot more going on under the hood than just a webpage loading. As far as real estate for such, right top under the settings seems fine for a line or so of text or something.
And it turns out that's exactly what is done. Just saw a notice about a planned outage tomorrow posted. I do think it should be at the top and not below all the subscription/magazine info though, and maybe a bit more "flashy" with an obvious border contrast or something.
Another edit: Okay, someone is either reading this and liking the idea, or it's total coincidence and they figured out it would look better.