>>"...the servers were apparently designed to anticipate about 50,000 people a day going on the website and moving around and they -- it turns out it's been 250,000 a day. So it's very clear that there is demand. "
If true, then I'm leaning towards your camp- 50,000 visitors/day might be reasonable long-term but you'd need to anticipate HUGE visitor numbers on day 0. Even 250,000 visitors/day is fewer than I'd expect from this site. I'd expect millions of tire-kickers on day 0.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
