"If this was a server maintenance, upgrade, or migration situation, why not simply tell me? Would it shatter the illusion of iCloud as a monolith of silently functional services?"
50 minutes in this week's Vergecast and no one has uttered the phrase "Pics or it didn't happen."
Maddening.
The phrase is dead. A new one needs to come in its place.
My suggestion: "Google Pix(el); it didn't happen."