I think people tend to read too much into a website being down....

I think people tend to read too much into a website being down. You don't need to take it offline to add information it can be done behind the scenes and then "published".

As for some people now seeing the site again and others not, it's most likely because that "domain default page" has become cached either locally on your PC, or through one of the many servers along the way. Had there been no default page and it was simply a case of the domain not responding, as soon as it was back up everyone would be getting the OBJ page again.