In return, could a core dev please take a moment to look at this ticket:
This started off as a discussion about making FS wait until a remote web server is available before booting up, however I've added some extra comments on a different approach that could be used.
My suggestion is to add additional functionality to mod_xml_curl that allows you to define an on_failure event, which then executes any script of your choice.. you can then implement your own logic in the script.
This would allow you to detect mod_xml_curl problems, and stop your FS instance from being in a 'semi loaded' state in the event of a temporary web server problem.
Any thoughts/feedback would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Cal