diff --git a/docs/_pages/home.md b/docs/_pages/home.md
index f2934db..99fe320 100644
--- a/docs/_pages/home.md
+++ b/docs/_pages/home.md
@@ -55,61 +55,8 @@ doc-faq-quality:
 <!-- the following div will be swapped with the HTML generated by the backend API -->
 
 <div id="statsTable">
-<table  id="sortableStatsTable" class="display">
-<thead>
-    <tr>
-        <th rowspan="2"><img src="./images/minion-logo-100px.png"></th>
-        <th colspan="2" style="border-left: 2px solid black;">7 Days</th>
-        <th colspan="2" style="border-left: 2px solid black;">30 Days</th>
-        <th colspan="2" style="border-left: 2px solid black;">12 Month</th>
-        <th rowspan="2" style="border-left: 2px solid black;">Issues</th>
-        </tr>
-    <tr>
-        <th style="border-left: 2px solid black;">Visitors</th>
-        <th>PageViews</th>
-        <th style="border-left: 2px solid black;">Visitors</th>
-        <th>PageViews</th>
-        <th style="border-left: 2px solid black;">Visitors</th>
-        <th>PageViews</th>
-    </tr>
-</thead>
-<tbody>
-    <tr>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-    </tr>
-</tbody>
-<tfoot>
-     <tr>
-        <td>arc42.org</td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-        <td></td>
-        <td class="cell-style"></td>
-    </tr>
-</tfoot>
-</table>
-
-Data is being collected by arc42 statistics service running on <a href="https://fly.io" target="_blank"><img src="/images/fly-logo-landscape.svg" width="60px"></a>
+
+Data is being collected by arc42 statistics service running on fly.io.
 
 </div>
 
diff --git a/go-app/internal/api/apiGateway.go b/go-app/internal/api/apiGateway.go
index 9cb72b3..b5182b9 100644
--- a/go-app/internal/api/apiGateway.go
+++ b/go-app/internal/api/apiGateway.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func statsHTMLTableHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		database.SaveInvocationParams(r.Host, r.RequestURI)
 
 		// 4b: inform owner via Slack
-		msg := fmt.Sprintf("Loaded arc42 statistics in %sms on %s", domain.ArcStats.HowLongDidItTake, time.Now)
+		msg := fmt.Sprintf("Loaded arc42 statistics in %sms on %s", domain.ArcStats.HowLongDidItTake, time.Now().Format("02 Jan 15:04"))
 		slack.SendSlackMessage(msg)
 
 		// 5. finally, render the template
diff --git a/go-app/internal/slack/slack.go b/go-app/internal/slack/slack.go
index 49e2ce4..be84883 100644
--- a/go-app/internal/slack/slack.go
+++ b/go-app/internal/slack/slack.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func getSlackAuthToken() string {
 		// we exit here, as we have no chance of recovery
 		log.Error().Msgf("CRITICAL ERROR: required Slack Auth token not set.\n" +
 			"You need to set the 'SLACK_AUTH_TOKEN' environment variable prior to launching this application.\n")
-		os.Exit(14)
+		//os.Exit(14)
 	}
 	return slackAuthToken
 }
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func getSlackAPI() *slack.Client {
 			{
 				// this should never happen, as env.GetEnv() needs to care for valid environments
 				log.Error().Msgf("Invalid environment %s  specified for slack messages", env.GetEnv())
-				os.Exit(14)
+				// os.Exit(14)
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/go-app/main.go b/go-app/main.go
index a30917d..a95cefb 100644
--- a/go-app/main.go
+++ b/go-app/main.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"arc42-status/internal/database"
 	"arc42-status/internal/domain"
 	"arc42-status/internal/env"
+	"arc42-status/internal/slack"
+	"fmt"
 	"github.com/rs/zerolog"
 	"github.com/rs/zerolog/log"
 	"os"
@@ -85,11 +87,14 @@ func main() {
 	// Save the startup metadata persistently, see ADR-0012
 	database.SaveStartupTime(time.Now(), appVersion, env.GetEnv())
 
+	// tell Slack that an instance has been started
+	msg := fmt.Sprintf("Started arc42 statistics server on %s",
+		time.Now().Format("02 Jan 15:04"))
+	slack.SendSlackMessage(msg)
+
 	// log the server details
 	api.LogServerDetails(appVersion)
 
-	// load statistics and add results to cache
-
 	// Start a server which runs in the background, and waits for http requests
 	// to arrive at predefined routes.
 	// THIS IS A BLOCKING CALL, therefore server details are printed prior to starting the server