Update MSN's instant messenger service has gone tits up - again - bringing an abrupt stop to romantic online relationships for the day.

The situation is so bad El Reg believes it could lead to the break-up of relationships - and even divorce.

One reader contacted Vulture Central said: "The MSN Messenger Service seems to have collapsed today much to the irritation of the many thousands of avid and motivated users.

"This service is very much loved by those engrossed in clandestine relationships of a carnal nature for passing surreptitious billets-doux," he said.

And our reader is right.

Indeed, right now, there are tens of thousands of people unable to indulge in a little online flirting - and all because MSN's service is up the spout.

And it gets worse. Unable to contact their lovers, they might try a riskier form of communication exposing them to the threat of being discovered.

While this in itself might titillate some couples, others could be found out leading to all sorts of domestic heartache.

And all because MSN's instant messaging service crashed.

Of course, some of us actually use the service for legitimate commercial reasons and today's outage is an irritation.

Personally speaking, though, not being interrupted by silly messages from colleagues all day is a blessing. As far as I'm concerned, the longer it takes MSN to fix it, the better.

But I'm probably in the minority.

Anyhow, we called MSN to see what was up. We're still waiting for a reply. ®

Just heard from MSN. Some server or something went down - that's why it all went tits up. However, they reckon more than half the service is back up working again and that it should all be sorted in a couple of hours. Unfortunately, early reports from readers suggest that the service is still playing silly buggers with contact lists going astray.