status.linode.com is a good way for customers to be aware of networking events that are scheduled, but the site doesn't do well at showing real time status as it takes a human to actually update it.

It would be nice if Linode had a portion of that site that showed an automatically checked status. For instance, the Dallas issue today. What happens when there's an issue? Everyone runs to status.linode.com to see if it was announced (it was not). The next step is then to run to support, whether this be tickets, IRC, email, or phone. We want validation that:
A. We're not crazy
B. It's not our server setup's fault.

A simple red indicator next to a datacenter name would suffice. The implication being that everyone would see that and know "Oh okay, it's not my fault and Linode knows about it".

If you wanted to get super cool with it, have a look at https://status.github.com/. The more graphs the better.