They don't have to be long or elaborate. They don't even need to apologize. All they need to say is:

"We recognize users are getting 2002, 10102 and 1017 error codes. Although we are currently focusing on other issues, its on our radar. We estimate that we'll have the issues resolved in 4 (or however long) hours."

That way we'll at least have an idea of when we can return. I hate trying to log in every 30 minutes hoping something will be different. Maybe do a twitter or something.