"the spoon"
where the hell did a spoon come from in all of this

I think it's completely possible that staff just decided to close down the quest over the weekends to try and alleviate some of the server lag
It could be something quest-related, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was just to ease the server

Edit: I guess it wouldn't make much sense for them to be giving new bounties but not allowing you to turn them in, so maybe it is something related to a quest