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First!

The real WTF is actually that this Title is marked as "Feature Articles" though it should be in "Error'd"...

jo-82:

The real WTF is actually that this Title is marked as "Feature Articles" though it should be in "Error'd"...

And it´s not a first time. What´s up?



Note from Alex: I blame.... ummm... the software!

I had wondered in the past if developers where making these dialog boxes just for WTF screen shots, but the "yggdrasil gnawing dragon throwed an exception" does exist
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=yggdrasil+gnawing+dragon+%22throwed+an+exception%22&btnG=Search&meta=
note to self: add more bizzare and WTF worthy error messages into next project.

George Nacht:

jo-82:

The real WTF is actually that this Title is marked as "Feature Articles" though it should be in "Error'd"...

And it´s not a first time. What´s up?

Hellooooooo! That's why it's the daily WTF. Sheesh. And I thought I was blonde!

gomma bolstrod:

note to self: add more bizzare and WTF worthy error messages into next project.

As the owner of norse.myths.com, I find the Yggdrasil comment awe-inspiring, and will also incorporate similar error messages into my projects. However, I will use "threw" instead of "throwed", because I have limits.

Ratatosk, the 40 year old nerd who lives in his mother's basement, was up last night playing D&D dressed as Ne' Trinifar the high elf when suddenly the curler wearing dragon, also known as "mom", began belowing down the stairs "keep it down you losers, some of us have to work in the morning!"

Ratatosk and his band (which consisted of a drunken dwarf warrior named Breunor, a hafl-elf rogue named Twinkle Toes and a human mage named Merlin) were literally crapping their pants and the sounds coming from the dragon. That is until Merlin pulled out some magical potions of courage (also known as Mountain Dew).

With their spirit reinvigorated from the magical potions they set off on their quest to steal the dragon's treasure, which consisted of Doritos and maybe some ding dongs. Quietly they snuck up the winding stairway. At the top Twinkle Toes searched the door for traps.

Twinkle Toes: "Rolling... HA a 14!"
Ratatosk: "Good, you disarmed the trap!"

Slowly he opened the door that lead into the dragon's lair. The heat was intense in the kit...dragon's lair. Quietly he snuck over to the cabinet containing the dragon's horde. He could hear movement off to his left down one of the corridors and Ratatosk whispered "hurry, the dragon is coming!" As quick as he could Twinkle Toes grabbed the Doritos and made his way back to the exit. Just as the dragon lit a torch he silently closed the door.

Mission complete, the merry band sat and congratulated themselves on a mission well done.

WTFType42? Replace this comment at your own peril!

The last one was actually pretty funny and quite accurate.

In Norse mythology:
- Yggdrasil is the world tree
- Nidhogg is a dragon that eats Yggdrasil's roots
- Vidofnir is indeed an eagle (or rooster in some sources) that lives at the top of the tree
- Ratatosk is a squirrel that goes up and down the tree to carry insults between the the dragon and the eagle.

Now you know... and knowing is half the battle :)

jimlangrunner:

George Nacht:

jo-82:

The real WTF is actually that this Title is marked as "Feature Articles" though it should be in "Error'd"...

And it´s not a first time. What´s up?

Hellooooooo! That's why it's the daily WTF. Sheesh. And I thought I was blonde!

That's more of a meta-WTF.

CommentType18

That is by far the most awesome error message I've ever seen.

Maybe if the original developer responsible for the last screenshot had spent more time actually developing and less time in the clouds dreaming up nerdy in-joke error messages we would have:
A.) Not seen the error because it would have not occurred
B.) Not seen such a WTFy error message.

Somehow even a HRESULT code seems better than this.

dpm:

gomma bolstrod:

note to self: add more bizzare and WTF worthy error messages into next project.

As the owner of norse.myths.com, I find the Yggdrasil comment awe-inspiring, and will also incorporate similar error messages into my projects. However, I will use "threw" instead of "throwed", because I have limits.

It won't be a proper WTF until the error message is displayed in Old Norse. A "WTF" button on the dialog would show a localized version of the dialog text to those few of you who aren't fluent in Old Norse (i.e., non-Icelanders). Or maybe a FILE_NOT_FOUND error. That'd be good too.

Viking Kittens, anyone?

I once got this message while writing code to run on a gameboy advance:

"(void*) is not actually (void*)"

seemed a bit existential at the time.

Well I don't know about the ABC News graphics people, but the newsreader lady doesn't seem very amused.

Great, not only is it a "fun" error message but it contains the word "throwed", which, last time I checked, isn't a word.

These programmers need to be taken out and shot, or failing that, forbidden from ever writing anything again that a user might possibly see.

Also, I'm pretty sure I saw that in a previous WTF. Or maybe it was a 404 page. It looks familiar.

The real WTF is that Veðrfölnir isn't a eagle, its a hawk that sits between the eyes of the eagle.
No wonder that there's an exception thrown!!!

In the southern US, "throwed" is accepted, but the proper term is "th'owed".

Rather than 16695551 I much prefer 5296383 which at least makes for a correctly spelled (UK) English imperative...

We couldn't get Irish girl back just for today? Day ruined :(

...and what an exception it was, for unbeknownst to the user, that button would bring on Ragnarok...

Actually, the Norse error message is a very GOOD idea. From what I've heard from tech support, users never remember cryptic error messages (nor have them on the screen when calling). But given this, the user is more likely to remember the message, or at least enough that the tech support will know exactly which one it is.

Aaron:

Also, I'm pretty sure I saw that in a previous WTF. Or maybe it was a 404 page. It looks familiar.

I think it's this one: http://forums.thedailywtf.com/forums/p/10250/182614.aspx. The full image seems to be gone, but 'throwed' and 'Yggdrasil' are mentioned in the replies.

m0ffx:

Actually, the Norse error message is a very GOOD idea. From what I've heard from tech support, users never remember cryptic error messages (nor have them on the screen when calling). But given this, the user is more likely to remember the message, or at least enough that the tech support will know exactly which one it is.

Only if you make them sufficiently unique - this would have to be the only Norse myth one and the only one with a dragon.... Otherwise callers would just identify it by "something about a dragon that throwed something".

Now if you really want users to remember error messages, start playing a song that will get stuck in their head when the error message pops up. Suggestions: It's a Small World After All; Eye of the Tiger; 867-5309/Jenny; Who Let the Dogs Out; or themes from nearly any TV show (Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Brady Bunch, etc.)

Krenn:

Now if you really want users to remember error messages, start playing a song that will get stuck in their head when the error message pops up. Suggestions: It's a Small World After All; Eye of the Tiger; 867-5309/Jenny; Who Let the Dogs Out; or themes from nearly any TV show (Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Brady Bunch, etc.)

Memorable songs:
I Am the Walrus
Them Bones
Tom Dooley
Owner of a Lonely Heart
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Achy Breaky Heart

galgorah:

"(void*) is not actually (void*)"

Ceci n'est pas une WTF.
-Magritte

mxx:

Aaron:

Also, I'm pretty sure I saw that in a previous WTF. Or maybe it was a 404 page. It looks familiar.

I think it's this one: http://forums.thedailywtf.com/forums/p/10250/182614.aspx. The full image seems to be gone, but 'throwed' and 'Yggdrasil' are mentioned in the replies.

Full image still live at http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/673/ratatoskyd5.jpg
(Maybe related: FF is a bit funny. Sometime you have to refresh a page before it pulls up files from Imageshack.)

Code Dependent:

Krenn:

Now if you really want users to remember error messages, start playing a song that will get stuck in their head when the error message pops up. Suggestions: It's a Small World After All; Eye of the Tiger; 867-5309/Jenny; Who Let the Dogs Out; or themes from nearly any TV show (Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Brady Bunch, etc.)

Memorable songs:
I Am the Walrus
Them Bones
Tom Dooley
Owner of a Lonely Heart
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Achy Breaky Heart

Unix errno values and their related songs:


[EACCES]
Permission denied.

- Little Richard, Keep A-Knockin' (But You Can't Come In)

[EBADF]
Bad file descriptor.

- Michael Jackson, Bad

[ENOLCK]
No locks available.

- Elvis, Jailhouse Rock

[ETIMEDOUT]
Connection timed out.

- The Supremes, You Keep Me Hangin' On

[E2BIG]
Argument list too long.

- Fats Waller, Your feet's too big!

[EHOSTUNREACH]
Host is unreachable.

- Lesley Gore, It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

[EISCONN]
Socket is connected.

- (Trad.), Dem Bones

[ENODEV]
No such device.

- Hawkwind, Silver Machine (or Orgone Accumulator).

[EADDRNOTAVAIL]
Address not available.

- Roxette, She doesn't live here anymore

[EPERM]
Operation not permitted.

- Anything by Michael Bolton

Code Dependent:

Krenn:

Now if you really want users to remember error messages, start playing a song that will get stuck in their head when the error message pops up. Suggestions: It's a Small World After All; Eye of the Tiger; 867-5309/Jenny; Who Let the Dogs Out; or themes from nearly any TV show (Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Brady Bunch, etc.)

Memorable songs:
I Am the Walrus
Them Bones
Tom Dooley
Owner of a Lonely Heart
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Achy Breaky Heart

Come Sail Away

DaveK:

Unix errno values and their related songs:

[EACCES]
Permission denied.

- Little Richard, Keep A-Knockin' (But You Can't Come In)

[EBADF]
Bad file descriptor.

- Michael Jackson, Bad

[ENOLCK]
No locks available.

- Elvis, Jailhouse Rock

[ETIMEDOUT]
Connection timed out.

- The Supremes, You Keep Me Hangin' On

[E2BIG]
Argument list too long.

- Fats Waller, Your feet's too big!

[EHOSTUNREACH]
Host is unreachable.

- Lesley Gore, It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

[EISCONN]
Socket is connected.

- (Trad.), Dem Bones

[ENODEV]
No such device.

- Hawkwind, Silver Machine (or Orgone Accumulator).

[EADDRNOTAVAIL]
Address not available.

- Roxette, She doesn't live here anymore

[EPERM]
Operation not permitted.

- Anything by Michael Bolton

[ETIME]

- Rolling Stones, "Time Is On My Side"

[ENOEXEC]

- Allman Brothers, "No One To Run With"

[EFAULT]

- Molly Hatchet, "Flirtin' With Disaster"

[EPIPE]

- Led Zeppelin, "When The Levee Breaks"

Code Dependent:

In the southern US, "throwed" is accepted, but the proper term is "th'owed".

Quoted fo' truth.

CAPTCHA: damnum
Damn...um...

DaveAronson:

galgorah:

"(void*) is not actually (void*)"

Ceci n'est pas une WTF.
-Magritte

perhaps not but quite unusual none the less

Mrs Doyle: And what do you say to a cup of tea?

Father Jack: Feck off, cup!

http://feckoffcup.ytmnd.com/

gomma bolstrod:

I had wondered in the past if developers where making these dialog boxes just for WTF screen shots, but the "yggdrasil gnawing dragon throwed an exception" does exist
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=yggdrasil+gnawing+dragon+%22throwed+an+exception%22&btnG=Search&meta=
note to self: add more bizzare and WTF worthy error messages into next project.

Actually, it may not be too bad an idea - the more unique the error message, the easier it is to search for and possibly find a resolution.

Imagine at the bottom of the error there's a set of a few words (order matters). The user, encountering the error, just has to enter in those keywords probably in order), and they'll get the results for that app, for that error.

A generic error message can be harder to find, but toss in some unique words and possibly the resolution pops up without sifting through 10 pages of Google results.

Can I just point out that saying "Australian ABC" is a bit like saying "PIN number". Sorry, slow day here, carry on...

Quote at your own peril.

[EIEIO]

- The Farmer in the Dell

Orbstart:

Maybe if the original developer responsible for the last screenshot had spent more time actually developing and less time in the clouds dreaming up nerdy in-joke error messages we would have:
A.) Not seen the error because it would have not occurred
B.) Not seen such a WTFy error message.

Somehow even a HRESULT code seems better than this.

Agreed. But to me, it just lacks that essential quality of WTF-ness, it's like if your vendor closed a bug report as "working as designed" and you took a screesnhot of the email and sent it to The Daily WTF.

Krenn:

m0ffx:

Actually, the Norse error message is a very GOOD idea. From what I've heard from tech support, users never remember cryptic error messages (nor have them on the screen when calling). But given this, the user is more likely to remember the message, or at least enough that the tech support will know exactly which one it is.

Only if you make them sufficiently unique - this would have to be the only Norse myth one and the only one with a dragon.... Otherwise callers would just identify it by "something about a dragon that throwed something".

Now if you really want users to remember error messages, start playing a song that will get stuck in their head when the error message pops up. Suggestions: It's a Small World After All; Eye of the Tiger; 867-5309/Jenny; Who Let the Dogs Out; or themes from nearly any TV show (Gilligan's Island, The Love Boat, Brady Bunch, etc.)

Preferably a TV show last screened sometime after the user was born!

JonoB:

Can I just point out that saying "Australian ABC" is a bit like saying "PIN number". Sorry, slow day here, carry on...

I would have thought it was worthwhile distinguishing the Australian "American Broadcasting Company" from the American one, but maybe that's just me.

ShawnD:

[EIEIO]

Wow, that joke is over fifteen years old! (It's also a ppc assembly instruction not really an errno, but we'll overlook that for now).

ShawnD:

- The Farmer in the Dell

*facepalm*

It's a consequence of letting all these semiliterate slackbum mouthbreathers out without their education. People for whom a half-arsed job is "good enough and where's my bonus?".

You know the sort; the sort who commit all sorts of atrocities agains the English language through sheer fecklessness, and then excuse it by saying "languages evolve" and accusing anyone who complains of being some sort of Nazi.

Shaddup, Muphry. I'm going to fit this textarea with a serif font.

I believe I am responsible for the Ratatosk error message. The shame. :)
I can't remember the original reason (other than being bored) for including Norse mythology in an error message, but I am suitably amused it has made it here.
(I am much more responsible these days and only include things like 'out of cheese error, redo from start' in code comments...)

The real WTF is the bluriness of the last screenshot. That and the fact that bluriness is an actual word.

Cisco actually makes a device called the Safeword?

Interesting, but useless for my girlfriend and I, as we don't use safewords.

TRWTF is that the dragon throwed an exception.

Actually, the Cisco safeword issue is a common one for alphanumeric one time passwords. The problem is that filtering the "bad" words out of teh codebook is (a) pointless - every language has its own words and (b) DRAMATICALLY reduces the number of different combinations in the One Time Password code book. Besides, you then get blamed if you miss one - no such problem if you don't..

Add to that that such a small and low powered device typically doesn't have that much program space and processing power and you're welcome to it. The WTF would be to give in to misguided censorship. It's either polite and useless or secure and possibly rude - pretty much like a good sysadmin :-)

[in case you're wondering, I just went such a discussion a week ago]