• Broderick Brydeson (unregistered)

    First time commenting, read six or so via reddit. New name sucks. That is all.

  • Broderick Brydeson (unregistered)

    Me again. Even "Fail hard" would be better.

  • Lol at whiners (unregistered)

    People who paid for this site line up to my right please...

    Yeah shut up! that's more like it bitches

    (captcha: slashbot, pwn3d)

  • Fred (unregistered)

    I like the name change. Love the site, didn't like the name, because I do consider it a vulgarity. So, thanks.

  • MyKey_ (unregistered)

    So you're moving away from one of the most interesting word in the English language...

    Makes me think of Monthy Python: The Usage Of Fuck.

    captcha: fuck (just kidding, it's kungfu)

  • DaBookshah (unregistered)

    Old name = Good New name = shit.

    Bring back tdwtf!

  • AbbydonKrafts (unregistered)

    The new name doesn't even make sense for a lot of the content that gets posted here. Honestly.. does an odd dialog, unrolled loop, or reinvented wheel (function replacements, etc) really classify as "Worse Than Failure"?!!

    The name just does not fit. If you want to go all PC, pick a name that really reflects what the site contains. The new name is now the site's "Curious Perversion". Sheesh.

    CAPTCHA: stinky (my thoughts exactly)

  • (cs) in reply to WORSE and FAILURE
    WORSE and FAILURE:
    GeneWitch:
    I don't care what the site is named, that's so petty.

    Then why change it, changing it is petty and truly a bad marketing decision. I know programmers dont' do marketing but branding works. The whole site was spawned from one thread titled the Daily WTF, why be petty and change it.

    That makes me curious. Where and when was this thread posted and can it still be found somewhere?

  • PiloT (unregistered)

    This name sucks :/

  • lucas (unregistered)

    LAME!

  • Corion (unregistered)

    I have to agree that I liked the other name better ...

    The name really set the tone for this website. I too think differently of WTF and the F-word - WTF seems so much more innocuous for us web users.

    I have to agree that the best solution would be keeping both domains and trying to set it up so the header and all references to the acronym are replaced with family-friendly versions.

    Also, I agree with whoever said that the word "daily" isn't a problem - check the site daily! Not having daily in the name tempts less frequent updating and traffic.

    If I ever have to explain to people WTF, I just tell them straight up that it's an acronym that stems from a vulgar expression, but its meaning and seriousness have changed throughout frequent usage on the internet.

    If anything, tell people that it stands for "Worse than Failure," which I have to admit is a pretty good reinterpretation of the acronym.

  • Casey (unregistered)

    You pussy. Man the fuck up and change it back to the daily what the FUCK!

  • (cs) in reply to Jochen Ritzel
    Jochen Ritzel:
    "IBM stands for Industrial Buisness Machines". :/

    WTF? Actually, it's "INTERNATIONAL Business Machines".

    ;)

  • Renan renan_s2 (unregistered)

    Cool.

    CAPTCHA: scooter.

  • Mitch (unregistered)

    WTF!?! Now that is a WTF!

    Captha: what the fook!

  • Simetrical (unregistered) in reply to swapo

    Meh, personally I liked the old name, but I don't really care. I suspect most of your readership is the same (as far as not caring goes, anyway).

    swapo:
    I recently had an similar situation about what WTF stands for. I like the new Backronym, keep up the good work (and I should send in some WTFs myself...).
    fennec:
    also, shouldn't that be website.renameTo() instead of Website.RenameTo()?
    Not if you're from the .NET-World as Alex obviously is, they use some really WTFish naming conventions over there ;-)

    As far as I'm aware, though, the curly quotes will still probably cause compilation problems. :P

  • (cs)

    I just have to add this little gem:

    http://files.kavefish.com/audio/usage_of_the_f-word.wav

    Hope it works.

  • Nik (unregistered)

    I've been following these for about a year now, and I've recruited a readers.

    I can safely say that the main reason they didn't file TheDailyWTF.com under "just another funny-wannabe' blog" is because the name was pretty intriguing. Then after reading one of the articles they all thought it fit perfectly. It did. The new one's silly.

    Alex, if your grandma' is really the reason for changing the name of one of TheDailyWTF...I don't exactly know what to say. The new name is a WTF as per both the old and new definitions.

  • daBowmore (unregistered) in reply to Casey

    Long time reader, first time poster.

    I also had an urgent need to bring out my feelings about this new name thing. The daily WTF really is a brand and a concept. People who find wtf vulgar should maybe loose it up a bit. The new name is literally worse than failure. Sorry, it just is...

    I don't know what the real reason for the change was, but the grandma story sounds extremely lame -- even too lame to be true?

    One more vote for restoring the old name!

  • Eirik (unregistered)

    This is so stupid. WTF means what it always meant. I'll stop reading here now.

  • Justin (unregistered)

    I think my calendar must be slow. It's only showing the 24th of February, and obviously it's April 1st.

    It's not?

    Well...then fuck. I don't actually dislike the new name, but I think the old name was better for what this site is about, and the branding is well worth keeping, and, honestly, you can just tell your grandmother it stands for "worse than failure" if "fuck" is not a word you can say in her presence.

    Tell you what: I'm going to keep going to thedailywtf.com. I'm going to keep calling it the daily wtf. The day that url quits working is the day I quit reading. You don't care about my readership, since I'm only one random person, but that's the only vote I've got.

    Cheers!

  • (cs) in reply to Mr. Mister

    Heh, smart quotes strike again.

  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    I've unsubscribed from my RSS reader. I'm not sure which is more lame: the new name or your reasons behind it. Goodbye.

  • The Daily WTL(ame) (unregistered)

    laaaaaaaammmmmmeeeeeeeee

  • Paul Holt (unregistered)

    catch (DisgustAtNameChangeException dance) { ... }

  • (cs)

    Nice job jumping the shark.

    What the fuck is "worse than failure" about a stupid piece of code? Fuck nothing, that's what. The new name is totally idiotic. What a heap of shit.

    This software sucks the sweat from my taint too.

  • (cs)

    Dead loss. You should just accept the truth and change it to thedailyjts.com, where jts = Jumped The Shark.

    Sad.

  • Pawel (unregistered)

    The new name is the "worse than failure". I am so disappointed about this.

  • mabinogi (unregistered)

    wow, I always suspected this site was mostly frequented by whiny teenagers. Now I know for sure.

  • no name (unregistered)

    Another vote for lame.

    I'll still continue to read the site, but I'll continue thinking of it as the dailyWTF and it's definitely moved down a notch or two in my list of must read sites.

  • Joseph Newton (unregistered)

    Hi Alex,

    Don't let the perpetually juvenile whiners get you down. I think you are on the right track re; vulgarity, but I would suggest that there are better expansions of the acronym that do not require profanity. I actually had already thought a few up since I started reading about a week ago.

    They all fit the pattern What T* Folly. T*: Terrible Tremendous Ticklesome Total ...

    The advantage I see is that Folly is just more lyrical than failure. It has classical roots, and is relatively non-judgemental.

    As to the ranting and cursing about the word "fuck", the best I can do is quote my late father:

    "Profanity is the sound of an inarticualte person seekng to express himself forcefully."

    The truly creative, and articulate, person can almost always find a better, more expressive word to use than the guttueral and troglodytic expression to which so many posters on this thread seem so attached.

    One practical issue that I do have is that I have had some trouble replying on pre-existing threads. Nothing whatsoever happens when I click the 'Submit" button. I am now wondering if there is a relationship between this problem and the change in domain name. I'd appreciate it if you could look into this.

  • (cs) in reply to b0red

    This is a bad move imo, it kind of disappoints me. The name of this site is what defined this site. The name is seriously the only reason i came back. Unlike other similar sites, I could only remember the name of this site because the name was unique.
    But if its a must to change the name. At least come up with something better. I understand that you want to keep the 'wtf' acronym but it doesn't make sense and has a confusing meaning.

  • anonymoustroll (unregistered)

    Did I ever tell you about the time that I got fired for using "WTF" (the abbreviation) in a company e-mail to my boss...

    ..and I'm sure that we can all agree that RTFM abbreviates the word "Fine" as well.

    Seriously though... four letter words and "vulgarities" are part of our language. I've always insisted those who would excise them from my speech or those who are unwilling to hear them are, at some fundamental level, immature and hypocritical. All you have to do is look at the comments on any code over 10,000 lines in size and you WILL find this type of language in use. I'm particularly curious about how honest people are in their assessment of Open Source code through the use of four (and more) letter words. I suspect that there's maybe 10x more usage when your audience accepts the language without judgement and when there's an absence of "fear" (personally, I'm not sure which is more vulgar: using fear to limit another person's speech or being intellectually dishonest enough to deny the distinct possibility that a four letter word just might be the most apropos lexicon to describe what is happening in a particular piece of code)

    ...but anyway, congratulations on finding your new crutch and caving to mediocre (yes, every person of excellence I have ever known in my life uses "vulgar" language... some even in their public writing).

    Watch out SNAFU and FUBAR, you're next.

  • Adam (unregistered) in reply to Quincy5
  • Renji (unregistered)

    You're going to the dark side, aren't you? Venture capitalists, IPO, the works.

  • Mike (unregistered)

    The new site name is really quite lame. I appreciate that the 'WTF' acronym could be offensive, but this backronym is even worse. Worse than failure? What does that mean! As long as someone keeps the the dailywtf.com domain, I'll be happy.

  • (cs)

    alex, i love your site, especially the new design, but the new name is just plain weak.

    i guess you'd have issue when steven colbert talks about "balls" because of the inappropriateness?

    part of the appeal was that this was slightly risqué. i dont know- you still have "Submit Your WTF" so are you trying to make that stand for worse than failure? thats a wtf in and of itself.

    very lame. as if grandma didnt know what fuck was. cmon now. since when have the standards for the site been tailored to grandmothers?!

    ps- people voting against the new name arent all whiny kids. some of us actually liked the fact that this was an off color area to share our stories in IT. i suppose its a good name- the change is definitely worse than failure

  • Pissed Off (unregistered)

    I really have to say that this site has been quite disapointing lately. The recent changes to the main page is ugly, and on both my linux machine loads slowly and clunky. The storys seem to suck these days. Now this....I think it is time for the daily WHAT THE FUCK?! to be removed from my bookmarks.

    See ya Daily WTF.

  • J (unregistered)

    Some people are expressing reasonable disagreement, but a lot of others are absolutely retarded.

    First, this is not censorship. Censorship is when an official body such as the government comes in and declares that you aren't allowed to say or write certain things. This is a voluntary move away from what the site owner considers to be a vulgarity.

    Second, why the crap would you quit reading the site? The content is the same, so unless you spent most of your time on the website laughing at the name, it won't make a darn bit of difference. It's like firing an employee because he decided to break his swearing habit.

  • Wow. Just wow. (unregistered)
    But a lot of people in the “real world” don’t quite share that sentiment. Especially my relatives:

    At the risk of sounding like a "whiney kid," this is why people are up in arms about the name change.

    At TheDailyWTF, you have built a wonderful community of people who fight the good fight against every day against clueless managers, stupid users, and both coworker and self-inflicted wounds. The site is not only good for a laugh, it is good for a morale boost for any IT worker who has had to deal with this on a daily basis. Seeing another person's "curious perversion" experience makes our own seem better. Yes, in a sense, you have done a valuable therapy service to the IT community.

    And with this name change, much of that therapy will be gone. WTF is a perfect shorthand for the moment we all see every day. It is an expression of the community, for the community, and in use every day by the community. It is ours. "Worse Than Failure" is theirs -- it is for others, an attempt to impose a name from the outside on a decidedly insider phenomenon. Instead of MySpace, it is Walmart's MySpace clone.

    At the end of the day, it is about the content, and if Alex continues his outstanding work serving up good "curious perversions" under any name, I will continue to read and to be a fan. But I hope you can at least see why this name change has IT people leery of the future direction.

  • WhatTheFucker (unregistered)

    Hey, thanks for selling out. Last. Time. I. Visit

  • Carlos van Pragh (unregistered)

    I have to say -- whether it's daily or not, "WTF" captures the spirit of what you post (even the parts you seem to think it doesn't).

    And "Worse than failure" is horrible. It sounds like something dreamt up by a committee.

    If you have to drop "WTF" (and I don't see why you do), please, please pick something else.

  • Big Mike (unregistered)

    I love the new name. And I agree with the reasons behind the change. Way to go!

  • Curmudgeon (unregistered)

    The "daily" part of "Daily WTF" was important. The quantity has increased and quality decreased. What started as simple daily snippets of perverse code (with just enough explanation to provide context), has turned into long wordy tales. They may be amusing, but they suck up too much time to be reading several per day. Especially when some of them only tenuously relate to IT.

    Perhaps this is to appeal to a wider audience than just coders. It probably has increased readership. Nevertheless it's sad.

    This is not to say the new series' (or new writers) are all bad. The quality drop is across the board.

  • I like considerate people (unregistered) in reply to Censoring FAILS!
    Censoring FAILS!:
    Basically, I am completly against censoring, and as this is censoring I am against this website, and as I am against this website I will stop reading this website as regulary as I did before.

    I think you should study the word censoring. Censoring is when someone removes certain speech deemed inappropriate by some certain ideology. No one is censoring him, nor pressuring him to censor himself. He's making changes for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is consideration of others, an idea that is miles away from censorship.

  • fucking kids (unregistered)

    You want to know what's worse than failure? You want swearing? Have at this: The problem is you chicken-shit kids. BOO HOO THE SITE CHANGED IT'S NAME, THE NAME IS THE ONLY REASON I CAME HERE, I'M NOT VISITING ANYMORE.

    Jesus Fucking Christ you people are whiny fucking children. The dumbfucks around you that didn't get Alex didn't change it because of his grandmother are even dumber, and should really be brought out back and put down.

    I hope the majority of you rot in hell.

  • Some Random Guy (unregistered)

    I am yet another long time reader and first time poster who feels the need to make a comment on this event. But for me, the event is not the so much the change of name (I care only slightly), but something more significant.

    Once, this board was a obviously done for the sole purpose of ammusment. There was no intent to capitalize on it, and the aesthetic was based on the aribitray personal choices of one person. This gave it Quality. Quality comes from a clear vision, and bold choices from the right person.

    Then the move was made to capitalize on the site. The introduction of the advertising, the non-WTF jobs, etc. Now unlike many people, I don't believe that all attempts to make money are evil. I myself am a capitalist and entrepreneur. I welcomed these changes for the most part. I was slightly concerned that sponsers might begin to impact the content of the site, etc, but things remained mostly as they were. There was some shift in the aesthetic, and it had a hint of "caring too much about other people's opinions", but I tried to write it off as a simple and natural change on Alex's part.

    However, this latest change, being significantly incompatiable with the prior aesthetic, seems to strongly indicate that Alex has lost his nerve. He has lost the ability to make bold personal choices, instead, he considers first how others will react to them. He brings up the example of his grandmother, but I think the story is made up, Grandma is just a stand in for 'the other', 'everyman', 'the majority', name them what you will. And Alex has now put them above his personal aesthetic, which really is "worse than failure". It is the descent into mediocrity. It is the end of the "great", and the enshrining of the "not terrible". The way of the committee.

    It didn't have to go this way. Many individuals can make the transition from hobby to occupation and keep their faith in the original goals. Take a look at Penny Arcade for a clear example. But it has gone this way. Even if Alex changes the name back, it will most likely be due to the pressure of his readers. Perhaps with great force of will, Alex could regain his nerve, but it's unlikely. So much so that I probably wont bother to check this site again. It's certainly leaving my bookmarks. Not really because the name changed, but because it's been getting more lame for a while now. Until this point, I thought it might be temporary, transitional, just someone trying to find their center. But now I'm pretty sure it's getting lame because Alex is not trying to find his center, but the center of everyone else. And I've seen the middle. It's boring and I hate it.

    Someday in a few weeks I'll try the old URL because I'm bored, and the because the name has always been easy to remember. Maybe it'll be good, if so, I might keep coming back. Or maybe it will be lame, in which case I'll engage in some exponential backoff, and try again in a month or two. Eventually, I'll forget.

    Thanks for the good times while they lasted.

  • thedailywtfisanawesomenameandbrand (unregistered)

    Ads - OK Occasional self promotion - OK Bean bag girl - Totally hot Name change - Fucking lame

  • rawsteak (unregistered)

    i think "worse than failure" makes sense... if a person can't code something, they "fail" whereas one of the things this website shows are when codes do "worse than failure" like ignoring programming conventions entirely to accomplish something incorrectly

  • Kinglink (unregistered)

    I decided to read a few more comments and it seems most people hate the name for one reason. It sounds like business jargon 6 people in a room who only use computers for email dreamed up. IF you want to call it the Daily WTF, and then tell you're grandma it's "Worse than failure" maybe I can back that one. It has become pretty apparent by the commentors that the new name just doesn't work.

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