• (disco)

    "I was found that my NAS was choking on small files," Lionel S. writes, "Now I know it was a marble all along."

    http://thedailywtf.com/images/15/q3/e183/Pic-5.jpg

    You'll be fine as long as your NAS doesn't lose its marbles...

  • (disco)
    "Yes. That's SO much easier to understand," **Lucas M.**

    Lucas M. what? He wrote? Said? Thought?

  • (disco) in reply to rc4

    @mark_bowytz a word there.

    Filed under: We need a new cloud to attack

  • (disco)

    Not sure what's wrong with that last one.... This file was created in an older version of $1 than you have. Please download the latest version from the $2 at $3.

  • (disco) in reply to Tsaukpaetra

    It seems to be asking the user to download a newer version of the software to open a file that was saved in an older version of the software. How isn't that wrong?

  • (disco) in reply to LB_

    The current version doesn't have the right conversion routines to open it, this might have been fixed in a newer version. :p

  • (disco) in reply to Tsaukpaetra

    That basically means the software itself is the :wtf: rather than the dialog, because why would you break backward compatibility knowingly and then fix it later? Laziness.

  • (disco) in reply to LB_

    Never said it was a good reason, just provided a possible explanation.

    Filed under: Just because it was done, doesn't make it right

  • (disco)

    It looks like Lucas M.'s word processing software has a problem with the hyptic voice. It's a shame that anyone bothered to add that "functionality" in, but at least they did it badly.

  • (disco)

    I can empathise with Lucas M. Whenever I see instructions like that, it makes me think of:

    All right, settle down. Settle down... Now, before I begin the lesson, will those of you who are playing in the match this afternoon move your clothes down onto the lower peg immediately after lunch, before you write your letter home, if you're not getting your hair cut, unless you've got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case, collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you've had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you. Now...

  • (disco)

    It is said that the passive voice is to be avoided. The reason for this is not understood. Please can a style guide be provided? Then the required documentation can be written, and the application coded. Until that time, the test process cannot be embarked upon, and delivery may be delayed. Thanks will be offered when the appropriate material has been received.

  • (disco) in reply to JBert

    CHOKING HAZARD -- Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

  • (disco) in reply to Tsaukpaetra
    Tsaukpaetra:
    Never said it was a good reason, just provided a possible explanation.

    A more likely explanation:

    $1. Please download the latest version from the $2 at $3.

    Where $1 is: This file was created in an older version of $1 than you have

    <script=har har har. no, it's not recursive

  • (disco) in reply to Matt_Westwood

    There are some contexts where the passive voice should be avoided, like when it's used to hide who is responsible for stuff ("mistakes were made" -> who messed up?, "shots were fired" -> who pulled the trigger?). But systematic avoidance is ridiculous.

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin

    It is recognised that what has been stated here is valid. However, it also needs to be pointed out that the comment was made in a spirit of irony.

  • (disco)

    Really? I could have been taken in...

  • (disco)

    Ummmm... so the user set his text language to French and wonders why he got such a garbled retranslation? Sounds more like a PEBKAC than a WTF.

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    There are some contexts where the passive voice should be avoided, like when it's used to hide who is responsible for stuff

    I was going to say that's one of the contexts where it's really useful. ;)

    More seriously, it should be avoided in narrative writing (or speaking), in part because it obscures who is acting, and because it is duller reading. It is appropriate where you don't know who did something or you want to emphasize what was done rather than assigning blame. It is often considered desirable in technical writing, where the emphasis is usually on the what and/or how, rather than who.

    Matt_Westwood:
    the comment was made in a spirit of irony.
    This is, in part, why @Khudzlin :hanzo:d me; I hadn't yet put enough thought in to acknowledging this without allowing this fact to prevent me from posting pedantry — also because I got distracted by — what was I saying?
  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek
    HardwareGeek:
    Khudzlin:
    There are some contexts where the passive voice should be avoided, like when it's used to hide who is responsible for stuff

    I was going to say that's one of the contexts where it's really useful. ;)

    More seriously, it should be avoided in narrative writing (or speaking), in part because it obscures who is acting, and because it is duller reading. It is appropriate where you don't know who did something or you want to emphasize what was done rather than assigning blame. It is often considered desirable in technical writing, where the emphasis is usually on the what and/or how, rather than who.

    I agree with that. But often, we shouldn't let people get away with using the passive voice to hide their responsibility (luckily, such passive construction sound more awkward in my native language than in English, so I don't read/hear them very often).

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    when it's used to hide who is responsible for stuff

    "Man dies when his car is pelted by rocks", for example? Apparently the rocks just started throwing themselves.

  • (disco) in reply to FrostCat

    He fell down an elevator shaft.

    Onto some bullets.

  • (disco) in reply to CreatedToDislikeThis

    Ah yes, the first part would be an unfiltered error string...

  • (disco) in reply to blakeyrat
    blakeyrat:
    He fell down an elevator shaft.

    While still in his car? That would be interesting to have seen.

  • (disco) in reply to FrostCat
    FrostCat:
    blakeyrat:
    He fell down an elevator shaft.

    While still in his caron his mobility scooter? That would be interesting to have seen.

    FTFD

  • (disco) in reply to cellocgw
    cellocgw:
    So the user set his text language to French and wonders why he got such a garbled retranslation?

    The word processor's UI is in French. But that doesn't stop the word processor from knowing (recognizing or being told) that the document is in English.

  • (disco) in reply to FrostCat
    FrostCat:
    Khudzlin:
    when it's used to hide who is responsible for stuff
    "Man dies when his car is pelted by rocks", for example? Apparently the rocks just started throwing themselves.

    This is a classic case of blaming the grammatical construct, and exactly why the hyptic voice (which I shall continue calling it) gets such a bad name. Let's cast that sentence into the active voice and see what happens:

    "Man dies when rocks pelt his car"

    Better?

    blakeyrat:
    He fell down an elevator shaft.

    Onto some bullets

    Right, that's the same point I'm making. Active voice through and through and no semantic agent (as opposed to grammatical subject) to be found.

  • (disco) in reply to LB_

    Agree.. this used to happen all the time with a certain word processing program from a company in the Seattle area.

  • (disco) in reply to CreatedToDislikeThis
    CreatedToDislikeThis:
    Where $1 is: This file was created in an older version of $1 than you have

    [image]

  • (disco) in reply to jkshapiro

    I'm blaming the dipshits misusing the grammatical construct to hide their guilt. I have no problem with the passive voice (or whatever you call it - the guy on language log didn't seem to be sure about that, so I'll stick with the term I'm familiar with) being used when the semantic agent doesn't matter. Agent-free sentences are more obviously wrong (at least to me) when in the active voice. "He fell down an elevator shaft" doesn't look semantically wrong by itself (not surprising, since you can't put an intransitive verb in the passive voice, anyway, so it can only be factually wrong - if he was pushed, for instance). "Onto some bullets" is thoroughly ridiculous semantically, though. When you add it, you make it obvious there's something fishy with the whole thing.

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    "Onto some bullets" is thoroughly ridiculous semantically, though. When you add it, you make it obvious there's something fishy with the whole thing.

    Well, he's the same guy who tripped and fell on the knife 26 times. Some people just have the shittiest luck.

  • (disco)

    I'm remembering something going like "That accident with a photocopier, such bad luck..." (on the spot somewhat literal translation from French). It's obviously fishy, you can't help but wonder what they're covering up (unless you prefer not to know, of course). At that point, the coroner doth protest too much.

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    "Onto some bullets" is thoroughly ridiculous semantically, though.

    It's a joke, numbnuts.

  • (disco) in reply to blakeyrat

    Wouldn't be much of one if it wasn't absurd...

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    "He fell down an elevator shaft" doesn't look semantically wrong by itself (not surprising, since you can't put an intransitive verb in the passive voice, anyway, so it can only be factually wrong - if he was pushed, for instance). "Onto some bullets" is thoroughly ridiculous semantically, though. When you add it, you make it obvious there's something fishy with the whole thing.

    Hey, just because the bottom of the elevator shaft happened to be the local gang's preferred ammo storage location doesn't make that poor man's accidental death fishy!

  • (disco)
    Khudzlin:
    "He fell down an elevator shaft" doesn't look semantically wrong by itself (not surprising, since you can't put an intransitive verb in the passive voice, anyway, so it can only be factually wrong - if he was pushed, for instance

    When someone leaves his/her office allegedly but obviously not actually voluntarily, there is a saying in German for that, that translates literally to "he/she has been gone".

    To avoid choking hazards, we shouldn't use data storage units less than 36 months old.

  • (disco)

    http://thedailywtf.com/images/15/q3/e183/Pic-2.png

    It is recommended that you do not connect to this server.

    FTFM

  • (disco) in reply to dse

    Hey, you have to admit that 0 problems with the certificate is better than 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 problems.

  • (disco) in reply to PWolff

    In French, when an alleged suicide is suspected of being a covered up murdered, we say something that literally translates "he/she has been suicided" (it could also work with other verbs - the idea is the same as in your saying).

  • (disco) in reply to Khudzlin
    Khudzlin:
    "he/she has been suicided"

    It's relatively common in English with “volunteered”.

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