The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

Underwhelmed

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-12-16

Our anonymous submitter was looking for a Microsoft partner to manage his firm's MSDN subscriptions; the pile of licenses and seats and allowed uses was complex enough to want specialists. In hopes of quickly zeroing in on a known and reputable firm, he tracked down the website of a tech consultancy that'd been used by one of his previous employers.

When he browsed to their Contact Us page, filled out the contact form, and clicked Submit, the webpage simply refreshed with no signs of actually doing anything. After staring at the screen for a moment, wondering what had gone wrong, Subby noticed the single quotes used within his message were now escaped. Clicking Submit a few more times kept adding escape characters, with no submission ever occurring. So he amended his message to remove every it's, we're, and other such contraction.

10 comments - Last comment @ 10:53

The Modern Job Hunt: Part 2

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-12-10

(Read Part 1 here)

By the 10-month mark of her job search, Ellis still lacked full-time employment. But she had accumulated a pile of knowledge and advice that she wished she'd started with. She felt it was important to share, in hopes that even one person might save some time and sanity:

9 comments - Last comment @ 2025-12-13

The Thanksgiving Shakedown

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-12-03

On Thanksgiving Day, Ellis had cuddled up with her sleeping cat on the couch to send holiday greetings to friends. There in her inbox, lurking between several well wishes, was an email from an unrecognized sender with the subject line, Final Account Statement. Upon opening it, she read the following:

12 comments - Last comment @ 2025-12-04

Interview Smack-Talk

by Ellis Morning in Tales from the Interview on 2025-11-26

In today's Tales from the Interview, our Anonymous submitter relates their experience with an anonymous company:

I had made it through the onsite, but along the way I had picked up some toxic work environment red flags. Since I had been laid off a couple months prior, I figured I wasn't in a position to be picky, so I decided I would still give it my best shot and take the job if I got it, but I'd continue looking for something better.

18 comments - Last comment @ 2025-11-30

Secure to Great Lengths

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-11-06

Our submitter, Gearhead, was embarking on STEM-related research. This required him to pursue funding from a governmental agency that we’ll call the Ministry of Silly Walks. In order to start a grant application and track its status, Gearhead had to create an account on the Ministry website.

The registration page asked for a lot of personal information first. Then Gearhead had to create his own username and password. He used his password generator to create a random string: D\h.|wAi=&:;^t9ZyoO

28 comments - Last comment @ 2025-11-11

The Ghost Cursor

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-10-30

Everyone's got workplace woes. The clueless manager; the disruptive coworker; the cube walls that loom ever higher as the years pass, trapping whatever's left of your soul.

But sometimes, Satan really leaves his mark on a joint. I worked Tech Support there. You may remember The C-Level Ticket. I'm Anonymous. This is my story.

12 comments - Last comment @ 2025-11-07

A Refreshing Change

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-10-15

Dear Third-Party API Support,

You're probably wondering how and why your authorization server has been getting hammered every single day for more than 4 years. It was me. It was us—the company I work for, I mean. Let me explain.

13 comments - Last comment @ 2025-10-17

Myopic Focus

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2025-09-09

Chops was a developer for Initrode. Early on a Monday, they were summoned to their manager Gary's office before the caffeine had even hit their brain.

Gary glowered up from his office chair as Chops entered. This wasn't looking good. "We need to talk about the latest commit for Taskmaster."

19 comments - Last comment @ 2025-09-17