• (cs)

    Oh, this one, the horrendous database coupled with Yet More Management Ineptitude WTF. Well, a good read the second time over, too :)

  • wolph (unregistered) in reply to Mikademus

    I still, really hope that it's auto generated.

  • Unomi (unregistered) in reply to wolph

    Anonymous:
    I still, really hope that it's auto generated.

    Well, it sure is a reason not just auto-generate things like database tables or whatever that needs to be maintained.

    It sounds cool to auto-generate things, but if this is the result, you better are not on the end of maintaining it.

    - Unomi -
     

  • (cs) in reply to Unomi

    Auto-generation could actually be one of the ultimate Turing tests - only an intelligent producer can generate intelligent, relevant and comprehensible code/databases/etc. But let's call it the Dillbert test instead because let's face it, it is easy to trick the teeming masses of lowly normals, but us technicians are another breed, <font size="-1">in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!</font>

  • annoynimous (unregistered) in reply to Unomi

    That's why we all knwo the compilers are precursors of the Armageddon !

    It's terrifying thing to imagine, what large share opf machine code is autogenerated novadays by careless RAD adopters!

    captcha: mustache, sure we all with have a lot of ache with this auto-generating stuff!

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on.



    Yes, because we couldn't figure out the real company that put out a certain digital donkey.
  • Steamer2k (unregistered)

    So everyone in the company was fully aware and accepting of the fact that their code was WTFy?

  • Rafael Larios (unregistered) in reply to Volmarias

     

    Well that was a really big WTF..... and knowing the name of the company won't harm them any more than they've been harmed by bad press, and of course, a really horrible product.......

  • Rafael Larios (unregistered) in reply to Steamer2k

    If you had to maintain that kind of code... wouldn't you really know if that was one of the penalties for been a murderor in a previous life?, let alone a WTF in itself??

     

    captcha: awesomeness..... indeed!

  • (cs)
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on.

    So in fact, they're pretty much just fiction. Not that I ever gave the site any more credence than expertsexchange or El Reg - this isn't journalism. Reality just isn't that entertaining (and is a lot dumber than most of the stuff that gets posted here).

  • Anonymous Sniveller (unregistered) in reply to asuffield

    So in fact, they're pretty much just fiction. Not that I ever gave the site any more credence than expertsexchange or El Reg - this isn't journalism. Reality just isn't that entertaining (and is a lot dumber than most of the stuff that gets posted here).

    As a professor of Computer Science at my university used to say:  "Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story."

     

  • (cs) in reply to asuffield
    asuffield:
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on.

    So in fact, they're pretty much just fiction. Not that I ever gave the site any more credence than expertsexchange or El Reg - this isn't journalism. Reality just isn't that entertaining (and is a lot dumber than most of the stuff that gets posted here).

    No, I don't think they're fiction. At least, not as far as Alex knows. Someone could just make something up.

    I don't think anyone could make up this much crapola for so long. As the saying goes, "truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."

     

  • (cs) in reply to asuffield
    asuffield:
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on.

    So in fact, they're pretty much just fiction. Not that I ever gave the site any more credence than expertsexchange or El Reg - this isn't journalism. Reality just isn't that entertaining (and is a lot dumber than most of the stuff that gets posted here).

    They are only fiction in the sense that they are "inspired by true events, the names have been changed to protect the guilty, innocent, victims, perpetrators, cows, etc."  Of course most of the time I think they are closer to the truth than, say, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

  • Corporate Cog (unregistered)

    Imagine how many great wtfs there are out there for fear of such things.

  • pacman (unregistered) in reply to asuffield
    asuffield:
    Alex Papadimoulis:

    These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on.

    So in fact, they're pretty much just fiction. Not that I ever gave the site any more credence than expertsexchange or El Reg - this isn't journalism. Reality just isn't that entertaining (and is a lot dumber than most of the stuff that gets posted here).

    Does redacting the company name, their business, and their propietary system make a story fiction? I think not.

    From what I see, the stories here seem perfectly feasable. When you get down to it, a lot of them aren't even that much of a WTF. Management blunder, misconfiguration, etc. It happens to us all.

    It's the way they're told that keeps me coming back. The Call of Codethulu. Pure gold.

  • (cs) in reply to pacman

    The thing I loved about this story is the fact that, in the end, the people who worked there had a sense of humour about the whole thing, rather than going apeshit at him like they pretended to.

  • Brad (unregistered)

    The real wtf is the relative urls in the RSS feed ;)  Its giving my web based rss agg fits (www.blorq.com)

     

     

  • (cs)

    If you can recognize your code after it's been anonymized, it probably belongs here!

  • (cs)

    Now this was a great post!  You really had me there :)

  • Anon (unregistered)

    "These days, stories are sanitized much, much more: different line of business, different system name, different location, and so on."

     Remember the company that had a COBOL developed front end that was then translated into C++, developed software for auto dealerships. Anyone who had ever interacted with UCS in Houston at any level immediately recognized that to be them.

     

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