• James R. Twine (unregistered)

    in layman's terms it synergizes backward overflow while optimizing cardinal grammeters in addition to allowing customers to parabolize slithy toves at the least embiggoned cost possible.

    Right -- gotcha!

  • (cs)

    "They were happily building their software, expanding the team, burning through their VC capital,"

    They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine.

  • (cs)

    It's tough to parabolize a slithy tove if it's gyring or gimbling in a wabe.

    And, oh yeah... thrid!!!

  • Jon (unregistered)

    The Real WTF: example.org is reserved for testing, so there's no situation where you should be randomly picking domains.

  • Maarten (unregistered)

    The real WTF is of course, that he didn't know of the .invalid TLD.

  • (cs)

    404 means that not only is that domain registered, but that a web-server is running...

  • (cs)

    I think this is the first recorded instance that the CAN SPAM act has actually done any good.

  • Maarten (unregistered) in reply to akatherder
    akatherder:
    "They were happily building their software, expanding the team, burning through their VC capital,"

    They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine.

    Of course "VC capital" is short for "venture capitalists capital" so it's an entirely valid abbreviation.

  • (cs) in reply to Maarten
    Maarten:
    akatherder:
    "They were happily building their software, expanding the team, burning through their VC capital,"

    They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine.

    Of course "VC capital" is short for "venture capitalists capital" so it's an entirely valid abbreviation.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC

    And you lose points for not using "cromulent".

  • Leon (unregistered) in reply to akatherder

    "They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine."

    Probably used their VC capital to buy everyone new LCD displays and NIC cards.

  • ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to Jon
    Jon:
    The Real WTF: example.org is reserved for testing, so there's no situation where you should be randomly picking domains.
    The real bug is not that he entered a random domain name -- it is that the testers all failed to enter their real domain names while testing.

    What did they all expect when they didn't use their real email addresses?

  • (cs) in reply to ozymandias
    ozymandias:
    Jon:
    The Real WTF: example.org is reserved for testing, so there's no situation where you should be randomly picking domains.
    The real bug is not that he entered a random domain name -- it is that the testers all failed to enter their real domain names while testing.

    What did they all expect when they didn't use their real email addresses?

    Sorry, you lose - the testers DID enter their real email addresses, but due to Fred having entered a bogus email address and filling up the queue with hundreds of thousands of messages (which were being delivered rather slowly due to the constantly crashing mail server at the other end), it was taking legitimate emails quite a long time to make it through the queue.

  • (cs) in reply to Leon
    Leon:
    "They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine."

    Probably used their VC capital to buy everyone new LCD displays and NIC cards.

    ...for their PC computers.

  • Sky (unregistered)

    What year is this supposed to be set in? If Polly's citing the CAN-SPAM act, then it can't be early 2000.

    ;-)

    Whoops! Fixed a typo. -ed

  • wingcommander (unregistered) in reply to Leon

    Everyone knows that VC capital should be used to buy Aeron chairs and foosball machines.

  • Riznar (unregistered) in reply to DaveAronson
    DaveAronson:
    Leon:
    "They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine."

    Probably used their VC capital to buy everyone new LCD displays and NIC cards.

    ...for their PC computers.

    Stop it you're hurting me!!!

  • dw (unregistered)
    OP:
    In early 2000, John was living it up in Argentina at a startup working on a VCI product

    but:

    OP:
    Polly: According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, any and all electronic mail messages-

    Continuity fault, or does the story span three years?

  • scotta (unregistered)

    This reminds me of two very similar things that happened to me in 1999...

    #1) The nice man at [email protected] was really pissed at how much test email he was getting

    #2) Using the 'random domain name' without testing doesn't always work. In 1999 I assumed 'yahoo.com' was the most stable site to hit for a positive test. I used 'blahoo.com' as the negative test (i.e., for a domain that does not exist)

    ... At the time, blahoo.com went to the 'Black Yahoo' (A sort of BET version of yahoo)... I had trouble explaining that one. (it now goes to a 'buy this domain site')

    In my defence, I was 20 (and drunk) at the time...

  • krupa (unregistered)

    Fred does stress testing on his workstation using his own accounts!? WTF?

    When I did QA we had dedicated machines and user accounts to do our testing. We would eventually put the software on our own workstations but only when it was much closer to Beta testing.

  • (cs)

    TRWTF is that the sdfjgi.com admins didn't block incoming connections from mail.[company].com once things got bad enough to crash their mail server repeatedly - isn't that SOP for DOS attacks?

  • Chris (unregistered)

    I have had a case of a tester misspelling the company name in a config setting and spamming someone. Not quite these volumes though. We fixed it for the testers by giving them a lightweight smtp server. It would count the messages and only keep the last 100 received.

  • (cs) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    It's tough to parabolize a slithy tove if it's gyring or gimbling in a wabe.

    And, oh yeah... thrid!!!

    But, man, if you did... It would be one frabjous day. You'd be one beamish motha f*****. Callooh, callay, indeed.

  • Andy L. (unregistered)
    Polly: According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, any and all electronic mail messages-
    YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF FUTURE LAW!
  • Matt C (unregistered) in reply to dw

    2003 is pretty early 2000, especially compared to, say, 2845

  • ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to cowboy_k
    cowboy_k:
    TRWTF is that the sdfjgi.com admins didn't block incoming connections from mail.[company].com once things got bad enough to crash their mail server repeatedly - isn't that SOP for DOS attacks?

    or that the mail.[company].com didn't notice the issue, either.

  • Greg (unregistered)

    "got a 404 and assumed that meant the domain was unregistered"... ummm... yeah... It kind of only means the exact opposite - that there is a web server at that address.

  • Edward Pearson (unregistered)

    'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

    "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

    He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought

    And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

    One, two! One, two! and through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

    "And has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy.

    'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

    I still know it by heart...

  • Mark (unregistered)

    So how long were they checking in patches for this problem before somebody decided to check the mail server queue to see if the messages were even being generated?

  • (cs)

    Well, now it says "early 2004," but I have to question if that's just a correction or if it was changed by the author just to make the story seem more credible, without regard to the truth.

    Oh well, it was an interesting story anyway. Soothe me with sweet lies.

  • (cs) in reply to akatherder
    akatherder:
    And you lose points for not using "cromulent".
    Can we please stop this WTF meme? It wasn't even funny the first time I heard it on the Simpsons a decade ago, and quoting TV shows isn't funny in general (and especially when they're that old).
  • (cs) in reply to akatherder
    akatherder:
    Maarten:
    akatherder:
    "They were happily building their software, expanding the team, burning through their VC capital,"

    They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine.

    Of course "VC capital" is short for "venture capitalists capital" so it's an entirely valid abbreviation.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC

    And you lose points for not using "cromulent".

    I'm still sticking with Maarten on this one. VC could be venture capitalists so it is ok. VC money would probably eliminate the redundancy (or in this case appearance of redundancy). Your wiki entry (besides being possibly fallible, damn user contributed content) gives many possibilities for VC so why not one more?

    I'll see your link and raise mine: http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2008/05/vcs-and-deal-flow-seeing-everything-doing-nearly-nothing.html where they use VC (venture capital) and VCs (Venture Capitalists).

  • Walleye (unregistered) in reply to Aaron
    Aaron:
    akatherder:
    And you lose points for not using "cromulent".
    Can we please stop this WTF meme? It wasn't even funny the first time I heard it on the Simpsons a decade ago, and quoting TV shows isn't funny in general (and especially when they're that old).

    Watchoo talkin' about, Willis?

  • (cs) in reply to Mark
    Mark:
    So how long were they checking in patches for this problem before somebody decided to check the mail server queue to see if the messages were even being generated?

    "Q. How many programmers does it take to check a mail queue for pending messages?"

    "A. None, that's a mail administrator function, so keep your #&^*#$ developer fingers off my *#$#& server."

  • JAM (unregistered) in reply to Riznar

    STFU up and take an NSAID drug. Mmmmm, NSAID drugs 4TW win.

  • JAM (unregistered) in reply to Aaron

    TL;DR read.

  • (cs) in reply to Walleye
    Walleye:
    Watchoo talkin' about, Willis?
    Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver and Walleye. They've been behaving strangely today.
  • (cs) in reply to JAM
    JAM:
    TL;DR read.
    Your own comment was too long...?
  • Dan (unregistered)

    So, outgoing mail wasn't working, the code looked fine... and it took them how long before someone thought to check the outgoing mail server? TRWTF is that nobody associated 'e-mail problems' with 'check the e-mail server'.

  • JAM (unregistered) in reply to Matt.C
    Matt.C:
    JAM:
    TL;DR read.
    Your own comment was too long...?

    What can I say? I find myself pretty boring sometimes!

  • Andy L. (unregistered) in reply to Andy L.
    Andy L.:
    Polly: According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, any and all electronic mail messages-
    YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF FUTURE LAW!

    THE PENALTY FOR VIOLATING FUTURE LAW IS FOUR YEARS IN SUSPENDED ANIMATION!

  • Kuli (unregistered) in reply to Quietust
    Quietust:
    Sorry, you lose - the testers DID enter their real email addresses, but due to Fred having entered a bogus email address and filling up the queue with hundreds of thousands of messages (which were being delivered rather slowly due to the constantly crashing mail server at the other end), it was taking legitimate emails quite a long time to make it through the queue.
    What kind of lousy email server did they use that sends mails only sequentially? Normally this shouldn't be a problem for a common mail server.

    Remember that a non-responding counterpart is a normal situation, and that servers should try sending for some days before giving up.

  • Walleye (unregistered) in reply to FredSaw
    FredSaw:
    Walleye:
    Watchoo talkin' about, Willis?
    Ward, I'm worried about the Beaver and Walleye. They've been behaving strangely today.

    Say goodnight, Gracie.

  • (cs) in reply to Andy L.
    Andy L.:
    Polly: According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, any and all electronic mail messages-
    YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF FUTURE LAW!
    Run! The precogs know you're going to spam them!
  • cellocgw (unregistered) in reply to akatherder

    "They must have withdrawn their VC capital by entering their PIN numbers into an ATM machine."

    Nice try, but "VC capital" refers to their source. "VC" can just as easily refer to a 'venture capitalist,' or to a generic VC corporation. Maybe a startup has two sources of capital, say VC and inital sales.

  • Mogri (unregistered)

    If the startup was entirely Argentinian, I'm curious how the (American) CAN-SPAM Act applied. Presumably the caller realized she was dialing an out-of-country number.

  • Jay (unregistered) in reply to DeLos
    DeLos:
    I'll see your link and raise mine: http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2008/05/vcs-and-deal-flow-seeing-everything-doing-nearly-nothing.html where they use VC (venture capital) and VCs (Venture Capitalists).

    Ooooooohhhhhh. I was wondering if he meant they got money from Visual C or from the Viet Cong.

  • Jay (unregistered)

    I worked on a project where a user could upload a data file, which would then kick off a long process that could run from a few minutes to a few hours, and when it was done we would send them an email.

    Except ... one day one of the programmers was making a change and accidentally moved the send-email call from right after the "process a record" loop completed, to just inside the loop. So now we were sending an email for each record processed, which was typically tens of thousands per file upload. The Spam police came for us the day we started testing. At least we were only spamming our own organization.

  • (cs)

    So has nobody ever thought of sending test emails (via configuration) to: [email protected] ???

  • (cs) in reply to Edward Pearson
    Edward Pearson:
    'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. ...

    I still know it by heart...

    It's better in German .

  • Charles (unregistered)
    layman's terms it synergizes backward overflow while optimizing cardinal grammeters in addition to allowing customers to parabolize slithy toves at the least embiggoned cost possible.

    Laymen's terms, huh?

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