• (cs)

    I'm going to sing the "Doom Song" now.

  • C (unregistered) in reply to Remy Porter

    Uh... 50/50?!

  • toot (unregistered) in reply to C

    100% chance to be random

  • Your Name (unregistered) in reply to C

    Seems more like 2 chances in 4 to me...

  • Mike5 (unregistered) in reply to C

    Well, he could go for 66/33, but then he'd be 1 percent missing, 67/33 or 66/34 would be too biased - so in the end 50/50 was the safest option :)

  • me (unregistered)

    At least he translated the declined message!

  • Franky (unregistered)

    as you may have heared, it is possible to extend expressions, so 2/2 (as 2 go the one way, two the other) can be extended by 25 to 50/50 ;)

  • Franky (unregistered)

    Edit ... ahhh, bullshit ... the rate is obviously two-to-one, considering that you can get 0, 1, 2 from the random and 0 and 2 match the if ;)

  • (cs)

    So if it's random, how can he reproduce the result at will?

  • Kuli (unregistered)

    Maybe a user complainted some time ago: "Oh dear, this website always shows an error page when I'm doin this or that... Change that!"

    Now it doesn't always display an error page any more.

  • Dave (unregistered)

    And why did the error just start occurring? Or better yet, WHAT was the purpose of said code?

    Captcha (because all the cool kids do it): facilisi Which is like a facsimile...but not

  • chrisjfinlay (unregistered) in reply to Remy Porter
    Remy Porter:
    I'm going to sing the "Doom Song" now.

    Doom doomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doom

    --SNIP 6 MONTHS LATER--

    doomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doomdoom doom doomdoomdoom doom doom doom THE END!

  • (cs) in reply to Remy Porter

    I've done something somewhat similar, but with warning message prompts: randomize the sequence of prompt questions (typically requiring both yes and no answers. E.g.: Are you sure you want to proceed? [n] Do you wish to abort? [y]). This way, they don't get in the habit of auto-typing y-n to get past it and actually need to momentarily think about what they're doing.

    Although..... File Not Found might be an interesting choice to offer...

  • Jan (unregistered)

    TRWTF is using homemade externalization right?

  • ¯\(°_o)/¯ I DUNNO LOL (unregistered) in reply to me
    me:
    At least he translated the declined message!
    Yes, in the thrown exception... WTF?

    On the other hand, this is a great way to control server load. It only redirects you half the time!

    if $referrer ~= /slashdot.org/ && rand(2) == 1 {   return 404; }

  • BoB (unregistered)

    TRWTF is that debuggingEnabled is TRUE on the production site.

  • chris (unregistered)

    And he didn't find out why it had ever been written like this?

  • (cs)

    Floppys of Doom.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7-5WYOKxE

  • Gyxi (unregistered)

    TRWTF is so many people looking for TRWTF in a story which already contains a RWTF.

  • (cs) in reply to Tractor
    Tractor:
    So if it's random, how can he reproduce the result at will?

    eXcel catch!

  • James (unregistered)

    Brian could reproduce both results at will. So. Much. Fun.


    Well personally I like bugs where the results are consistent and reproducible. They are usually A) real, and B) much easier to fix than the intermittent variety or those with so many unknown preconditions they appear intermittent anyway.

  • deice (unregistered)

    I can imagine how this came to be, in a way that makes some twisted logical sense:

    It used to just redirect. But that caused an infinite redirection loop. So it was made to randomly stop redirecting.

    That could possible make some strange twisted kind of sense, to some developer, somewhere?

  • (cs)

    Oh, I just saw the movie, so I know how it happened. (spoiler alert!) See, both sides of his (the manager's) coin used to be heads, so even though he pretended to be leaving the decision to chance, he knew the outcome would always be heads (resulting in a 404 in this case). Then one side got deformed in the same fire that burned the left half of his face.

    Meanwhile, the Joker broke the redirect page.

  • (cs) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    I've done something somewhat similar, but with warning message prompts: randomize the sequence of prompt questions (typically requiring both yes and no answers. E.g.: Are you sure you want to proceed? [n] Do you wish to abort? [y]). This way, they don't get in the habit of auto-typing y-n to get past it and actually need to momentarily think about what they're doing.

    Although..... File Not Found might be an interesting choice to offer...

    That is why using yes/no questions is bad practice

  • katy (unregistered)

    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me _… im 13 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl =) like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol…neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!! DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

  • Sherman (unregistered) in reply to katy
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me _… im 13 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl =) like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol…neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!! DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

    You spelled "friends" incorrectly.

  • (cs) in reply to C
    C:
    Uh... 50/50?!

    My thought exactly: Looks like 66.6% redirect/33.3% declined to me.

    (For the rest of you: intNext(3) would return only 0, 1 or 2.)

    Maybe that's TRWTF? After all, if he wanted 50/50, why not:

        if (r.nextBoolean())
  • (cs) in reply to katy
    katy:
    DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

    Those'd better be Belgian waffles or I'm not putting up with this!

  • (cs)

    Smells like forgotten debug/test code...

    If it happens to not be the case, just throw a chair through the manager's room window (preferably when he's inside).

  • anonim (unregistered) in reply to katy

    re: penguin of doom: I don't know what is the saddest part:

    • that some random 13-year old posted that drivel on a rainbows and unicorns page, or
    • that it was pasted here by a beer-bellied, unshaven and unemployed 43-year old male in here.
  • (cs) in reply to katy
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me _… im 13 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl =) like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol…neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!! DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

    My brain jumped the tracks here. What just happened?

  • moving through space (unregistered)
    From the Article:
    his manager who was, in keeping with industry-wide standard management promotional practices, the Machiavellian developer responsible for the code in the first place.

    FTFY

  • (cs) in reply to Sherman
    Sherman:
    katy:
    ...
    You spelled "friends" incorrectly.
    Did katy manage to spell any words correctly? I was too busy dodging the shower of bogus punctuation and upcase letters...
  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    Next time I cant decide between throwing an exeption or redirecting to a useless page I will do this.

  • emaNrouY-Here (unregistered) in reply to Dave
    Dave:
    And why did the error just start occurring? Or better yet, WHAT was the purpose of said code?

    Captcha (because all the cool kids do it): facilisi Which is like a facsimile...but not

    That's what I was wondering. Sure he fixed the randomness of the error page, but that didn't fix the error. Perhaps the server guy is sick, with the president's daughter.

  • (cs) in reply to Steve The Cynic

    On the first read through of this page, I guess my brain automatically censored katy's post. It didn't block out your replies though, so I scrolled back up. Now I'm battling cancer.

  • Watever (unregistered)

    I think the developer of the original code used to work at my company. He had a fight with management, and started littering the code base with exceptions thrown according to random variables. Classy fella :)

  • (cs) in reply to katy
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy [...]love and waffles, t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m
    Reading this makes me want to throw an exception :/
  • ceiswyn (unregistered) in reply to katy
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!!

    So... about that spam filter...

  • Valued Service (unregistered) in reply to Tractor
    Tractor:
    So if it's random, how can he reproduce the result at will?

    The occurrence of an error isn't random, the action taken once an error is received is random.

    If an error occurs (which he could reproduce at will), the result is either an exception or a 404 not found.

    Which also means that the redirect destination didn't exist.

  • Dave (unregistered)

    Loving how new to the internet so many previous commenters are.

  • (cs) in reply to Watever
    Watever:
    I think the developer of the original code used to work at my company. He had a fight with management, and started littering the code base with exceptions thrown according to random variables. Classy fella :)
    Adding code to do this is TRWTF. He should have used an annotation.
  • Anon Ymous (unregistered) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me _… im 13 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl =) like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol…neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!! DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

    My brain jumped the tracks here. What just happened?

    Several people used the word "doom" repeatedly in previous comments. The word is like fly paper for "Invader Zim" fanatics.

  • Paul Neumann (unregistered) in reply to Y_F
    Y_F:
    Smells like forgotten debug/test code...

    If it happens to not be the case, just throw a chair through the manager's room window (preferably when he's inside).

    The chair, the room, or the window?

  • Paul Neumann (unregistered) in reply to anonim
    anonim:
    re: penguin of doom: I don't know what is the saddest part: - that some random 13-year old posted that drivel on a rainbows and unicorns page, or - that it was pasted here by a beer-bellied, unshaven and unemployed 43-year old male in here.
    Your second assertion is incorrect. It wasn't me.

    142rZLmvrGzztbHnFoKUK1ad9ULzNtLooF

  • Ben Jammin (unregistered) in reply to Sherman
    Sherman:
    katy:
    hi every1 im new!!!!!!! holds up spork my name is katy but u can call me t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m!!!!!!!! lol…as u can see im very random!!!! thats why i came here, 2 meet random ppl like me _… im 13 years old (im mature 4 my age tho!!) i like 2 watch invader zim w/ my girlfreind (im bi if u dont like it deal w/it) its our favorite tv show!!! bcuz its SOOOO random!!!! shes random 2 of course but i want 2 meet more random ppl =) like they say the more the merrier!!!! lol…neways i hope 2 make alot of freinds here so give me lots of commentses!!!! DOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <--- me bein random again _^ hehe…toodles!!!!!

    love and waffles,

    t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m

    You spelled "friends" incorrectly.
    I laughed quite hard at that, Sherman. You have my vote for featured.

  • Will A (unregistered)

    TRWTF is not switching from debug mode to release mode?

  • (cs) in reply to Will A
    Will A:
    TRWTF is not switching from debug mode to release mode?

    Very rarely is that activity followed at all. Mostly we are releasing debug software to production environments. If we are asked why, the answer is it works well in debug version. If need be, we can debug in production. This need always occurs.

  • Joe (unregistered) in reply to Your Name

    2 chances in 4 would be... 50/50.

  • Ben Jammin (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    Will A:
    TRWTF is not switching from debug mode to release mode?

    Very rarely is that activity followed at all. Mostly we are releasing debug software to production environments. If we are asked why, the answer is it works well in debug version. If need be, we can debug in production. This need always occurs.

    Other benefits include running slower and showing dirty errors to users.

Leave a comment on “Coin Toss of Doom”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #406512:

« Return to Article