The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
chubertdev:
Look up "Muphry's Law"

Oh jesus.

Look guys. Someone corrects a typo, being all amusing, and using an obvious typo themselves as their name.

The counter move is to point out that obvious mistake to them (as though they're stupid for not noticing), because it's fucking annoying if people don't seem to get jokes/references that you've made (and worse still, seem to think you're an idiot for making those mistakes).

Its no bloody fun if some other cunt comes along and explains what needs to be looked up. The whole thing collapses into sensible-ness.

No need to be a Nazi about it.

Godwin's Law by the beginning of page 2!

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Chris,

I thought that article was complimentary, not critical of you. Your equipment was in order. Theirs was not.

xaade · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

chubertdev:

No need to be a Nazi about it.

I remember too when people enjoyed having fun, just for the hell of it!

Now it seems like having fun is work, and it's far easier to be a lazy snark with vitriol leaking all over.

Not that I'm against sarcasm

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

xaade:
chubertdev:

No need to be a Nazi about it.

I remember too when people enjoyed having fun, just for the hell of it!

Now it seems like having fun is work, and it's far easier to be a lazy snark with vitriol leaking all over.

Not that I'm against sarcasm

Out on the left coast, we're still waiting for the caffeine to absorb in our bodies.

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Chris Q:
1. Without crawling under desks, it was not possible to see what was plugged into the UPS - all I knew is that our server was.

Crawling under a desk seems easy compared to dealing with the fallout of a production-critical set of servers going down.

Chris Q:
2. Rather than physically unplugging the UPS, all I did was switch off the power outlet that the well labelled UPS power cord was plugged in to.

Servers on an outlet that has a wall switch? That's a WTF in itself.

Chris Q:
4. I contend that the WTF here was not mine, but rather the idiot who plugged production servers into a piece of kit that was, to him, unknown and undocumented. It was documented in our procedures, and the other team was aware that we looked after our own kit.

Both, actually. Had they not plugged those servers into your UPS, this would not have happened. If you had checked the back of your UPS, this would not have happened. There were multiple failures.

This is much easier to say after the fact, though. I'm not faulting you, just saying that extra diligence is usually worth the effort.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Design failure: Data General MV8000. Plugging in a dumb terminal from more than 1 room away would take it down.

DG engineers couldn't find the trouble for 2 weeks. Then I explained the situation to them. Couple of months later we got a VAX780 that worked.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

ermm...even a few years ago they could have run a webserver under linux under vm quite safely (and safer!) on a mainframe...

Sigh...

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Negative, Ghostrider, the pattern is full.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).

captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

So we should have "forward vertical pipe" and "backwards vertical pipe", right? Although those sounds like metaphors.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
Chris Q:
2. Rather than physically unplugging the UPS, all I did was switch off the power outlet that the well labelled UPS power cord was plugged in to.

Servers on an outlet that has a wall switch? That's a WTF in itself.

He didn't say it was a wall switch. Hopefully he flipped a well labeled circuit breaker that is wired to only the outlet that his UPS is on.

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Dzov:
chubertdev:
Chris Q:
2. Rather than physically unplugging the UPS, all I did was switch off the power outlet that the well labelled UPS power cord was plugged in to.

Servers on an outlet that has a wall switch? That's a WTF in itself.

He didn't say it was a wall switch. Hopefully he flipped a well labeled circuit breaker that is wired to only the outlet that his UPS is on.

Possibly. His use of the word "outlet" makes me think that it's the former.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

ANON:
Some guys made a minor mistake and used the wrong power outlet. The error was detected fast and caused no serious harm. The guys understood that it was their mistake and are willing to learn how to make it better in the future. Nobody got fired and nobody left the company. So even a happy end.
Maybe this story should move to thedailybestpractice.com.

Yeah, I expected this story to end with Maverick getting fired.

Still, I'd think that when I first noticed that something was plugged into my UPS, before pulling the plug for a test I'd at least try to find out what it was. It seems a little dumb to plug your server into a device that you know nothing about, that's like picking up random unfamiliar objects and eating them. But if I was the Responsible Person for the UPS, I wouldn't just say, If you don't know what you're doing, tough on you.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

tin:
Sometimes, particularly when government departments are involved, the only way to prove a point is to simply cause the problem you were trying to warn about....

What's the "sometimes"? This is how government works. You warn the public about a problem. Then you do all you can to cause that problem. Then you tell them that you'll need to create a new department with a big budget to fix the problem. Once you've got the budget, proceed to make the problem worse, so you can justify getting a yet bigger budget.

What do you do if people say that your department should be abolished because you have failed to solve the problem? Don't be ridiculous. When was a government agency ever shut down or had its budget cut because the problem had gotten worse since they started working on solving it? In government, the best way to insure lifetime job security is to never solve the problem you were hired to solve.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Steve:
I think that everyone that uses UPSs on a regular basis has done the "plugged computer into UPS, didn't install the UPS software" error.

At my last job, we were the UPS monitoring software. If the UPS alarms went off, we had to run around shutting down our network of computers and other equipment in the proper order in the 15 minute window the UPS provided. Usually the power came back up after 5 or so minutes - just long enough to have started the process that needed to be finished (and then reversed for start-up) and kill a good 20-30 minutes.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
Muphry:
eViLegion:
2) Learn English a bit better, and stop attempting to correct people on their English when its their native fscking tongue.

*it's...

Well done, you corrected someone typing on a phone. Not too original.

At least I can spell my own name right though, eh Murphy?

(Just so you know, single character omissions are the most common form of typographical error, so if you see a missing apostrophe and assume that the person typing doesn't understand grammar, nine times out of ten you're wrong, and wrong in the most pathetic way imaginable.)

Ummm ... You do realize, I hope, that he corrected you because you made a grammar error in the course or ridiculing someone else for a grammar error. Surely even such an excitable person as yourself can see the irony there, and therefore the humor.

Tip: If you are going to correct others on their grammar errors, especially if you are going to be rude and pretentious about it, be extra careful that your grammar is meticulously correct. If you do get caught in such a mistake, it's better to laugh along with the jibes rather than to try to talk your way out of it.

If you find grammar errors in this post, please note that I am not ridiculing anyone for bad grammar. I'm ridiculing someone for rudely pointing out the faults of others, and then making exactly the same category of mistake himself, and then trying to say that when he makes such a mistake it's no big deal, even though he just said it WAS a big deal when someone else did it. See also, "hypocrisy".

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

When there's a "thing" and a "special thing", sometimes when you want to refer to the "thing" it's helpful to clarify that you mean the "regular thing". Otherwise, others could be forgiven for thinking that you mean both kinds of thing, or if the context had just mentioned "special thing", they might think you were again referring to "special thing".

Actually, I think it's a bad idea to say that there is a category called "X" and it has two sub-categories, "X-prime" and "X". This creates a constant ambiguity when you say "X" whether you mean all X or only the non-X-prime X.

In this case, I think it's better to say that there are two kinds of slash, forward slash and back slash, then to say that there are two kinds of slash, slash and back slash, or even to say that there are two unrelated things, slash and backslash. I've had plenty of times when I've told someone to type a slash and they reply, "Do you mean forward slash or back slash?" Do you suggest that the correct response is "I said slash." Surely it is clearer to just say "forward slash".

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Dzov:
chubertdev:
Chris Q:
2. Rather than physically unplugging the UPS, all I did was switch off the power outlet that the well labelled UPS power cord was plugged in to.

Servers on an outlet that has a wall switch? That's a WTF in itself.

He didn't say it was a wall switch. Hopefully he flipped a well labeled circuit breaker that is wired to only the outlet that his UPS is on.

Perhaps he was in the UK or Denmark or some other country where it's common to have a switch on every outlet..

HardwareGeek · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
The whole thing collapses into sensible-ness.

We certainly don't want any of that here!

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

I miss Mandatory Fun Day.

captcha: capio -- I liked that Leonardo DiCapio movie about why proper Exception handling is hard.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Ouch. That insulted my shoes' IQ, it was so fucking stupid.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Proposal:
I propose that WTF submissions be made into one liners if their content does not warrant the extra words/paragraphs.
Todays article: Nincompoops at Govt. Dept. plugged in their servers into UPS, and then chose not to install UPS monitoring software, resulting in problems.

Seriously, do we need to involve the Thermodynamic heat death of the universe in this ?

+1

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Did you introduce her to your 'little friend'?

eViLegion · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Jay. ...but I was correcting someones comprehension error (not a grammar error), when they themselves were erroneously correcting someone else's comprehension error. So you've kinda got it all the wrong way round.

And on that note, I bid you have a good evening.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

chubertdev:
KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

So we should have "forward vertical pipe" and "backwards vertical pipe", right? Although those sounds like metaphors.

We could call forward vertical pipe as "Italicized Vertical Pipe". Then backslash could be "Backwards Italicized Vertical Pipe:.

chubertdev · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Worf:
chubertdev:
KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

So we should have "forward vertical pipe" and "backwards vertical pipe", right? Although those sounds like metaphors.

We could call forward vertical pipe as "Italicized Vertical Pipe". Then backslash could be "Backwards Italicized Vertical Pipe:.

Not "Spaniardized Vertical Pipe"?

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
Jay. ...but I was correcting someones comprehension error (not a grammar error), when they themselves were erroneously correcting someone else's comprehension error. So you've kinda got it all the wrong way round.
And on that note, I bid you have a good evening.

Someone's *

You made a grammar error while correcting a comprehension error of someone correcting a grammar error in your correction of a previous comprehension error, get your shit straight

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Bob:
Please show a little sensitivity. I had a son whose favourite colour was orange, and let me tell you it was no laughing matter.

Translation for the other side of the pond: "I had a son whose favorite color was orange, and let me tell you it was no laghing matter."

ContraCorners · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Snooder:
I just spoke to a girl last night who has never seen Scarface. She claimed to be a huge movie buff.

I used to work with a guy who claimed to be a huge movie buff. Turns out he'd never seen either "Casablanca" or "The African Queen."

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).

I know "going backward" and "going forward", but I'm unfamiliar with "going ward".

Perhaps you could enlighten me?

Zemm · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

XXI:
eViLegion:
Jay. ...but I was correcting someones comprehension error (not a grammar error), when they themselves were erroneously correcting someone else's comprehension error. So you've kinda got it all the wrong way round.
And on that note, I bid you have a good evening.

Someone's *

You made a grammar error while correcting a comprehension error of someone correcting a grammar error in your correction of a previous comprehension error, get your shit straight

Where's your full stop?

Zemm · 2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Queenie:
KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
I know "going backward" and "going forward", but I'm unfamiliar with "going ward".
Perhaps you could enlighten me?

That's when you end up in hospital after debating grammar on the internet!

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

I'm surprised no one's mentioned that the mainframe team's servers almost certainly didn't have a data connection to the UPS, without which any UPS monitoring software would be totally ineffective.

jay:
I've had plenty of times when I've told someone to type a slash and they reply, "Do you mean forward slash or back slash?" Do you suggest that the correct response is "I said slash."

Yes. Or maybe the rhetorical "Did I say 'backslash'?"

Surely it is clearer to just say "forward slash".

Not when pedantry is clearly more important than clarity!

It's like how Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, but don't suggest that a dwarf planet might be considered a type of planet, because apparently the IAU has no grasp of linguistics.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Zylon:
Dear Dan Adams-Jacobson,
You do not need to describe Top Gun as "1986's Tom Cruise / Val Kilmer vehicle". You can just say "Top Gun". People will know what you're talking about. Honestly.

Better safe than sorry -- if you just say "Top Gun" people who don't know what you're talking about might think it's a movie and try to watch it.

-Harrow.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
Nagesh:
ANON:
Some guys made a minor mistake and used the wrong power outlet. The error was detected fast and caused no serious harm. The guys understood that it was their mistake and are willing to learn how to make it better in the future. Nobody got fired and nobody left the company. So even a happy end.
Maybe this story should move to thedailybestpractice.com.

More like thedailyreadingcomprehensionfailure.com. They didn't plug anything into "the wrong hole". They failed to set up their systems properly to handle when the UPS was on battery power.

Your use of double quotes implies that you believe that is what ANON said. But he didn't. So you're an idiot.

Secondly, they DID plug stuff into the wrong hole, as that UPS was for the systems owned and controlled by a different team, they had no permission to use the UPS, and they wouldn't have known how to set it up properly even if they had permission.

So, er, maybe you ought to either:

Stop pretending to be an Indian idiot.

Learn English a bit better, and stop attempting to correct people on their English when its their native fucking tongue.

errr....an unregistered Nagesh could be the original Nagesh idiot or it could be some clown like me just pretending

Also, I think you #1 and #2 almost contradict each other (but not quite, I suppose it is possible for [the other] Nagesh to be a Russian pretending to be an Indian). FWIW I still think Nagesh is an Indian pretending to be an American pretending to be an Indian....Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
Muphry:
eViLegion:
2) Learn English a bit better, and stop attempting to correct people on their English when its their native fscking tongue.

*it's...

Well done, you corrected someone typing on a phone. Not too original.

At least I can spell my own name right though, eh Murphy?

(Just so you know, single character omissions are the most common form of typographical error, so if you see a missing apostrophe and assume that the person typing doesn't understand grammar, nine times out of ten you're wrong, and wrong in the most pathetic way imaginable.)

So because it's a common typographical error (well missing characters in general are anyways) we ignore the fact that it's also a very common grammatical error that people simply don't understand?

I think there's a flaw in that logic somewhere....

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
chubertdev:
Look up "Muphry's Law"

Oh jesus.

Look guys. Someone corrects a typo, being all amusing, and using an obvious typo themselves as their name.

The counter move is to point out that obvious mistake to them (as though they're stupid for not noticing), because it's fucking annoying if people don't seem to get jokes/references that you've made (and worse still, seem to think you're an idiot for making those mistakes).

Its no bloody fun if some other cunt comes along and explains what needs to be looked up. The whole thing collapses into sensible-ness.

Hint: Muphry's Law is not a typo

Also, I think you are highly strung.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

KingBeardo:
Gah, my eyes! There is no unicode character identified as 'forward slash'. Using the unicode designations, character U+002f is '/' and is identified as solidus or slash. Character U+005c is '\' and is identified as reverse solidus or backslash because it is the reflection over the Y axis (in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system) of the solidus or slash character. For either backslash or forward slash to be defined, slash must first be defined; if character U+007c '|' was identified as 'slash' then back and forward slash would make sense. However, U+007c is identified as vertical line or vertical bar. Therefore, there is no correct time to use the words 'forward slash' when describing a character-- there are only slash and backslash (and fraction slash U+2044 and division slash U+2215... but that's a slightly different issue).
captcha nobis: you have nobis ness further complicating the unicode char system!

I have a yard at the front of my house, and another at the back. If I talk about 'the yard' not everyone relises I mean front yard not backyard, so I calrify. Some people do this with le slash too - although apparently that's new to you. Maybe the world would be better if we never tried to be helpful and overspecify something just to make sure the roght message was conveyed.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

eViLegion:
Jay. ...<snip>
And on that note, I bid you have a good evening.

Ah, sorry. I missed that bit. You have a lovely evening too, and let's never more talk of it.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

the real daily wtf is, as usual, the comments section.

captcha: facilisi: easy spanish pasta

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

Chris Q:
4. I contend that the WTF here was not mine, but rather the idiot who plugged production servers into a piece of kit that was, to him, unknown and undocumented...

I assure you, we get that.

2013-07-22 Reply Admin

keiranhalcyon31:
It's like how Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, but don't suggest that a dwarf planet might be considered a type of planet, because apparently the IAU has no grasp of linguistics.

Just like a mainframe is a kind of frame? And a Vice President is a President?

Matt Westwood · 2013-07-23 Reply Admin

Zylon:
Dear Dan Adams-Jacobson,
You do not need to describe Top Gun as "1986's Tom Cruise / Val Kilmer vehicle". You can just say "Top Gun". People will know what you're talking about. Honestly.

Having spent the last 27 or so years metiulously avoiding watching that pile of rubbish, I'm one of the few who actually didn't know Val Kilmer was in it.

2013-07-23 Reply Admin

floating ground:
Design failure: Data General MV8000. Plugging in a dumb terminal from more than 1 room away would take it down.
DG engineers couldn't find the trouble for 2 weeks. Then I explained the situation to them. Couple of months later we got a VAX780 that worked.

You just destroyed my soul.

2013-07-23 Reply Admin

daver:
Perhaps he was in the UK or Denmark or some other country where it's common to have a switch on every outlet..

UK

eViLegion · 2013-07-23 Reply Admin

Nagesh:
Also, I think you #1 and #2 almost contradict each other (but not quite, I suppose it is possible for [the other] Nagesh to be a Russian pretending to be an Indian). FWIW I still think Nagesh is an Indian pretending to be an American pretending to be an Indian....Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

That's why I used the word either, and not the word both. Either covers the selection of 1 of the 2 possible things you should do, depending on the 2 possible situations you might be in. Either pretending to be an Indian idiot, or actually being an Indian idiot.

2013-07-23 Reply Admin

nopony special:
I miss Mandatory Fun Day.

Me too. Please bring back MFD, it was worth it for the comments!

2013-07-23 Reply Admin

or even particularly like 1986's Tom Cruise / Val Kilmer vehicle Top Gun.

I'm with ya buddy. Saw it once. What a boring pile of shit. Why the fuck does everyone bang on about it?

2013-07-23 Reply Admin

C-Derb:
Hath1:

...TRWTF is not using the Preview button...
FTFY

Thx

captcha: appellatio. No comment.

no laughing matter · 2013-07-23 Reply Admin

Bob:
¯\(°_o)/¯ I DUNNO LOL:
The President's daughter was ready to bring up her server. She looked around for a power outlet to plug it into. Right or wrong, she decided to plug it into the orange outlet, because orange was her favorite color.*
*If she was the Prime Minister's daughter, orange would have been her favourite colour.

Please show a little sensitivity. I had a son whose favourite colour was orange, and let me tell you it was no laughing matter.

Right or wrong, it was everyponies favourite colour at that time!

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