• Warren (unregistered)

    I haven't got anything sensible to add but at least it's not a pun on "frist".

  • (cs) in reply to Warren
    Warren:
    I haven't got anything sensible to add but at least it's not a pun on "frist".

    there could be a sensible comment out of this ****?

    the cold war angle is too exaggerated and killed the decent WTF of:

    • dev finds divided company,
    • dev finds WTF for communication between divisions,
    • dev replaces protocol over bosses' heads,
    • dev gets fired for it
  • Hanzo Is God (unregistered)

    I rather read Hanzo stories than this.

    Bring back Hanzo! I’ve been waiting for weeks for another Episode about the silent Ninja.

  • Black Bart (unregistered)

    The cowboy wasn't wearing a cowboy hat? He's un-American!

  • Pippo (unregistered) in reply to Hanzo Is God
    Hanzo Is God:
    I rather read Hanzo stories than this.

    Bring back Hanzo! I’ve been waiting for weeks for another Episode about the silent Ninja.

    WE WANT HENZO!!!

  • Peter (unregistered)

    article is missing double quotes in the following sentence:

    Wanda guided him past red, vaguely Marxist "motivational" posters hanging from the walls to his cubicle.

    // of the variety sold by despair.com, no doubt // Not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up

    Captcha: damnum -- Shut up and get back to your damnum work!

  • David T (unregistered)

    unsubscribe

  • (cs)

    Rather good WTF ruined by story-embellishment!

    Fire that Erik Gern, he won't stop destroying WTFs by his story-writing!

  • Rafael Lago (unregistered)

    Theres one thing that really bugs me...

    If Simone is such a socialist/communist. Why does she work with a technology from Microsoft?

  • (cs)

    Simone? Or Wanda?

  • Hanzo Is God (unregistered) in reply to Pippo

    Will Hanzo finally get nice things? Will he ever hook up with Gertrude? What other things does the book of five rings have in store for Hanzo? Will he die at the end or will he ride away in to the sunset?

    The suspense is killing me.

  • Indrek (unregistered)
    Wanda guided him past red, vaguely Marxist motivational posters hanging from the walls to his cubicle.
    Who's Wanda?
  • (cs) in reply to no laughing matter
    no laughing matter:
    Rather good WTF ruined by story-embellishment!

    Fire that Erik Gern, he won't stop destroying WTFs by his story-writing!

    Yeah, he's by far the worst. It's great that he thinks he's a wonderful fiction writer, but it ruins the WTFs by making everything ridiculous.

  • faoileag (unregistered)

    It's a sad state of affairs if you start reading a story, stumble upon a phrase like "Soviet-style pantsuit with red trim" and can immediately name the author.

    After that phrase I went into fast reading modus, skipping the noise to see what sort of wtf might remain after removing the embellishment and if it would be worth discussing it in the comments section.

    IPC via the windows registry? Innovative.

    Two departments in the same company not talking to each other although they sometimes have to cooperate? Yawn. Been there, done that. Haven't found a suitable t-shirt yet.

  • faoileag (unregistered) in reply to ratchet freak
    ratchet freak:
    Warren:
    I haven't got anything sensible to add but at least it's not a pun on "frist".

    there could be a sensible comment out of this ****?

    the cold war angle is too exaggerated and killed the decent WTF of:

    • dev finds divided company,
    • dev finds WTF for communication between divisions,
    • dev replaces protocol over bosses' heads,
    • dev gets fired for it
    Given the amount of embellishment lathered on the core story, I wouldn't be surprised if the originally submitted wtf contained just the one wtf: ipc via windows registry.
  • (cs)

    Like the others, TLDR; the use the registry for IPC. The rest of it is just fluffing, and hides what could have been a decent story.

    If it was written by a decent author...

  • Jainee (unregistered)

    Author couldn't even spell Politburo correctly. Fire this clown.

  • Blablub (unregistered)

    unsubscribed to rss feed, this article has everything that is wrong with tdwtf

  • faoileag (unregistered)

    Ok, seems I haven't done enough windows programming im my life so far.

    I called IPC via windows registry "innovative". It seems I was mistaken in that evaluation.

    Even Microsoft thinks information exchange via the windows registry is a valid method of IPC: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446520.aspx#inter_process_comm_netcf_topic2

    That actually leaves only one wtf, two departments not talking to each other directly.

    And even for that, a suitable Microsoft story exists: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.de/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html search for "6 layers of management" to get the gist.

  • faoileag (unregistered) in reply to Jainee
    Jainee:
    Author couldn't even spell Politbüro correctly. Fire this clown.
    There. FTFY.
  • Anon (unregistered)

    What the hell, guys? Didn't you learn anything from the Scottish one?

  • anonymous (unregistered)

    STOP!!! Stop ruining the articles with overuse of stupid embellishment!

  • agbeladem (unregistered) in reply to faoileag
    faoileag:
    Ok, seems I haven't done enough windows programming im my life so far.

    I called IPC via windows registry "innovative". It seems I was mistaken in that evaluation.

    Even Microsoft thinks information exchange via the windows registry is a valid method of IPC: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446520.aspx#inter_process_comm_netcf_topic2

    That actually leaves only one wtf, two departments not talking to each other directly.

    And even for that, a suitable Microsoft story exists: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.de/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html search for "6 layers of management" to get the gist.

    Well thinking a bad bad BAD technique is a frist in computer science could make you a lunatic. There's always someone who's done this stupid thing, perhaps even before you were born.

  • Mike (unregistered)

    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered)

    This article is the shittiest shit ever shat out of a butt.

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

    Oh hey Mike... OR SHOULD I SAY ALEX?!

  • belzebub (unregistered)

    I wonder how the real story looked before it was "rewritten". Because in this form, it's awfull.

    Anyway - if he wasn't compelled to quit after "net/c++" division revelation, he should've left after the "win-registry-ipc" discovery. I've seen too many TERRIBLE IT companies and althought there was a time, in which I thought "it surely can't be THAT bad", soon, I've found that it was usually much worse. If you see "signals" like this, ABANDON SHIP!!!!

  • Smug Unix User (unregistered)

    Two programming groups not talking? Well that seems a little dysfunctional, but hardly a WTF. Many organizations have layers, and most have problems leaving their fief and cooperating with other groups even within the same org chart branch.

    Change for the sake of change is never a good reason. The registry while not my first choice for a data store probably was working fine and hopefully had unit tests around the data transfer process.

    Where was the code review for his change set? If someone ignored the process and checked in code which neither pointy haired boss wanted then he probably wouldn't have worked out well in the long run.

  • (cs) in reply to Indrek
    Indrek:
    Wanda guided him past red, vaguely Marxist motivational posters hanging from the walls to his cubicle.
    Who's Wanda?
    A fish. I thought everyone knew.
  • faoileag (unregistered)

    The weirdest bit comes in the second half, and I don't know if it's due to embellishment by someone who doesn't seem to know very much about software development or if that was part of the originally submitted story.

    the article:
    "Tariq," Simone began, "why did you alter the IPC API without my permission?"
    API is the acronym for "application programming interface". An API usually seperates the interface (as seen by the outside world) from the implementation; the latter can be changed without the user of the former noticing it.

    But Tariq replied: "If I hadn’t and either one of us screwed up a routine, a race condition could corrupt the Windows Registry".

    So, what was altered was the IPC mechanism itself. Could Tariq fix what he perceives to be a problem with the implementation? Definitely not, he would have to have access to the donor registry codebase as well, as to his' department's phone bank application. He would also have to be able to compile the donor registry codebase (with gcc) and that without support from the upstairs department.

    While I can certainly imagine some young, self-declared programming hero in a newby position to think he should do this, I can't imagine that he could do it.

    So what he might have changed is the agreement between the two departments as to what is stored where in the windows registry. And that was basically his job, as he had to add a field for the mobile phone number.

    I don't know. This part of the story looks completely made by someone who doesn't seem to know very much about programming.

    As has happened before, perhaps the original submitter would be so kind to step forward and shed some light on what is real and what is fiction?

  • RFoxmich (unregistered)

    Here in Union of Soviet Sozialistichiske Republics we know how to deal with comments and commenters.

  • KICKINTHEASS (unregistered) in reply to Blablub

    Great see ya

  • (cs)

    This article was painful to read.

  • Dr.FeelGood (unregistered)

    Yeah I must admit this was a shitty article, but it provided me a few minutes of entertainment away from my boring drudgery of a job, so how can I complain!?

  • Krunt (unregistered) in reply to faoileag
    faoileag:
    Ok, seems I haven't done enough windows programming im my life so far.

    I called IPC via windows registry "innovative". It seems I was mistaken in that evaluation.

    Even Microsoft thinks information exchange via the windows registry is a valid method of IPC: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446520.aspx#inter_process_comm_netcf_topic2

    No, it is in fact a terrible idea. And the article you linked is for the .NET Compact Framework. Version 1. From 2006.

    Smoke signals are a valid method of long-distance communication, but it doesn't make them a good idea when you consider the available alternatives.

  • BeenThereDoneThat (unregistered) in reply to Indrek
    Indrek:
    Wanda guided him past red, vaguely Marxist motivational posters hanging from the walls to his cubicle.
    Who's Wanda?

    Cut & Paste fail?

  • (cs) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

    Well, I don't find the embellishment funny. It just isn't. There's nothing really wrong with embellishment per se, but this one is entirely devoid of anything remotely humorous.

    Apart from the fact that I don't have too much to contribute, the fact that you run a good chance of your story being butchered makes me hesitant to submit a WTF.

  • qazwsx (unregistered) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

    Nice try Erik Gern.

  • faoileag (unregistered) in reply to Krunt
    Krunt:
    faoileag:
    I called IPC via windows registry "innovative". It seems I was mistaken in that evaluation. Even Microsoft thinks information exchange via the windows registry is a valid method of IPC...

    No, it is in fact a terrible idea.

    Where in my post does it say that I find it to be a good idea?

    Krunt:
    And the article you linked is for the .NET Compact Framework. Version 1. From 2006.
    So MS in 2006 did think of it as a valid IPC mechanism for pocket devices. This is 2014 and I said I was mistaken in assuming the method was "innovative". Because Microsoft acknowledged the method way back in 2006. What's your problem?
  • neminem (unregistered)

    No, this was still better than a Hanzo article. After all, there was at least a real, believeable, WTF or two hidden under all the stupid, boring fakery. But there was also quite a lot of that.

    Note: we don't come here to read bad fiction. We come here to read real WTFs. We accept anonymization, that doesn't mean we accept stories that were clearly anonymized so much that they turn into stupid sitcoms.

  • (cs) in reply to faoileag
    faoileag:
    Ok, seems I haven't done enough windows programming im my life so far.

    I called IPC via windows registry "innovative". It seems I was mistaken in that evaluation.

    Even Microsoft thinks information exchange via the windows registry is a valid method of IPC: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446520.aspx#inter_process_comm_netcf_topic2

    That actually leaves only one wtf, two departments not talking to each other directly.

    And even for that, a suitable Microsoft story exists: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.de/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html search for "6 layers of management" to get the gist.

    +1 This days' WTF saved by the comments!

  • The Fall of the WTF empire (unregistered)

    Endorsing the viewpoint of many above that the WTF was mild at best, but the editorial embellishments pushed it into WTFWTF.Com (What the F WTF.com) territory.

    If the editor/writer has to do more than 50% tweaking/mangling to make a complete story, present the original submission as a side link so we can see how much it's the original WTF and how much it's this site's WTF induction

  • Fritz, a.k.a. Fritzo (unregistered) in reply to Dr.FeelGood
    Dr.FeelGood:
    Yeah I must admit this was a shitty article, but it provided me a few minutes of entertainment away from my boring drudgery of a job, so how can I complain!?

    Like this: "A THE ARTICEL SUXIT!!!" or, perhaps, like this: "I found the article rather bad."

  • faoileag (unregistered) in reply to Krunt
    Krunt:
    Smoke signals are a valid method of long-distance communication, but it doesn't make them a good idea when you consider the available alternatives.
    It also depends on what amount of data has to be transferred and whether the communication is bi-directional or not and what ressources you have.

    A smoke/light signal might even in 2014 be the best method to communicate "barbarians and the frontier!" if other methods are not available, e.g. because you do not have electricity at the observation post.

    The "phone bank" application looks to me like a windows application that stores its settings like phone numbers in the windows registry.

    Along comes another application that wants these data from the "phone bank" application.

    It's completely ok to say in that case: "if you need them read my **** settings", especially in a company where the two departments are obviously not on talking terms.

    Proper IPC would entail the two departments to agree on a method (RPC, socket communication...) and then on a data exchange format (XML, CVS, fixed-width...). Each department would of course favor other stuff then the other department (C++/gcc vs. .NET). And finally both teams would have to set aside the necessary man-hours to implement the IPC.

    For what? Passing a telephone number from A to B?

    In an ideal world, it would happen like that. Consultants will prescribe it. Books will teach it.

    In the real world, whatever gets the job done will be hacked together. Maintenance? I don't know nothing of that maintenance of yours...

  • Algoreithm (unregistered)

    In Soviet Russia you don't develop software, software develops you!

  • (cs) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

    Actually I did ask for my money back, and got every penny I previously sent them. Great guys here!

  • Insensitive Claude (unregistered)

    TRWTF is making an architectural change to production code without going through any sort of change management process that includes stakeholder engagement. That's usually a firing offence.

  • (cs) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    I don't know guys, if you are all so unhappy with the stories why don't you just ask for your money back?

    This site to me is an enjoyable 5 min visit, what is it to you?

    I second this.

    Besides, I liked the story. Maybe it's because I've worked in Draconia, where interdepartmental politics really were like the Cold War. Or maybe it's just because embellishments can take a rather basic WTF and turn it into a fun story!

    And to preempt all of the cries of "but the WTF sucked they need better WTF's that don't need embellishing": they work with what they've got. If you want better WTF's, SUBMIT THEM YOURSELF!

  • PC Amok (unregistered) in reply to Black Bart
    Black Bart:
    The cowboy wasn't wearing a cowboy hat? He's un-American!

    My mamma would club you upside the head if she caught you wearing a hat indoors. Don't you have any manners?

  • nitePhyyre (unregistered) in reply to faoileag
    faoileag:
    This is 2014 and I said I was mistaken in assuming the method was "innovative". Because Microsoft acknowledged the method way back in 2006. What's your problem?
    Reading comprehension, clearly.

    In addition to adding another This Iron Curtain embellishment was the worst thing to ever waste my bandwidth*" to the chorus, why the hell was one of the subheaders "Stalinist SVN" when that section never even came close to thinking about mentioning version control?

    Fire this loser.

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