The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

[image]

I went to some nordic country whose name I can't recall now, and I found quite a few hotels where THE FUCKING SHOWER was separated from the rest of the room by a sheet of glass. I went there with my family. WTF? I don't want to watch my father showering, thank you.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

"Ha ha, those stoopid psychologists don't know what they're doing, I could do psychology much better than that with my computer science degree."

You know what you guys sound like? You sound like a bunch of HR managers discussing programming.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

This is not my real name:
"Ha ha, those stoopid psychologists don't know what they're doing, I could do psychology much better than that with my computer science degree."
You know what you guys sound like? You sound like a bunch of HR managers discussing programming.

I challenge you to find a man or woman on the street (without a psychology background) who can tell you what those symbols mean. Remember, that's who is answering the questions as posted - random people the survey is being sent to.

I'll be happy to agree that psychologists should understand the symbols, but the rest of us take a look and think "wtf?".

Matt Westwood · 2011-12-10 Reply Admin

Turd:
[image]
I went to some nordic country whose name I can't recall now, and I found quite a few hotels where THE FUCKING SHOWER was separated from the rest of the room by a sheet of glass. I went there with my family. WTF? I don't want to watch my father showering, thank you.

The glass is there so that the water is confined to one corner of the room, otherwise the beds will get wet.

Sorry, what was your problem again?

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

She was a lot like you (Maybe not quite as heavy) Now little Careline is in here too.

Coyne · 2011-12-10 Reply Admin

The flash cards are from Texas. In line with their other "improvements" to the curriculum, the legislature has solved the infinity problem by mandating that anything divided by 0 is 0.

This was necessary because only God is infinite.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

Kemp:
This is not my real name:
"Ha ha, those stoopid psychologists don't know what they're doing, I could do psychology much better than that with my computer science degree."
You know what you guys sound like? You sound like a bunch of HR managers discussing programming.

I challenge you to find a man or woman on the street (without a psychology background) who can tell you what those symbols mean. Remember, that's who is answering the questions as posted - random people the survey is being sent to.

I'll be happy to agree that psychologists should understand the symbols, but the rest of us take a look and think "wtf?".

The symbols obviously aren't meant for internal use among psychologists, it's not like they are too retarded to use words. I'm not a psychologist, and I can tell more or less what the symbols mean. But you're not supposed to know the exact meaning, you're supposed to identify with one of the drawings. If research indicates that this method to measure emotions works, what expertise does a computer scientist have to doubt that?

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

This is not my real name:
Kemp:
This is not my real name:
"Ha ha, those stoopid psychologists don't know what they're doing, I could do psychology much better than that with my computer science degree."
You know what you guys sound like? You sound like a bunch of HR managers discussing programming.

I challenge you to find a man or woman on the street (without a psychology background) who can tell you what those symbols mean. Remember, that's who is answering the questions as posted - random people the survey is being sent to.

I'll be happy to agree that psychologists should understand the symbols, but the rest of us take a look and think "wtf?".

The symbols obviously aren't meant for internal use among psychologists, it's not like they are too retarded to use words. I'm not a psychologist, and I can tell more or less what the symbols mean. But you're not supposed to know the exact meaning, you're supposed to identify with one of the drawings. If research indicates that this method to measure emotions works, what expertise does a computer scientist have to doubt that?

Given the sarcasm in both responses, I'm assuming you're trolling. However, I am interested in this discussion, so...

Expertise as a computer scientist isn't important here. What's important is being a person reading a piece of paper that was posted to them. Maybe it's different where you are and the symbols make perfect sense (could be valid, I've heard stranger things). To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

The top one is obvious. The middle one is the most confusing (exploding, or how orgasmic the ride was maybe?). The bottom one I had a guess for, which was wrong (how spacious or cramped the car seemed).

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

Kemp:
the person answered

"the person answering" of course.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

For those using a text-based browser, please choose a rating from 1-10 of the following three categories for each question:

[A]

[1] I am carefree and happy [3] I am happy [5] I am neutral [7] I am sad and hurt [10] I am angry

[B]

[1] I am wired with explosives, stand clear [3] I am being eaten by a large amoeba [5] I have a fried egg stuck to my chest [7] I have a gallstone [10] I gaze at my navel

[C]

[1] I am a little elf [3] I am a midget [5] I am average [7] I have no legs [10] I have been buried in concrete, please assist

?

shinobu · 2011-12-10 Reply Admin

I did not got to school in the US either, so I'm not at all familiar with this kind of mathematics. Could somebody please explain the relation between the 0th root of 12 and dividing 45 by 9.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

shinobu:
I did not got to school in the US either, so I'm not at all familiar with this kind of mathematics. Could somebody please explain the relation between the 0th root of 12 and dividing 45 by 9.

I could give you a truly wonderful explanation, but unfortunately the margin of this textbox is too small to contain it.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

first! (I think)

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

Kemp:
Given the sarcasm in both responses, I'm assuming you're trolling. However, I am interested in this discussion, so...
Expertise as a computer scientist isn't important here. What's important is being a person reading a piece of paper that was posted to them. Maybe it's different where you are and the symbols make perfect sense (could be valid, I've heard stranger things). To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

The top one is obvious. The middle one is the most confusing (exploding, or how orgasmic the ride was maybe?). The bottom one I had a guess for, which was wrong (how spacious or cramped the car seemed).

I'm not trolling actually. It seems strange to me that people would not get those images. Would you honestly not know which one to choose? Maybe the fact that I live with a psychologist has influenced me a bit.

Anyway, I have no idea about the correct way to use the manikins in a study. Maybe they're supposed to come with an explanation, maybe not. Maybe this is a stupid situation to use them, maybe not. But I doubt anyone on here does know.

I do agree that it's funny to see something like that in a car rental survey. But some of the comments on here ridicule the whole idea of using the drawings. That's what my comment was about.

2011-12-10 Reply Admin

This is not my real name:
Kemp:
Given the sarcasm in both responses, I'm assuming you're trolling. However, I am interested in this discussion, so...
Expertise as a computer scientist isn't important here. What's important is being a person reading a piece of paper that was posted to them. Maybe it's different where you are and the symbols make perfect sense (could be valid, I've heard stranger things). To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

The top one is obvious. The middle one is the most confusing (exploding, or how orgasmic the ride was maybe?). The bottom one I had a guess for, which was wrong (how spacious or cramped the car seemed).

I'm not trolling actually. It seems strange to me that people would not get those images. Would you honestly not know which one to choose? Maybe the fact that I live with a psychologist has influenced me a bit.

Anyway, I have no idea about the correct way to use the manikins in a study. Maybe they're supposed to come with an explanation, maybe not. Maybe this is a stupid situation to use them, maybe not. But I doubt anyone on here does know.

I do agree that it's funny to see something like that in a car rental survey. But some of the comments on here ridicule the whole idea of using the drawings. That's what my comment was about.

I can understand the top line, but I have no idea what sentiment the two lower lines is supposed to relay. I honestly really cannot understand it. Asking me to fill in a questionaire and then not giving me a way to do it that is unabigous, well sure. But how are you going to know what I answered when everyone can interpret the answer codes differently? Then, I am a programmer, and do not think, or feel, like normal people do.

Watson · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Kemp:
To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"

By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.

Matt Westwood · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Watson:
Kemp:
To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.
I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.

The effect they're most likely to have on an arsehole like me, though, is, "Fuck this, I haven't got time for this shit" and I'll either ignore it altogether or deface it rudely.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Watson:
I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.

But then (for any situation in which the feedback is used) they are effectively useless. Not only do you have to contend with people being unreliable to start with, you also have wildly different interpretations of the symbols.

Take the middle row that we all love. One person might interpret it as how close you feel to having explosive diarrhea, another might be how hard you impacted the steering wheel if you crashed, another might be how pleasurable the ride was. Take each of those people ticking the far left box (with no way of telling you how they interpreted it) and try to use the feedback to mean something.

Of course, I think it's unlikely the person designing the survey put any thought into it, given that they used it for a car rental. Sensible questions they could have asked: how did you feel about the price, was the car comfortable, was the car clean, would you rent from us again?

Watson · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Kemp:
Watson:
I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.

But then (for any situation in which the feedback is used) they are effectively useless. Not only do you have to contend with people being unreliable to start with, you also have wildly different interpretations of the symbols.

I was referring to whatever it was that this "simple but proven tool" was based on. Who knows what illustrations were originally used for what purpose and with what audience in mind. This isn't a car rental agency getting feedback from its customers - it's a hospital asking four-year-olds how sick they feel.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Watson:
I was referring to whatever it was that this "simple but proven tool" was based on. Who knows what illustrations were originally used for what purpose and with what audience in mind. This isn't a car rental agency getting feedback from its customers - it's a hospital asking four-year-olds how sick they feel.

I think you've perfectly nailed the true WTF right there. They took something intended for "a hospital asking four-year-olds how sick they feel" and applied it to "a car rental agency getting feedback from its customers". They probably never even look at the forms they get back, just file them away so they can tick a box.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

You are correct. That's a valid flashcard and NOT division by zero. It's division by 12.

Dividing zero into 12 equal parts is pretty easy. Even for me.

DaveK · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Shmoopty:
You are correct. That's a valid flashcard and NOT division by zero. It's division by 12.

The post to which you are replying is indeed correct, but it disagrees with you, since it says that the card *does* show division by zero. That's what

The number to the left is the divisor

means. Ask yourself whether this diagram is really showing the result of dividing thirty-seven into one-and-a-quarter-million equal parts: [image] or whether it shows a very large number divided by a small one. After answering that question, remember that the zero on the flashcard is where the 37 is in this diagram, and then try and figure out whether 12 is being divided by zero or not one more time.

Shmoopty:
Dividing zero into 12 equal parts is pretty easy. Even for me.

But reading comprehension apparently is not.

edgecase · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Interesting.. The link is real, for what it's worth. Still not sure how someone read that paper and said yeah, let's go ahead and implement this - and let's use those same images exactly, they look perfect.

edgecase · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Thanks! That makes much more sense now.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Shenag III:
UrzaMTG:
Is that Jamie Hyneman (and maybe even Adam Savage) in the reflection?
It looks like Hyneman to me: the stance, build, height and dress seem right. His (her?) head looks a tad wrong, but it is really hard to tell on my crappy little laptop screen.

Couldn't disagree more....Too short, too fat and standing totally different - oh, and no beret

Maybe it's a recognition test like they did with the rubber faces....

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Kemp:
This is not my real name:
Kemp:
This is not my real name:
"Ha ha, those stoopid psychologists don't know what they're doing, I could do psychology much better than that with my computer science degree."
You know what you guys sound like? You sound like a bunch of HR managers discussing programming.

I challenge you to find a man or woman on the street (without a psychology background) who can tell you what those symbols mean. Remember, that's who is answering the questions as posted - random people the survey is being sent to.

I'll be happy to agree that psychologists should understand the symbols, but the rest of us take a look and think "wtf?".

The symbols obviously aren't meant for internal use among psychologists, it's not like they are too retarded to use words. I'm not a psychologist, and I can tell more or less what the symbols mean. But you're not supposed to know the exact meaning, you're supposed to identify with one of the drawings. If research indicates that this method to measure emotions works, what expertise does a computer scientist have to doubt that?

Given the sarcasm in both responses, I'm assuming you're trolling. However, I am interested in this discussion, so...

Expertise as a computer scientist isn't important here. What's important is being a person reading a piece of paper that was posted to them. Maybe it's different where you are and the symbols make perfect sense (could be valid, I've heard stranger things). To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

The top one is obvious. The middle one is the most confusing (exploding, or how orgasmic the ride was maybe?). The bottom one I had a guess for, which was wrong (how spacious or cramped the car seemed).

Although I tend to agree that these are stupid, I think they want people to identify with the pics without knowing exactly what they mean. The reason they would use pics instead of a scale 1-5 (or 1-7) is that when people are certain what the question is, they can (and will) deliberately try to impact the results (that is, they over-analyse the question {you know, "Oh, there doing this to assess that, so even though I'm a 3, I'll put 2 because then they'll understand that I really hate them", or something}.

If the pictures need an explanataion, why do we need the pictures?

Oh, and if it's asking how YOU feel about the overall situation, then I suggest your more than a little thick thinking it has anything to do with space in the car...

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

The name:
This is not my real name:
Kemp:
Given the sarcasm in both responses, I'm assuming you're trolling. However, I am interested in this discussion, so...
Expertise as a computer scientist isn't important here. What's important is being a person reading a piece of paper that was posted to them. Maybe it's different where you are and the symbols make perfect sense (could be valid, I've heard stranger things). To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.

The top one is obvious. The middle one is the most confusing (exploding, or how orgasmic the ride was maybe?). The bottom one I had a guess for, which was wrong (how spacious or cramped the car seemed).

I'm not trolling actually. It seems strange to me that people would not get those images. Would you honestly not know which one to choose? Maybe the fact that I live with a psychologist has influenced me a bit.

Anyway, I have no idea about the correct way to use the manikins in a study. Maybe they're supposed to come with an explanation, maybe not. Maybe this is a stupid situation to use them, maybe not. But I doubt anyone on here does know.

I do agree that it's funny to see something like that in a car rental survey. But some of the comments on here ridicule the whole idea of using the drawings. That's what my comment was about.

I can understand the top line, but I have no idea what sentiment the two lower lines is supposed to relay. I honestly really cannot understand it. Asking me to fill in a questionaire and then not giving me a way to do it that is unabigous, well sure. But how are you going to know what I answered when everyone can interpret the answer codes differently? Then, I am a programmer, and do not think, or feel, like normal people do.

Do you feel happy?
Did we make you feel sick in the stomach?
Do you feel embiggened by the whole experience?

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Matt Westwood:
Watson:
Kemp:
To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.
I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.
The effect they're most likely to have on an arsehole like me, though, is, "Fuck this, I haven't got time for this shit" and I'll either ignore it altogether or deface it rudely.

I agree - but then when I get any survey I tend to think that.

Why am I paying to explain to you how good a job you are doing, when I can complain for free if I don't like it?

Typically I find most companies that do surveys are ones who really don't understand their customers (which I guess is where they think the surveys are useful). The problem is, they just highlight the fact that they don't know. When I ring a bank, I want something specific, and then I want to get on with my life - I don;t want to discuss with someone whether I've had a positive experience, and my opinions on how they might improve the whole situation. When I hire a car, I want to pick it up and (eventually) take it back with minimal fuss, minimal paperwork - I don't want to be hassled (at the time, or at some later stage) about whether I thought the farts from the person before had adequately been masked before I picked the car up, and whether the employees smiled at me (I didn;t actually notice).

Go back 20+ years - if someone does an outstanding job and impresses me, the compnay will find out. If I find service pathetic, charges unreasonable or attendants rude, the company will find out.

Sure, a lot of people will simply nod and smile and not cause a fuss, but you don't actually need the personal experience of everyone you've ever done business with to be able to work out whether you are doing a good job, and adequate job or a pretty piss-poor job. I guess if we want to seperate nto 5 (or 7 or 10) categories, we need a survey.

On a scale of 1 to 7, please answer how you feel about the following:

This post was insightful
This post was inciteful
I agree
I would send you money based on what you wrote
What is the fifth digit of your credit card
What is the Sixth digit of your credit card ...

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

DaveK:
Shmoopty:
You are correct. That's a valid flashcard and NOT division by zero. It's division by 12.
The post to which you are replying is indeed correct, but it disagrees with you, since it says that the card *does* show division by zero. That's what
The number to the left is the divisor
means. Ask yourself whether this diagram is really showing the result of dividing thirty-seven into one-and-a-quarter-million equal parts: [image] or whether it shows a very large number divided by a small one. After answering that question, remember that the zero on the flashcard is where the 37 is in this diagram, and then try and figure out whether 12 is being divided by zero or not one more time.

Just FYI, where I live (Belgium) we are taught to put the divisor at the right. But I doubt that card is from Belgium.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Kemp:
Watson:
I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.

But then (for any situation in which the feedback is used) they are effectively useless. Not only do you have to contend with people being unreliable to start with, you also have wildly different interpretations of the symbols.

Take the middle row that we all love. One person might interpret it as how close you feel to having explosive diarrhea, another might be how hard you impacted the steering wheel if you crashed, another might be how pleasurable the ride was. Take each of those people ticking the far left box (with no way of telling you how they interpreted it) and try to use the feedback to mean something.

Of course, I think it's unlikely the person designing the survey put any thought into it, given that they used it for a car rental. Sensible questions they could have asked: how did you feel about the price, was the car comfortable, was the car clean, would you rent from us again?

Er - I agree a little bit, but the question (quite clearly, IMO) are about how the person feels, not about what they think of the car - that is, things about "...how hard you impact the steering wheel..." or (as someone else had) "how much room is in the car" are clearly not what is being asked, and I think someone dopey enough to disagree would think a question like "On a scale of 1 to 9 how happy were you with your overall experience withh XXXXXX" is an invitation to submit a 10 page essay on their exact feelings at various times during their dealings.

"I was a little apprehensive as, for the first time, I approached your service counter. Thankfully, your represetative (Stevie) quickly put my mind at ease about the simplicity of the process, as he gave me a stack of paperwork (as large as a 18th Century tome) to fill in to ensure that your company could keep track of me years after this simple transaction had been completed. I was flooded with disappointed when I saw that you inappropriately asked about sex rather than gender, and that the standard personal titles did not include "Grand Master" nor even "Abbot" (which I occasionally use in such circumstances). I felt smothered as various insurance policies were offered - and I must admit a little taken aback that apparently the "comprehensive" one did not actually include windscreen, damage to upper or lower parts of the vehicle, wheels, natural disasters nor, it seems, anything to do with the car. Stevie must have sensed my frustration increasing, and his friendly manager (Rupert) came across to assist me. By page 145, paragraph 3, subsection a I was starting to feel a little tired, although I must say that the glass of water offered by one of the secretaries (Janine) was most refreshing.......... ... .....the initial anger at having to fill in a survey such as this one after such a smooth hiring process was offset by the fact that you actually wrote the question out rather than requiring me to interpret a series of pictures as I would have with a different hire company. To conclude, I was leaning toward something above 5 and below 10, and I decided on 7. I realise statistically the psych's have worked out that 7 is the ambivalent man's answer and that it is an unreliable result, however hopefully the clarification I have provided in this here document will serve to show that this is a fully considered answer, not a sign of on-the-spot apathy. I must also commend your company on allowing me to provide such valuable input about my experiences - it is wonderful to feel like finally a company is taking my opinion seriously, and is more interested in how I feel than the service that I hire them to provide. I must congratulate you on your efforts to seek the opinions of humble plebeians (It's from the latin - plebes and a derivative of plebiscum) like myself. Realising the time you have invested in trying to improve your already reasonable service, I felt compelled to take the time to assist such a worthwhile cause, and am finding myself leaning toward an 8 as I write this, but I fear that there is some improvement possible, and am reluctant to give an 8 because it might give the misleading perception that all is well and that improvement is not needed...." etc...

Perhaps it would run to 15 volumes...

Matt Westwood · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Michael Eastmetal:
Matt Westwood:
Watson:
Kemp:
To me though, and at least the submitter and several other commenters here, they have no meaning without an attached explanation. I'm assuming that in any environment where they're normally used, the person answered would at least be given the basics ("this one represents how excited you are"). From the look of the sheet posted, there is no explanation.
I think if there were an explanation then the illustrations wouldn't be needed any more. You'd just have something like: "On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how satisfied were you?"
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms or might not be expected to understand the terms in the first place.
The effect they're most likely to have on an arsehole like me, though, is, "Fuck this, I haven't got time for this shit" and I'll either ignore it altogether or deface it rudely.
I agree - but then when I get any survey I tend to think that.

Why am I paying to explain to you how good a job you are doing, when I can complain for free if I don't like it?

Typically I find most companies that do surveys are ones who really don't understand their customers (which I guess is where they think the surveys are useful). The problem is, they just highlight the fact that they don't know. When I ring a bank, I want something specific, and then I want to get on with my life - I don;t want to discuss with someone whether I've had a positive experience, and my opinions on how they might improve the whole situation. When I hire a car, I want to pick it up and (eventually) take it back with minimal fuss, minimal paperwork - I don't want to be hassled (at the time, or at some later stage) about whether I thought the farts from the person before had adequately been masked before I picked the car up, and whether the employees smiled at me (I didn;t actually notice).

Go back 20+ years - if someone does an outstanding job and impresses me, the compnay will find out. If I find service pathetic, charges unreasonable or attendants rude, the company will find out.

Sure, a lot of people will simply nod and smile and not cause a fuss, but you don't actually need the personal experience of everyone you've ever done business with to be able to work out whether you are doing a good job, and adequate job or a pretty piss-poor job. I guess if we want to seperate nto 5 (or 7 or 10) categories, we need a survey.

On a scale of 1 to 7, please answer how you feel about the following:

This post was insightful

This post was inciteful

I agree

I would send you money based on what you wrote

What is the fifth digit of your credit card

What is the Sixth digit of your credit card ...

What he said. Dammee, a tribute act. A good one too.

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Jiminuy:
Er - I agree a little bit, but the question (quite clearly, IMO) are about how the person feels, not about what they think of the car - that is, things about "...how hard you impact the steering wheel..." or (as someone else had) "how much room is in the car" are clearly not what is being asked

Then what is being asked? How does a person with an explosion in their stomach relate to a car rental? How does a dramatic zoom relate to car rental? It's easy to pick flaws in off-hand suggestions made by me, but I honestly can't figure out what they were intending (yes, referring back to the paper linked helps, but who wants to do a literature search before filling in a survey?).

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Kemp:
Jiminuy:
Er - I agree a little bit, but the question (quite clearly, IMO) are about how the person feels, not about what they think of the car - that is, things about "...how hard you impact the steering wheel..." or (as someone else had) "how much room is in the car" are clearly not what is being asked

Then what is being asked? How does a person with an explosion in their stomach relate to a car rental? How does a dramatic zoom relate to car rental? It's easy to pick flaws in off-hand suggestions made by me, but I honestly can't figure out what they were intending (yes, referring back to the paper linked helps, but who wants to do a literature search before filling in a survey?).

None of it is about Car Rental READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! "...which represents you and your feelings."

The survey is not about Car Rental, it's about your feelings and experience (in this case in dealing with AVIS) but it is quite clear this is not specific to a car rental.

Of course, it seems a lot of people here are too stupid to see that - maybe they didn't read the instructions either.

Watson · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Jiminuy:
The survey is not about Car Rental, it's about your feelings and experience (in this case in dealing with AVIS) but it is quite clear this is not specific to a car rental.
Of course, it seems a lot of people here are too stupid to see that - maybe they didn't read the instructions either.

Sorry, maybe I was thrown off by the submitter's saying that it was "...related to a recent Avis rental,".

Addendum (2011-12-11 19:32): Oh, and the bit in the survey instructions say that Avis would like to "understand your feelings about car rental experiences".

Why don't they just ask me why I'm not helping the tortoise to get back on its feet?

Watson · 2011-12-11 Reply Admin

But I want to see more of this survey: what we've been shown are example "Manikins" that don't relate to a specific question. Maybe the real entries do give some indication of what they're supposed to represent.

"Your feelings about visiting our agency offices: • I have no need to travel, for I am at One with the Universe and the Universe is at One in me. • • The very thought of doing so makes me feel nauseous. • • If I ever visit your offices again it will be with half a dozen kilos of C4 strapped around my waist.

Incidentally ... why a row of dots instead of a single bar?

2011-12-11 Reply Admin

Caroline has been deleted

Scarlet Manuka · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

Watson:
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms.

Yes, clearly it's far superior for them to have different interpretations of the images instead. Though I agree, the original source was probably rather less insane.

I'm a little concerned by the number of people who believe that the long division card is asking for 0 divided by 12 rather than 12 divided by 0. Even if you come from somewhere where long division is done that way, the answer keys on the cards beneath say 11 ÷ 0 = 0 and 8 ÷ 0 = 0. And the top one has 45 ÷ 9 = 5, so it's not just that they've got them the wrong way around; the manufacturer really does believe any number divided by 0 is 0.

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

@Deprecated:
Someone needs to take a black marker and change the first e to an o in "This phone connects you to the Careline". Maybe with a red-dot-and arrow sticker that says "For a good time!"

"This phono connects you to the 'Careline' (For a good time!)" I agree. I hope it's The Beatles!

QJo · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

Scarlet Manuka:
Watson:
By extension, I think the reason diagrams were used in (wherever the inspiration for these came from) was to avoid needing verbal descriptions in the first place - different respondents might have different interpretations of certain terms.
Yes, clearly it's far superior for them to have different interpretations of the images instead. Though I agree, the original source was probably rather less insane.
I'm a little concerned by the number of people who believe that the long division card is asking for 0 divided by 12 rather than 12 divided by 0. Even if you come from somewhere where long division is done that way, the answer keys on the cards beneath say 11 ÷ 0 = 0 and 8 ÷ 0 = 0. And the top one has 45 ÷ 9 = 5, so it's not just that they've got them the wrong way around; the manufacturer really does believe any number divided by 0 is 0.

I think I was six when I asked the teacher: but what do you get when you divide ten [or some other number] by nothing? The answer she gave was "nothing, silly!"

I think according to the Pratchett/Stewart context of "lies-to-children" it's probably the best you can do at the "my first arithmetic" level. But it's a shame that questions like that aren't routinely used as an opportunity to introduce the concepts behind calculus and transfinites, with a side-order of complex analysis. After all, all first-grade teachers are routinely trained in teaching such stuff, aren't they?

Steve The Cynic · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

Yokel:
The picture of the bathroom door with transparent glass could be using stuff like this Electric Privacy Glass Apparently Akismet this this is spam :-(

It most likely is.

The electric glass thing is probably right. The first time you encounter a toilet stall door made of this stuff, it requires an act of faith and an effort of will not to just stick a cork in the back passage and run away in search of a real toilet. (I met this for the first and only time in Amsterdam, at the Cobra restaurant. The restaurant itself is significantly less dodgy than the name sounds. It is outside the huge art museum in the middle of the city (no, not in that part, OK?) and "Cobra" is the name of an art movement (COpenhagen, BRussels, Amsterdam). I would, however, have been quite happy to not have to use a toilet with stall doors like this.)

Anonymouse · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

@Deprecated:
Someone needs to take a black marker and change the first e to an o in "This phone connects you to the Careline"."

Huh. I don't get what's supposed to be so funny about "This phono connects you to the Careline". That doesn't even make much sense!

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

This is not my real name:
DaveK:
Ask yourself whether this diagram is really showing the result of dividing thirty-seven into one-and-a-quarter-million equal parts: [image] or whether it shows a very large number divided by a small one. After answering that question, remember that the zero on the flashcard is where the 37 is in this diagram, and then try and figure out whether 12 is being divided by zero or not one more time.

Just FYI, where I live (Belgium) we are taught to put the divisor at the right. But I doubt that card is from Belgium.

In Spain too. It would look like this, with partial results going down from the dividend, too. 1260257 |37 34061

I was quite surprised to see that way in the linked http://www.mathsisfun.com/long_division.html I see it that it has the advantage of never running into the dividend "space" (no, that's not a "problem" with our way of doing things, since when you get so right, it's quite down). The 37 |1260257 way is probably a problem for people moving over what they have written to annotate the divisor, though.

At least both can be differenciated by the placement of the horizontal line.

Nonetheless, when looking at

0 ) 12

maybe I could have figured out what it meant, if the text below said 12 ÷ 0 = 0 instead of 45 ÷ 9 = 5, as my thought when confronted with that odd writing were "Where are the 45, 9 or 5?"

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

Rosuav:
Didn't Simon and Steven have some hardware with serial numbers like that hard drive?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/01/bofh_taking_the_fight/

In this case it actually was a photo of a real item and a real S/N. I was there as well at the time.

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

All the people asking about the 45 ÷ 9 = 5, you realize that it's the answer to the problem on the other side of the card, right? So the person holding up the flash cards can verify your answer?

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

I don't understand why the Astrisk server is a WTF, other than the phone system should probably be on some better hardware.

My guess is pushing the power button triggers an ACPI event, which in turn tells init to call the shutdown scripts, which need to run to ensure file systems are cleanly unmounted etc, after which the machine will self power off. Most likely the admin has had problems with people being impatient and holding the power button down until the machine does a hard off.

I have had to put similar notes on things like that were you can't lock people out the data center for political reasons and they insist on being "helpful".

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

@Deprecated:
Someone needs to take a black marker and change the first e to an o in "This phone connects you to the Careline". Maybe with a red-dot-and arrow sticker that says "For a good time!"

"This phono connects you to the Careline" ?

operagost · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

DaveK:
GoatRider:
This is a room with a view: [image]
Is that where Bear Grylls shits in the woods?

Well, he certainly wouldn't waste any perfectly drinkable pee there.

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

Yes, my thinking is exceptionally voluminous. What of it?

2011-12-12 Reply Admin

On that Manikins sheet, row 2 is clearly the T-1000.

GrizzlyAdams · 2011-12-12 Reply Admin

I dunno which is worse, Gill only having 100MB of storage, or Seagate telling him they can't help with his CRAP ZIP drive.

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