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Admin
I literally cried I laughed so hard at the 'getting' complaint.
Admin
Why recurse when you can use a linked list? :)
captcha = minim, the amount of effort I put into this.
Admin
(Why doesn't the delete link work on a post? What's the point of having it?)
Admin
No, if that was the case, the customer would have said Yes to both questions... Anyone smart enough to have already done the basic troubleshooting is smart enough to lie when asking to repeat said troubleshooting by a customer support rep.
Admin
Wow. I am pretty sure I was commenting to the damn Russian Peasant Multiplication article.
Captcha: epic failure
Admin
Admin
When I write procedures I expect stupid/lying users.
Case in point. In the troubleshooting manual:
Question regarding keyboard errors:
"Did you spill something it?"
Resolution:
If they waffle, they did.
Sadly it was true every single time.
Admin
ISSUE #328145
Client Issue: "Hello Kettle? This is Pot, we need to talk..." (see ISSUE #278033)
Problem Point: While attempting to ridicule another user the poster makes the classic mistake of being a complete idiot. Wasting our time with his boring post to ridicule an actually entertaining post he fails to comprehend that he is doing exactly what he claims to dislike so much. Which of course would make him a "Dumbass."
Improvement Goal: Have a cool beverage and enjoy yourself; life's too fun to waste it being a dumbass.
Admin
Let me guess, you've never written software before?
O'Boy is right, too often software is designed by committee so every single person wants there own little special option in there. This leads to horrible apps where the user has to control everything without the expertise of the person that wrote the code in the first place.
If you have a lot of people saying, "Where's the record button?" Maybe you ought to listen and clean up your interface.
Admin
BEST WTF in a l0ng tyme...itz da funnEH
Admin
I once had someone tell me that an issue they were working on was a PEBKAC issue. Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
I still chuckle a little when I say it
Admin
Reading stuff like this makes you realize that the current un-employment rate is still much lower than the rate of un-employable people.
Admin
Another popular customer is the WOMBAT. They are a Waste Of Money Brains And Talent.
Admin
Didn't you read the memo?
Admin
Which is why most of us are smart asses.
Admin
Ugh!!! Been there. Done that. Still lost.
First level tech support these days are only good at following troubleshooting trees and have ZERO capability to recognize when they are talking to someone with a clue who may need to be escalated to the next level.
Case 1: When cable internet was first available in my area, I spent many days of outages calling them when the "link" light on the cable modem was not on steady. This indicator means that there is a problem between the cable modem and the cable office, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I called, they'd insist that I reboot my computer. Millions of dollars on a network, and the idiots didn't even know how to use a free tool like "ping" to determine if my line card was okay.
Case 2: My daughter's laptop screen went dead. Idiot at HP tech support kept trying to have her click different things to bring up some program to troubleshoot the issue. And she kept answering that the screen was black and she couldn't read anything on it. At least 6 times!!! He just refused to listen to her when she said that the screen was completely dead.
I've gotten to where I give ALL 1st-level support people about 30 seconds to demonstrate that they have a clue - or at the very least, good listening skills. After that I ask to have the issue escalated - even ask to speak to the manager on duty if necessary.
Admin
I used to work for a VOIP company and that was a hilariously common occurrence.
Admin
You're right, though. If a customer has a problem, fixing it is good public relations, even if it's not your fault.
Admin
you have got to be shitting me.
a manual is written for the literate. the user is obviously, based on its crude attempt to make text, profoundly illiterate.
it is inappropriate and misguided to expect documentation to cater to the illiterate. the stupid, maybe. the lazy, even? sure. but no the illiterate. that is where we draw the line: to drive a car, you must at least be not blind. to use computer documentation, you must be able to fucking read.
captcha: get drunk, find a gun
Admin
Please tell us that you have no part in the production of any actual software. Please.
Admin
Yeah yeah dumb customers, very funny.
The whole thing might have been worth it for that gem though:
Improvement Goal: Many companies miss the garbled, unpunctuated non-english market segment completely, and we should not be one of them. It's important to remember that for every client that understands "Click the 'submit' button to save your changes", there's another that only understands "klik tHe summit butt on two SAVE yer changez ya know ya know".
... "Click the submit button to save". So, why isn't the freaking klik-thingy summit button named "SAVE"? To SAVE yer changez ya know?
Admin
What's the problem? When a support call results in a change, every change implemented incorporates a decidedly user-UNfriendly error message.
We can even tie this in with the guy who has Tourettes and give him a job writing the messages.
Admin
same here. I kept opening a teary eye and re-reading the complaint, then being doubled over in (stifled) laughter again.
Admin
To be fair, the CTO did have a very smart idea that's above and beyond the way many executives think. It was just not a particularly well-informed smart idea -- an error of simple naïvete, not stupidity. Presumably, after seeing this, the CTO enacted a policy that made more sense, but was still an improvement over what the policy had been before trying this idea out. If, on the other hand, they simply reverted completely to the preceding policy, that probably would be a WTF.
Of course, there is the minor WTF that the CTO could have been shown a few typical support tickets first and saved a bit of time, but eh, I don't think that's significant in the grand scheme of things.
(CAPTCHA: uxor. I'm only mentioning it because it's one of the few Latin words I actually know. (It means "wife".))
Admin
yeah, lots of C?O types often have those sort of "revelation" smart ideas, thinking arrogantly that they've invented some new business idea.
the truly intelligent C?O knows to ask someone smarter about his new "invention" to find out why it failed last time someone tried it.
Admin
LOL at the article.
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
Admin
Stop reading TDWTF and get back to work!
Admin
This idea is pretty good, once the problem has escalated to a certain level. I'm thinking of JoelOnSoftware's articles: one said that any support call usually indicated an area to improve (note: He's talking about software, not hardware), the other said that it takes asking the question "why" six times to get a useful answer.
As an example I thought of, if tons of people ask about where the "any" key is, change the damn text to read "Press 'A' to continue".
Yes, the user is dumb. Yelling at the user for being dumb just results in needing to help them.
Admin
I always thought 'ff' was 'Fat F*$k'...
Admin
Ummmm....Hypocrite!!!!
Admin
Important to speak clearly, isn't it? Obviously the customer didn't quite catch "Unplug it" and thought you were doing something remotely to reset (so he waited 20 seconds as instructed).
Admin
Zigactly, Watsisname ish ferpectly correct....
Admin
Or Tell them it's an I-D-ten-T problem....
Admin
That's why it's documented...It may not be obvious to the average idiot.
Admin
ISSUE #88335
Client Issue: "Custormer Care" taunter of the uneducated every where has misspelled customer in customer care.
Problem Point: Even though Custormer Care had a well intended joke he further delivered the "lulz" by misspelling his own name.
Improvement Goal:
Make sure that all people on this site are forced to install Firefox 3.5 as to prevent any sort of misspellings when typing in the comment box.
Admin
Admin
Wow, you do raise some valid points dude!
RT www.anonymize.us.tc
Admin
GL wid dat
Admin
You click the submit button to save your changes because too many people were complaining about having to click the save button to submit their changes on the earlier version.
Admin
I've lost track of this. Are you the pot or the kettle?
On your keyboard, what does the key directly to the left of the "Z" (or to the right of the "/" key) do?
Admin
She's not doing it right then. Tell her to keep practicing, it's the only way she's going to get better at it. Begging off is just being lazy.
Admin
Well Done Alex and Crew,
This was a DWTF from the days of old, well done for bringing me a reminder of why I come here each day. Now, if we could just maintain this standard...
Admin
As someone who works in technical support, I have to say that this article is right on the mark. Yes, there are a lot of users out there who really are stupid and/or lazy.
The CTO in this case was a moron. Most support problems cannot be resolved without creating other problems in their place. Password resets are an obvious example... Some systems obviously require passwords to allow access. Doing away with them would cause big security problems. Having them means we need those trained zombie monkeys to reset passwords for the lusers who forget them. Any other system (password reminders, maybe) is subject to abuse and is almost as bad as not requiring passwords. I also feel the need to point out that the costs of QA testing and such for any changes resulting from those issue reports may exceed the cost of simply continuing to take the support calls.
Of course, my perspective may be biased by my desire to retain my current position.
-TZM
Admin
That's a idiotic and spineless position to take. You either do what they ask or bitch about doing it over and over. There should be no lying to the person that's trying to help you, no matter how brainless it seems. What if tech support is running a different process that absolutely required that one step you lied about doing? It's almost as stupid as not telling your doctor what drugs or so called homeopathic remedies you are taking. Don't assume you will know what will and won't work. If you knew those things, remind me -- why are you calling tech support?
Admin
And to the guy who always asks for the manager on duty, hope that always works for you. My manager knows how to score quality control on my calls, make schedules and drink coffee. And occasionally, laugh maniacally and make sarcastic comments at callers who think he knows a modem from a mandrill's butt, since, you know, tech support and management skillsets are so closely related. What's that? You want me to escalate this call because I'm not giving you the answers you want to hear? O-kaaaay .... tee-hee-hee. ^_^
PS: Hilarious WTF, passed it around the office. I'm tempted to pick a favorite and put it on a shirt.
Admin
While generally I agree with you about not writing for the illiterate (or IMHO even the lazy or stupid) I think your perception of this person's level of illiteracy is perhaps a bit off.
My Ex writes worse than this, and I wouldn't call her 'profoundly illiterate'. She's at best borderline illiterate, but she still manages to hold down a job as a technical writer (go figure). Let's just say I didn't love her for her educational prowess but she knows how to sell herself (no pun intended).
BUT, perhaps we've hit upon something here. If you NEED a manual for the illiterate, then who better to write it than an illiterate technical writer? I mean, that would be one document I WOULDN'T have to stay up all night reworking, it could go out as is and the target market would understand it.
It should also be noted (more seriously) here that illiteracy technically means being unable to read as well as being unable to write. I've known quite a few people who can read well enough (My Ex among them) but simply cannot write to save themselves. In some cases this is a symptom of Dyslexia, in others it's just lack of proper training, in still others it's complete lack of practice. The person in this account could clearly read (albeit perhaps not that well) which means that he, she or it wasn't illiterate in the truest sense, and certainly not profoundly so.
But, I still more or less agree with your message.
Admin
I've been a tech support engineer for 3 years now. Started in web hosting, now email security. No matter the size of the company, support is always hammered with issues that could have easily been resolved in the software. And I do mean easily.
After the first 3 occurrences, you make up a template that you send out to everyone with that problem and management is happy enough not to bother the better paid people who would otherwise have to work on resolving the issue. So, no :)
Admin
Actually, they're smarter than you think. The reason for putting those ridiculous looking links into random pages has NOTHING to do with having people click it.
It's simply done for SEO purposes, as each link from a website is a sort of 'vote' for the linked website. Additionally, the actual link text of the link helps Google determine its content, hence the multiple variations of phrases they would like to be ranked upon.
The simplest solution would be putting rel="nofollow external" into each comment link.
Admin
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Admin
while this would stop the spammers getting any cred in google, it proberbly wouldnt stop the spamming.
we stopped it using a hidden field, which works really well against bots but doesnt work againsts someone in a third world country manually going to forumns and posting the spam. now our captcha is a picture of someone famous, seems to be working