The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

JBert · 2015-03-16 Reply Admin

Must have been written on a very blue monday.

By a programmer paid by the tag.

VinDuv · 2015-03-17 Reply Admin

At least those weren’t kbd tags...

RaceProUK · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

I count three :wtf:s:

Using the  tag.
Using 158 of them nested.
That Firefox bug is nearly 11 years old… and it's still not fixed.

Jaloopa · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

so was this nesting only on the one bus? Why?

WE NEED MORE ANSWERS DAMMIT!

Maciejasjmj · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Jaloopa:
WE NEED MORE ANSWERS DAMMIT!

It's called a "mystery" for a reason.

Filed under: the reason being that, as with many mysteries, the most probable solution is fairly mundane

Ilya_Konovalov · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Route 44 is missing too

midas_dk · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Heh. The link points to a PDF on a Microsoft Content Management Server circa 2002. That alone is slightly WTF. And also might explain the weirdness.

John_Imrie · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Re 3

It's a bit of an edge case. Perhaps they have had better things to use their time on.

devjoe · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Well the site from today's WTF is at http://www.hamilton.ca/CityServices/Transit/CurrentSchedules/ But it seems that the excessive font tags have been removed, so it will remain a mystery.

aliceif · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

From the site's source:

<span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"> <span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0"><span id="RadEditorPlaceHolderControl0">

Wat?

RaceProUK · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

John_Imrie:
Re 3
It's a bit of an edge case. Perhaps they have had better things to use their time on.

Failing to render valid HTML is an edge case? :wtf:

ThingGuyMcGuyThing · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Da ba dee Da ba die.

Yazeran · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

True, but why would you (sanely) nest a font tag 100+ deep??

RaceProUK · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Yazeran:
True, but why would you (sanely) nest a font tag 100+ deep??

\*searches short-, mid-, and long-term memory banks* `no results found`

hungrier · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

RaceProUK:
Failing to render valid HTML is an edge case?

Pfft, HTML. Who needs it? Smiley-face speech bubbles are where it's at in today's world.

CoyneTheDup · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

"Simon says, 'Blue, dammit!'"

powerlord · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

You act surprised.

Last I checked, Firefox didn't support certain attributes on the HTML <col> tag, a tag that existed as part of HTML 4 before Firefox ever came out.

Keeping in mind that the <col> tag exists solely to apply styling/attributes to <th> and <td> elements in specific columns.

The bug report (against Mozilla, 'cuz this was before Firefox came out) for this is 17 years old.

Vault_Dweller · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

I especially like how this and the other bug's status is "NEW"

NedFodder · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

string s = "Route 9";
// make sure the link is blue  
s = "<font color=\"#0000ff\">" + s + "</font>"; 
...
// sweet, i can re-use my string here!
s = s.Replace("Route 9", "Route 10");
// make sure the link is blue
s = "<font color=\"#0000ff\">" + s + "</font>";

Yazeran · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Properly a good ting for our sanity.

However the site still has some strange things.

in the source there is a looonnnngggggg base64 string which apprear to contain all the html for the site navigation as well as some strange parts:

t<-165849533;t<;l<i<7>;>;l<t<;l<i<5>;i<11>;i<13>;i<15>;>;l<t<;l<i<0>;i<2>;>;l<t<p<l<Text;>;l<<div class="subnav">

;>>;;>;t<;l<i<0>;i<1>;i<2>;>;l<t<p<l<Visible;>;l<o<f>;>>;;>;t<p<l<Visible;>;l<o<f>;>>;;>;t<p<l<Visible;>;l<o<f>;>>;;>;>>;>>;t<;l<i<1>;>;l<t<t<;p<l<i<0>;i<1>;>;l<p<true;true>;p<false;false>;>>;l<i<1>;>>;;>;>>;>>;>>;l<_xpcMetaData;>>�yf#+3gn#�S��O>�J/�m

(the base64 is some 10k long!, no kidding!, and oh great, I think I just broke Discourse....)

Do anyone have any idea what that is???

The html I can understand, but those other things ??!!!??

SirTwist · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

powerlord:
The bug report (against Mozilla, 'cuz this was before Firefox came out) for this is 17 years old.

From this bug and the one in the story, it appears the bug resolution strategy is "wait for HTML specifications to change, so we can declare the bugs irrelevant because they apply to deprecated standards."

CodeSlave · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

You can still see it here though:

http://www.hamilton.ca/CityServices/Transit/FallBoardBackUp.htm

And it seems to render properly on the current version of Firefox.

--EDIT--

Correction routes 9 and 42 are missing instead.

narbat · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Yazeran:
(the base64 is some 10k long!, no kidding!, and oh great, I think I just broke Discourse....)

Don't worry, Discourse was broken long before you posted that.

Yazeran:
The html I can understand, but those other things ??!!!??

Oh, that's easy.

// Bob told me I had to include this file in the web page, but I don't know
// what he's talking about because '#include "disclaimer.html"' causes a
// compiler error. I guess I'll do it this way instead.
//#define BUFSIZE 1024
//#define BUFSIZE 5*1024
#define BUFSIZE 10*1024
char *rd_buf = malloc(BUFSIZE); // I hope this is big enough this time!
char *wr_buf;
int fd = open("disclaimer.html", O_RDONLY);
read(fd, rd_buf, BUFSIZE);
close(fd);
wr_buf = base64_encode(rd_buf, BUFSIZE);
write(stdout, wr_buf, BUFSIZE);

sloosecannon · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

CodeSlave:
You can still see it here though:
http://www.hamilton.ca/CityServices/Transit/FallBoardBackUp.htm

And it seems to render properly on the current version of Firefox.

--EDIT--

Correction routes 9 and 42 are missing instead.

Chrome too

[image]

RichP · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Hanzo: "It took a lot of work, but Firefox now supports up to 1024 nested tags, up from the old limit of 157!".

Snoofle: "Do you have support for smooth full-screen flash video yet?"

Hanzo: "No, but who uses THAT?"

Yazeran · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

Well To be fair, the route 9 and 42 is not in the source either, however the site is still littered with nested font tags....

Oh and that big base64 is still there (havent decoded that one yet though so I do not know if these ;<;>l> things which I still do not know what do are in there too)...

Ragnax · 2015-03-18 Reply Admin

aliceif:
Wat?

Telerik. Nothing but bad experience with their offerings myself, so it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that their WYSIWYG solution also goes completely balls up and starts spewing out repeated tags or placeholder controls.

SimpleSimon · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

Fast forward a decade or so and my local bus company has a real time iOS app that allows me to check the ETA of my bus from the nearest stop. Most of the time this works great, but about once every month or so I go to check it before leaving the house and it gives me a great big .NET YSOD ! The full pdb's must be there because I can even see the developer's name is Dave and where he likes to keep code on his PC.

When will these people learn!

RaceProUK · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

And that's why you don't deploy debug builds :laughing:

chreng · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

The long hidden __VIEWSTATE string is just the asp.net way of storing state in so called webforms pages.It can, and should, be shortened considerably by applying the right attributes to controls.

Buddy · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

My favorite thing about all this was the use of the word ‘interperating’ in the bug report.

HardwareGeek · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

John_Imrie:
Perhaps they have had better things to use their time on.

For some definition of "better," like removing useful features.

redwizard · 2015-03-19 Reply Admin

ThingGuyMcGuyThing:
Da ba dee Da ba die.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc

FrostCat · 2015-03-20 Reply Admin

CodeSlave:
Correction routes 9 and 42 are missing instead.

But they're actually not in the HTML this time, so maybe those routes no longer exist.

CoyneTheDup · 2015-03-21 Reply Admin

FrostCat:
But they're actually not in the HTML this time, so maybe those routes no longer exist.

Or maybe something further upstream in the generation of the HTML hit wall...

JBert · 2015-03-21 Reply Admin

redwizard:
[Music video Youtube link]

I would give that a like if weren't such a blight upon nature.

hungrier · 2015-03-21 Reply Admin

What about this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tqhnBhCue8

Onyx · 2015-03-21 Reply Admin

What... the... :rofl:

JBert · 2015-03-21 Reply Admin

Superb guitar and drum work, but what's that occasional noise on top of it? Somebody tuning a car during the recording session?

redwizard · 2015-03-22 Reply Admin

That...is so wrong...

Next you'll get death metal bands remaking Disney tunes. :stuck_out_tongue:

tar · 2015-03-23 Reply Admin

158 nested  tags.

Route 10 - B LINE

Discourse can handle 158 nested  tags..

tar · 2015-03-23 Reply Admin

hungrier:
What about this?

Or this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eagbog8_MGI

No? How about this then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHe_BVY_9c

urkerab · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

RaceProUK:
Failing to render valid HTML is an edge case? :wtf:

Prior to bug 58917 the site would simply have crashed the browser, so it would still have failed to render valid HTML. At least this way it mitigates the DOS attack.

RaceProUK · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

So the fix is to refuse to render valid HTML markup?

urkerab · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

The crash fix is, yes; they don't bother to render it because it will make them crash in the attempt.

RaceProUK · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

As opposed to making it render the complete valid HTML without crashing?

Maybe I should just switch to Chrome after all…

urkerab · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

Given any browser, there exists at least one document that it cannot render perfectly. (I'm not even sure it's possible with infinite CPU and memory, because of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.) It's therefore far more productive to render the most prevalent documents, rather than the relatively weird edge cases such as those documents with hundreds of nested tags.

RaceProUK · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

So, to you, the only two acceptable outcomes are 'crash' or 'give up'?

urkerab · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

I don't think I ever claimed that 'crash' was an acceptable outcome, but it's quite possible that you'll come up with a comment where I'll give up rather than crash trying to reply to.

RaceProUK · 2015-04-08 Reply Admin

'Give Up' is not an acceptable outcome either; there is only one, and that's 'fix the fucking bug so the page renders properly'.

A Deeply Nested Mystery

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