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Admin
Huh, never expected to see this variation on "somebody doesn't understand pointers".
Admin
If putting a redirect on the server is more convenient than fixing the broken URL in the app, I don’t want to know what its code looks like...
Admin
I wonder though if there is some embellishment going on. It's possible that only the project manager part is real and that the dev was just trying to play the ball out of his corner. That makes it no less a WTF...
Admin
is the 455 error part of the article? or something odd?
I DONT UNDERSTAND
Admin
Admin
It’s for the next TDWTF redesign. The whole website will be replaced with this single page.
Admin
Well, that's one way to make sure your content is always correct.
Admin
Actually, the more I think about that place, the more scared I get. Fortunately, I left them behind more than 15 years ago...
Admin
I want to hear the rest of the story - why was it more convenient to do anything other than fix the link? Given the spaghetti of redirection and link-generating code we have on the site I work with, I would be quite interested.
Admin
Is this a joke or reference that I am not getting?
Admin
AIUI:
the site that was supposed to show the 404 page was basically http://irs.gov so in order for our anti-hero to get the error page displayed he needs to talk to the taxmen (the IRS)
it's a pretty lame joke and doesn't work well outside 'murica...
Admin
Exactly, I am not an American.
Admin
I am, and it still took me a minute or two to get it.
-_-
Admin
Admin
Ditto
Admin
Story is kinda weak. Would have been much better if we could get some explanation fictional or otherwise as to why the link in the application can't get fixed. Also there seems to be some 'hope' the link may eventually be un-borken. So if it points at a resource that they think really should be there, how come Mike does not suggest sending [email protected] a E-mail about it? If nothing else it gets Bill and Jay out of his hair for awhile why they wait for the IRS to not respond. That is like BOFH strategy No.1 make it a problem for someone else.
Admin
I really think status 455 should be adopted with that actual error message. 4xx is even the branch for 'client error' which is even better.
In fact Imma put this in my next project which is all about annoying users, as it happens. (Seriously, I am not kidding. My next project is one of those 'annoy troublesome users so they leave because a ban wouldn't stop them' gigs)
Admin
I don't see a problem with that :wink:
Admin
Admin
Perhaps he should offer to do a link exchange…
Admin
I bet Jay declared the URL as a constant; everybody know constants CAN NEVER BE CHANGED.
Admin
I see tickets routinely for things like "This link doesn't work"... when the link is in an article in the CMS. So fix it?
Admin
Because in order to get permission to change code in the app, Jay needed to get the blessing of his manager, the VP of development, the QA team, the UAT team, the marketing team, the sales team, and an entire horde of other people.
They refused to give permission because the ROI on fixing the link was incomplete and they couldn't budget any time to test the app when customers were not asking for the fix as an enhancement.
Admin
When the discussion followed the "let's put a redirect on our server" path, my troubleshooting mode kicked in and assumed the broken link was probably missing "http://" to send it elsewhere, so it was a local link which generated a 404 on their own server.
That actually made a lot of sense. A redirect is still a horrible alternative to just fixing the link, but it made sense.
If the link was successfully pointing elseward to the IRS website and the link was just broken... yeah, wow. Just no.
Admin
So TRWTF is that Mike initially thought putting a fix in the .htaccess of his server would affect the behavior of IRS's server? Or, if the problem was that the broken link was pointing to Mike's server instead of the IRS, Mike just screwed up the 404 page to prove himself right? Look, bottom line is Mike's not that bright and is coming off as a jerk.
Also, fixing one link in an app is easy. Deploying the fixed app to all your customers is when it sometimes gets hard.
Admin
The point where it really gets difficult is when you want the taxman to change anything for your benefit. :-D
Admin
Really just shoddy work done Mike. Instead of spending time talking about how it is a bad idea to redirect people to a different domain (which actually -is- a reasonable use of .htaccess), he could have spent 1 minute explaining why the proposed solution would not work.
"So, one of the capabilities of .htaccess is to redirect a request that is sent to the server so that it goes somewhere else." "All right." "The problem is that the request is -not- going to our server. It is going to the IRS's server. We can't change how their server is going to handle the request." "Oh. That makes sense. So we can't use htaccess?" "That is correct."
Admin
Sounds like the problem is on your end. :laughing:
Anyways, I have no idea why Mike didn't say "the link itself is incorrect, that's a software problem", and hand off this mess of a situation to someone else.
Admin
A possible reason:
"Well, first we have to change it in the 94 pages where it was hardcoded. Then we have to test all those pages, and the 127 pages that link to them. Then theres's QA...
"I have a vague recollection that Sam said something about storing links in the database, but who thought the IRS would change the link?
"Besides, who listens to Sam? He's so nitpicky all the time, always bringing up irrelevant details..."
Admin
A possible reason:
"Well, first we have to change it in the 94 pages where it was hardcoded. Then we have to test all those pages, and the 127 pages that link to them. Then theres's QA...
"I have a vague recollection that Sam said something about storing links in the database, but who thought the IRS would change the link?
"Besides, who listens to Sam? He's so nitpicky all the time, always bringing up irrelevant issues..."
Admin
Yeah, at my last company, we had an app with both Default.aspx and Default2.aspx as login pages, pretty much the same thing. So when Default2.aspx was removed, pretty much all of the references were cleaned up, too. There was one missed, though, in Sharepoint. We get a ticket in saying that their link is broken, although it's a bit different in this situation. It is something that we did on our end to bork it, but once we relayed the information to them, they still asked us to fix it, even though we didn't have rights to edit that value
Admin
Something beyond shadowbanning?
I got rid of a troll once by replacing his text.
Admin
they probably tried to go outside the QA cycle for a change request with a hack on the production server. God knows why, maybe in that company it takes 2 months to plan anything, or another project is blocking the QA departament and they would need to wait... or they just wanted to hide the problem .... I saw that on some companies... all of the above
Admin
What's the reward for sucking up to PaulaBean?
Admin
A wasted like.
.. which reminds me...
Admin
...which scares me...
Admin
TRWTF is that Jay and Mike never actually talked with each-other. They both talked with Bill.
Admin
But Bill is a people-person. He's good at talking with people. Dammit, why don't you understand that?!?!?
Admin
There will be an event be hold in Hall tomorrow. The people can enter the Hall through stair A, but my colleague sent invitation letter to tell them enter the Hall via stair B. Now my colleague want me to put notice on stair C that anyone want to go to the Hall should use stair A instead. And later want to see if adding road block sign at stair C works.
Good luck with that.
Admin
Placeholder Default2.aspx that says, "Please ask your SharePoint content editor to change the link that lead you to this page."
Admin
Ehhh, I'm not that motivated. A 404 produces an Application_Error in the global class, find the URI Referer there, and yell at where it came from.
Admin
Too late. He should have been uneasy way back here:
Admin
I like the 455 error. It should be written up for a nice official RFC, and published on April 1. Of course we also need a 456 error for the title of this article "Common Sense Not Found".
When it IS published, be sure to mention TheDailyWTF on the RFC!
Admin
Instead of redirecting users to a potential missing link on the foreign server, which redirects to that servers 404 page, why not check the HTTP Response (For a 404) on click before the redirect, and if a 404 is received, subsequently redirect to a local 404 page... ?
Admin
Would this really be easier than just fixing the damn link? Besides, why would you even want to show your own 404 page for someone else? This might make sense between different domains in the same organisation but elsewise not much.
Admin
We'd put redirects in for links published to places we could no longer control (e.g., press releases, academic papers in journals, that sort of thing) but those would always be only for stuff where it makes sense in the first place for the link to go to us.
Admin
I should add... shadowbanning is not one of the things I had considered mostly because in that forum whose name we dare not speak (no, not Discurse), shadowbanning is hell to implement sanely.
Admin
So do it the Discourse way: implement it insanely!!! :D
Admin
RLMTFY
Admin
I'm using PHP - and I still do it better than Discourse. Because common sense is found.