• aalien (unregistered)

    I tried sewing to escape, but the rope I sewed couldn't hold my weight.

  • 516052 (unregistered)

    Ok, I usually think these are dumb. But the unused question got a chuckle out of me.

  • NoLand (unregistered)

    I'll call it the IBM gold standard. At least on the user's side, where no answer is permitted. Regarding the questionaire, I'm not so sure.

    Filed under: silence is golden

  • (nodebb)

    Options for the Unused Question should be selectable from a list of 3 or more items that are all "File Not Found"

  • Shill (unregistered)

    The missing shipping tracking number is because retailers have taken up the practice of saying a package has "shipped" when all that has actually happened is that they have notified the shipper there will be a package and started a transaction with them. The shipping company hasn't taken possession of the package, which is what a normal person would consider "shipped".

    So Scott L., a tracking number wouldn't do you any good because it would just tell you the same information listed by the retailer.

  • (nodebb)

    I almost think that Unused Question is some form of capthca where the human leaves the field empty and the bot fills in something, and so loses.

  • Officer Johnny Holzkopf (unregistered) in reply to Nutster

    Then everyone would lose. As the description says, "I have tried both no and yes but alas IBM remains unhappy with my profile", and visual inspection suggests that the unused question is a yes / no question with a dropdown selection that only has "yes" and "no" elements, with one being preselected; either you change the answer, or you keep the default - technically you're still answering the question. You're already convicted, would you please stop answering the question?! The only winning move is not to answer.

  • (author)

    My personal favorite was "None of the Above". It took me a minute.

  • .. (unregistered) in reply to Shill

    Even then you already get a tracking number? I've had many shipments where I was notified that it shipped and got a tracking number. But when using it to track, the status just said "<Shipping company> had been electronically notified of shipment."

  • RedWave (unregistered)

    The Chromebook tells the truth!

  • (nodebb)

    Once upon a time I got "No such error message 01" on an IBM 1130.

  • jay (unregistered)

    RE Unused question: I took a survey once where they asked, "Which of these social media sites do you use" and then listed several, with checkboxes. I didn't use any of them, so I didn't check anything and pressed the next button. I got an error saying that I must answer the question. But ... there was no option for "none". So there was no way to say that I didn't use at least one of these sites.

  • jay (unregistered)

    Thinking of "Unused question": Every now and then I get some biased survey where all the choices are on the same side of the issue. Like, I won't mention just who was president when I got this survey, but they asked, "What disturbs you most about President X's policies?" and then gave a list of negative things about the then-president. "I think is policies are great" was not a choice, just, which of these reasons why they are bad bothers you the most.

    My absolute favorite in this regard was a gag survey I saw once in a British magazine. They said, "In the past (and probably still in the present) there was a sinister alliance between France and Scotland to undermine England. Do you think that, (a) The Scots are more shiftless and untrustworthy then the French; (b) The French are more shiftless and untrustworthy than the Scots; or (c) There is nothing to choose between the two?"

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