Alex Papadimoulis

Founder, The Daily WTF

Jan 2009

Critical Condition

by in Feature Articles on

Photo Credit: 'ntenny' @ Flickr Having worked with several companies as a systems administration consultant, Massimo had learned that one cliché is, in fact, true: the bigger they are, the harder their bureaucracies are to navigate*. When his employer sent him to work with their biggest client – a large government agency – he was prepared to deal with endless TPS Reports, Process for Application Implementation and Navigation documents, and Form Request Forms. But there was one thing he did not expect: that little asterisk at the end of the cliché.

You see, the “bigger they are” rule only works for reasonably-sized values of “big”. Once an organization grows too big – say, large-government-agency big – strange things tend to happen. The entire bureaucratic structure can collapse on itself, creating an überbureaucracy (i.e., an Ouroboros-like bureaucracy that can serve only itself) surrounded by satellite units that somehow work together to solve the organizational goal. It’s pure chaos. And not the good, entrepreneurial/start-up kind of chaos, more the touch-the-leftover-pizza-that-I-paid-for-with-my-budget -and-I’ll-stab-you-with-a-fricken-fork kind.

89 comments - Last comment @ 2018-08-14

A Little Above and Beyond

by in Error'd on

"While browsing the New Mexico Corrections Department webpage," writes Bob Dole, "I came across this amazing picture . Most records indicate a lack of picture by simply not showing a picture, but this went a little above and beyond."

82 comments - Last comment @ 2024-07-31

The Great Code Spawn

by in Representative Line on

Several years ago, Dan D’ predecessor, Steve, came to the realization that many of us arrived at one point or another: writing data-access code can get boring and repetitive. To ease the tedium, Steve did what many developers in his position do. He wrote some code to generate a lot of code.

Unfortunately, Steve’s coding skills weren’t all too hot. Worse were his code-writing-code writing skills. In the years since The Great Code Spawn (as it has come to be known), the data-access layer has become an unmaintainable disaster – so much so that, rather than add a new database column, developers have “split” single fields into multiple through bit-shifting and string manipulation.

123 comments - Last comment @ 2009-02-15

Sooo Jealous

by in Error'd on

"This message came up while I was looking for information about a funeral home," Gary noted. "While making my friends sooo jealous wasn't my primary objective, I guess it couldn't hurt."

114 comments - Last comment @ 2011-06-18

Sponsor Appreciation, Service Bells, Service Doors, & Much More

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Without our sponsors' support, The Daily WTF simply wouldn't be. Please show your support by visiting these fine companies and checking out their products & services. Or by sending in a cool souvenir. Or by even buying me a beer. But the first one's probably the easiest.

 

Resolver Systems   Resolver Systems - developers of Resolver One, an Excel-compatible spreadsheet designed for reliability that's programmable in Python, easily integrates with .NET, and comes with a built-in Web server. Give it a shot, make an awesome spreadsheet, and send it in to win the $25,000 Resolver One Challenge!
Aurigma   Aurigma - developers behind Image Uploader, a cross-platform component that delivers a user-friendly interface (thumbnail generation, folders, etc.) for uploading multiple image files.
CounterSoft   CounterSoft - makers of Gemini, the software that enables you to log, assign and progress ALL your project issues: Bugs, Enhancements, New Features, Risks, Change Requests, Quality Checks, Support Tickets and more. Now with a free, 5-user license.
DotNetRemoting   DotNetRemoting - a communication framework that allows you to easily build bidirectional network applications for Windows, Web, Mono, and PDA platforms.
Infosoft Global   Infosoft Global - the developers behind the seriously impressive FusionCharts v3: interactive and data-driven charts, gauges, and maps for web applications. Reasonably priced (starting at $69), fairly licensed, and cross-platform, it's certainly worth checking out their free trial.
FsckVPS   Fsck VPS - straight-forward Linux VPS hosting by geeks, for geeks: root access, no strangeness, decent hardware, and as much virtual coffee as you can drink. Plans starting at $9.95/mo and, with coupon code WTF, get 50% off your first month.
Software Verification   Software Verification - software engineering tools for memory leak detection, code coverage, performance profiling, thread lock contention analysis and thread deadlock detection, flow tracing and application replay on the Windows Vista, 2003, XP, 2000 and NT platforms.
Springloops   Springloops - unique source code management tool focused on web development teams. Code in parallel, share your code safely, and concentrated on results, not on lost changes or overwritten files. Sign-up for a free trial or a complete free account, and see how it makes great things simple.
A Sane Approach to Database Design   A Sane Approach to Database Design - the book that tells you how to build a smart database, with lots of examples of people who did it wrong. And although the irish girl has nothing to do with database design, I certainly appreciate keeping up the tradition.
Mindfusion   MindFusion - a great source for flow-charting and diagramming components for a variety of platforms including .NET, WPF, ActiveX and Swing
Mosso   Mosso - massively scalable hosting for .NET (2,3,3.5) PHP, Ruby, etc., with unlimited sites & mailboxes, simple online provisioning, and an enterprise clustered platform that's supported by real people.
SlickEdit   SlickEdit - makers of that very-impressive code editor and some pretty neat Eclipse and VisualStudio.NET tools and add-ins, some of which (Gadgets) are free. Check out this short video highlighting just one of SlickEdit's Visual Studio integration features.
SoftLayer   SoftLayer - serious hosting provider with datacenters in three cities (Dallas, Seattle, DC) that has plans designed to scale from a single, dedicated server to your own virtual data center (complete with racks and all)
WTF   The Non-WTF Job Board - Powered by HiddenNetwork, it features some great job opportunities like:
95 comments - Last comment @ 2018-08-14

Little Boxes Everywhere, and More Support Stories

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Little Boxes Everywhere (from Nick W)
A little while back, the help desk forwarded a call from Jane in accounting who, apparently, couldn't find a critical spreadsheet. Obviously, the help desk must have reasoned, this must be a job for... Data Recovery!.

After getting a few details from Jane, I opened up the network share and noticed that the file was, in fact, there. I even checked the backup catalog to make sure that previous editions of the file existed just incase it was a data corruption problem. Everything was where exactly where it was supposed to be, so I called up Jane to see what the problem was.

164 comments - Last comment @ 2017-02-11

Elevator Crash

by in Error'd on

"I saw this in the elevator at downtown Seattle Macy's," writes Alan, "I decided to take the stairs."

47 comments - Last comment @ 2009-01-28

There's Gotta Be A Catch

by in Error'd on

"The $9.99/mo for T-Mobile @Home seems pretty good," Dustin notes, "but there's gotta be a catch in there somewhere."

103 comments - Last comment @ 2017-04-19

ANDY=NO

by in Representative Line on

"Years ago," Mark wrote, "and long before I had started working there, the lead developer at my company tendered his resignation and starting up a firm of his own. It was a one-man consultancy built to service a single client: his former employer. They had little choice in retaining his services as, prior to leaving, he intentionally obfuscated all of the code.

"As part of Operation Obfuscation, he removed all of the unnecessary white space and (apparently) converted the code to all caps. Problems were compounded by the platform (some off-brand BASIC interpreter), his original choice of variable names (X, Y, Z, etc.), and the lack of any structures like subroutines. Developers came and, after hearing about code, quickly left. For a reason that escapes me to this day, I actually chose to stay and help them with their mess. It sounded like it could be a fun challenge.

139 comments - Last comment @ 2017-08-02

Salty News Photos

by in Error'd on

"Google news chose an interesting photo to go along with an article about mental illness," Tom commented.

118 comments - Last comment @ 2025-02-25

Service Tag, Please

by in Feature Articles on

As a Network Administrator in a mid-sized manufacturing company, Kevin is used to working with end-users. One of his roles is to act as third-tier technical support, thereby avoiding most of the fun experiences from the corporate helpdesk and focusing mostly on the more complex issues from power users.

One such issue that came up recently was that a certain user's laptop intermittently dropped connections to the VPN. After running several diagnostics against the computer, Kevin determined that, oddly enough, the integrated network card was defective and that a warranty fix through Dell was be needed. After explaining the situation to the user over the phone, he sent a quick follow-up email to ask for the laptop's service tag. Days later, he received the following reply in the form of a printout via inter-office mail.

146 comments - Last comment @ 2009-01-19

CommonUtils and the Inadequate java.lang.*

by in CodeSOD on

CommonUtils
"Right around Christmas time," Earl B writes, "I inherited a lovely Java project that contained a library class named CommonUtils. Wandering inside, I found something quite strange in the middle of quite a few other weird things."

public static Integer getIntegerValueOf(int value) {
        Integer result;
        if ( value == 0 ) {
            result = DomainConstants.INTEGER_0;
        } else if ( value == 1 ) {
            result = DomainConstants.INTEGER_1;
        } else {
            result = new Integer(value);
        }
        return result; 
    }
127 comments - Last comment @ 2011-12-18

The Many Faces of Malcolm Eleby

by in Error'd on

Pete Ash writes, "Malcolm Eleby with the missed shot, Eleby Rebounds, passes to Eleby, back to Malcolm, Malcolm scores!"

70 comments - Last comment @ 2009-02-02

Irish Girl

by in Souvenir Potpourri on

Ever since the first Free Sticker Week ended back in February '07, I've been sending out WTF Stickers to anyone that mailed me a SASE or a small souvenir. More recently, I've been sending out the coveted TDWTF Mugs for truly awesome souvenirs. Nothing specific; per the instructions page, "anything will do." Well, here goes anything, yet again! (previous: Steak Dinner).

When most readers send in souvenirs, they'll use the postal system. Every once in a while, someone local or passing through Cleveland will stop by and exchange souvenirs over drinks at the CornerStone Brewing Company next door (which is always welcome, let me know if you're ever in the area). And then there's Danny V who, apparently, dashed in the office, threw this package halfway up the stairs, and rushed out before anyone even saw him.

49 comments - Last comment @ 2010-12-27

No More Paper!

by in Error'd on

"I received these three letters all on the same day," wrote Martin P., "two were sent October 31st and the other November 1st, and they all said pretty much the exact same thing. At least it's comforting to know we're saving trees."

94 comments - Last comment @ 2009-02-01

It's All About C, The CIA Interview, & Not People Like You

by in Tales from the Interview on

It's All About C Now (from Dan M)
Last year, I saw that a certain founded-and-headquartered-in-the-Netherlands electronics company was hiring web developers in my town, so sent in my résumé. Like most résumés, mine contained the standard skills & buzzword section:

Languages and technical writing: PHP, MySQL, AJAX, JavaScript, PRADO Framework, MSSQL Server, C#, .Net Framework, Perl, C/C++, Visual Basic, ASP, HTML, DHTML, XML, SOAP, CSS, Java, UML

I was pretty excited to get an interview. Well, that is until the interviewer took one look at my resume and said "Why is C so far down on your list?"

235 comments - Last comment @ 2011-07-12

Nothing To Smile At

by in Error'd on

"That's nothing to smile at, Brett," writes David Robinson, "EntityName parsing errors are serious business."


(currently live at NBC Sports)

88 comments - Last comment @ 2013-02-26
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