The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

No Color? No Problem!

by Mark Bowytz in Error'd on 2015-07-31

"Samsung's printer technology must really be something," writes Tim, "A black and white printer able to output a full color photo?! Who knew!"

99 comments - Last comment @ 2015-08-04

What is this 'Right Click' You Speak Of?

by Mark Bowytz in Error'd on 2015-07-24

"What makes this worse is that this wasn't an edge case," wrote Roger, "I only right-clicked in the body of an email."

1 comments - Last comment @ 2023-04-25

Error Version 16

by Mark Bowytz in Error'd on 2015-07-17

"I was filling out a survey for PayPal when this message popped up to let me know that I am at a testing stage," Ishai S. writes.

39 comments - Last comment @ 2015-07-20

Classic WTF: Mandatory Fun

by Mark Bowytz in Mandatory Fun Day on 2015-07-10

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years since the last installments of MFD. Mark's been too busy doing art for things like Release! to waste his artistic talents here with us. From back in 2008, I've grabbed a few of my personal favorites from the old MFD days. --Remy

I'm a sucker for terrible puns, so I love these. But, if you scroll back through the comments on those old articles (back in Community Server!), some of our readers had a slightly different attitude. This Viking lays out our editorial stance on that!

40 comments - Last comment @ 2019-02-22

Classic WTF: A Temporary Problem

by Mark Bowytz in Feature Articles on 2015-07-08

This classic is a perfect example of what happens when you outsource IT functions. You get some short-term, temporary gains, but you'll always lose in the long run.

This one originally ran back in 2014, but it's already a classic. - Remy

Andy Dahl had suffered his share of delays at the hands of the NonLocal HelpDesk, but usually they were simply a matter of insurmountable language barriers or inexplicable delays. Today the threat was somewhat more sinister...

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:13]: 
regarding your computer slowness issue
share the screen

**SCREEN SHARING INITIATED BY Dahl, Andy** [14:14]

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:17]: 
give me control 

**SCREEN CONTROL INITIATED BY Dahl, Andy** [14:18] 

Dahl, Andy [14:23]: 
S%Topt
S%TOP
%

**SCREEN CONTROL TERMINATED BY Dahl, Andy** [14:23]

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:24]: 
do shift+ delete
i am unable to do it form here

Dahl, Andy [14:25]: 
what are you trying to delete?

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:25]: 
its a temporary files

Dahl, Andy [14:25]: 
You can't delete all those files you selected.
They are not all temp files.

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:26]: 
they are

Dahl, Andy [14:26]: 
No. They are not all temp files. Just because something has the letters 'temp' in it does NOT mean it is a temp file.
MasterOrderTemplate.xml, CoreTemperatureController.cpp, and UpdateTemporaryJobPostings.SQL are resource that I NEED. They are NOT temp files.

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:27]: 
while we run this search
(.*temp.*)
we will get only the temp files

Dahl, Andy [14:27]: 
No. You will get every file that has the letters 'temp' in the file name. Not all of those are temp files.

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:27]: 
No
not like that
what happens is temp files are system generated it should not be the original file that you have on the folders in order to resolve the issue i need to delete it even the next level will do the same

Dahl, Andy [14:30]: 
With all due respect, I'm sorry but I can't allow you to delete those files. Not all of them are temp files.

HelpDesk, NonLocal [14:30]: 
alright
i will assign this ticket to next level

39 comments - Last comment @ 2015-07-11

Classic WTF: Trouble With Founders, the Lost Candidate, and More

by Mark Bowytz in Tales from the Interview on 2015-07-07

I think Tales from the Interview are always a special treat, in part because we don't run them very often. It may also be because at my last job, I was notorious for once making a candidate cry and have a panic attack, but I'm an incredibly nice interviewer! I swear!

Enjoy this veritable smorgasbord of terrifying interviews from 2012. - Remy

Trouble with Founders (from Ben C.)
A few of my friends (all CS people) were attending a startup mixer hosted at a little airport near our university. At one point, we all got kind of bored of talking with everyone, so we stepped outside to look at the planes. Soon enough, some business people in suits noticed the nerds talking outside so slowly started approaching.

They started talking with us, trying not to be too obvious about their intents. They asked where we were from and we told them our college. We asked what brought them here, and they said they were starting a company. We asked what it was for and they responded "Data Analytics". At this point, we were a little curious, so we tried to get some more information, and then they gave us their wonderful pitch.

119 comments - Last comment @ 2015-10-14

A Defined Sense of Taste

by Mark Bowytz in Error'd on 2015-07-03

"This was in the appetizers section. I wonder if they do 1920x1200 for an entree," wrote Semaj.

19 comments - Last comment @ 2015-07-03