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Are Sysadmins Really that Bad?

Posted by Cliff on from the is-there-a-b0fh-near-you dept.

tgbrittai asks: "According to Paul Boutin they are merely an obstacle to be manipulated or outmaneuvered. According to Steve Wozniak they are pimps. I've known my share of good and bad sysadmins, programmers and every other professional role out there, and I have to wonder: are sysadmins really THAT bad?" Most times sys-admins are overworked and underpaid and have to deal with users who take advantage of their local IT person, tasking them to fix systems that they callously break. Others are truly worth the name "Bastard Operators from Hell". How would you rate your sys-admin and what things did you have to do to make things run smoothly (or not)?

12 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Are you trying to get us in trouble? by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Are you trying to get us in trouble?! It's a damn good thing I'm a subscriber, I managed to block slashdot in our squid cache and drop it in a dns blackhole just before this story went live.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Are you trying to get us in trouble? by OhHellWithIt · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, but aren't you the only one there who reads /. anyway?

      --
      "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
    2. Re:Are you trying to get us in trouble? by niceone · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are you trying to get us in trouble?! It's a damn good thing I'm a subscriber, I managed to block slashdot in our squid cache and drop it in a dns blackhole just before this story went live.
      You must be one of the good sysadmins. The bad sysadmins have just been yanking the cables out of the back of the routers.
      --
      ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
    3. Re:Are you trying to get us in trouble? by Jarjarthejedi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Chaotic Neutral...

      --
      There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
    4. Re:Are you trying to get us in trouble? by tibike77 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, those would be "brutal" sysadmins.
      A truly evil sysadmin would have root access and rootkits installed on all user's home computers already ("here, have this software for home, you'll love it") and have them all zombified under his command. ;)

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
  2. Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    End of Thread.

  3. Not really... by i.r.id10t · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not really..... now what was your username again?

    *clickety*

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  4. Re:Boutin has a good idea.... by wild_berry · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for this enlightening post. You could have not done it, and I'd not have replied and wasted more of my day. But it was a favour to the entire Slashdot community. Cheers!

  5. My SysAdmin is my Boss by paladinwannabe2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    And he is the best Boss ever. He even reads /., which should demonstrate how cool he is. He certainly wouldn't do anything bad, like access my computer, log on to Slashdot, post an article telling the world how awesome he is, and then give me a warning to secure my computer (and change my /. password).

    --
    You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
  6. This is the operations crew by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're watching you and we also happen to know that a 3 phase 415V busbar runs dreadfully close to the RJ11 cable which terminates at your office desk telephone. I also recall this cable being reported as damaged (stripped bare by *accidental* friction). However the repair job is in our very long backlog queue at the moment, just after "Halon release trigger malfunctioning in Lockejaw's office".

    Please call us if you have any further queries on what we do down here in the basement.

  7. Re:Quality of sys admin is inversely proportional by fishbowl · · Score: 3, Funny

    >they frequently take out their frustrations on us.

    Of course they do. If they open their mouth within earshot of the people actually responsible, they get shipped to Baghdad the next day.

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
  8. I love our sys-admins by dasimms · · Score: 3, Funny
    I love our sys-admins. They are the most competent, noble, intelligent, and good looking folks I have known or ever will know.

    May I have more space in my home directory now, please?