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Manager Disables Web Server by Sneaking Away Xbox
nz17 writes "While the administrator is away the managers will play. A custom Web server went missing at an unnamed public university, but who was the culprit? The department manager. Thinking that the Linux Web server (which used a Microsoft Xbox for its hardware) was a normal game console, he snuck the device out of the server room and home for his son to play over the holiday weekend. The philosophy students who used the server for their class were not amused."
Since this is the idle channel and I keep seeing your name/ID popping up I'd like to say how cool I think it is :p I wonder if xa maps to 988 in any way. Anyway, I thought you could specify how important stories from different sections are to you? For example for me the gaming stories show the title but not the summary. I can't even remember what the settings were like when I did that, they may have made them more comprehensive by now.
which is totally what she said
Since it's on Windows IT Pro, I assume that is the intended tone. "Business don't try anything innovative like those stupid, penny-pinching colleges."
"Sure, you have got a PhD. Just don't touch anything".
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
So why can't they just use one for the sever?
Mod parent up. Idle needs to GTFO the front page.
My guess would be that years ago some CS people got a small grant to buy an Xbox and put Linux on it, as a sort of exercise in hacking. It's all well an exciting the first time you do it, but afterwards all you've got is another Linux server, only in an XBox case. So they put it in a server room, set it up to host the philosophy department's webpage, and forgot about it.
What bugs me the most is that someone who is an IT department manager saw something in the server room that was plugged in, on the network, and turned on, and decided to turn it off and disconnect it without so much as asking someone.
Every time I start thinking that the rivalry between techies and suits in IT is overstated, I hear about something like this.
I'm afraid you're not going to get your wish. I had an email discussion with CmdrTaco on this subject last summer. He basically admitted that during the 'lull time' of U.S. summer, they have to scrape around for articles to post because summer time means far fewer cool university publications, and businesses release fewer products and stuff during summer as well.
I specifically complained about kdawson and the drivel that he posts but CmdrTaco defended him by saying that he (CmdrTaco) though that he (kdawson) did 'a pretty good job' as an editor.
Really, at that point, I realized that there is nothing that anyone can do. I mean, if you can defend kdawson's editing and story submission quality, then I guess you can defend anything.
I don't know how long the average user lasts on Slashdot before getting fed up and moving on; the first 5 years I read Slashdot it steadily improved in quality but the last 5 years have been all downhill. I'm really starting to reach my limit of tolerance for it. Many days I say to myself, "that's it, I'm not reading Slashdot at all anymore", but old habits die hard and I keep coming back.
I can't block it off the front page. It's a spam bucket taking up valuable space. It's not on the list of things I CAN block. Make it an option, and I'll keep quiet. One of the things that made the site better than most was the lack of garbage like this. Now it's just becoming some cutesy teenybopper site. Just you watch the kind of people this will attract as the tech articles drift off into the background. It's already happening. And the look of the idle page is positively ghastly. The pink ponies look better than this. Tell you what, I won't go to or comment on any more idle pages that pop up and just fire off a nasty letter to the editor for what it's worth. For those of you that are with me on this, you can help by not renewing your subscriptions. This is a true sign of deterioration and dumbing down of Slashdot. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Bummer to see it end this way. Now, excuse me. I have to go catch up on my Y&R tapes.
What?
I used to send corrections to them -- typos, dupes, factual errors, and such. About half the time they did then fix them. But Taco was very bitchy and unappreciative about it. I realised I was just being an unpaid proofreader for lazy jerks who didn't give a shit, so I gave up. Now I just ignore their errors or snark about them in the comments.
The comment moderation is the thing that makes the site work, so interesting comments float up. But they failed to take the next step, allowing moderation of the articles themselves so crappy articles can be filtered out. (WTF is it with the tags that have been in beta for a year or so -- how do they expect anyone to take it seriously when they don't implement them in any real way?)
Of course, if they had editors who 1) read the articles and 2) spent 5 minutes checking them before posting, the site would not be such an embarrassment.
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.