[HN Gopher] The Bastard Operator from Hell (1999)
___________________________________________________________________
The Bastard Operator from Hell (1999)
Author : de6u99er
Score : 158 points
Date : 2021-12-17 11:13 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bofh.bjash.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bofh.bjash.com)
| teddyh wrote:
| I've never liked the BOFH stories, even when I first encountered
| them in the early 90s I never thought they were particularly
| funny, and as I've since become a more experienced sysadmin I've
| actually come to despise them and the attitude they symbolize.
| Sure, the stories are parodies and written in an exaggerated
| manner, but the underlying humor seems to be saying " _Isn't this
| what we all really think? Isn't this how we would all wish we
| could behave?_ ", which is an attitude I find deplorable.
|
| I've elaborated about this here in the past, first here:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10320829#10322378
|
| and later here:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16724962#16725937
|
| (Note: this entire comment is a repost from four years ago:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164086)
| hootbootscoot wrote:
| Think of it as some sort of elaborate Dilbert, rather. The
| essence of it is the dysfunction of corporate office life.
| teddyh wrote:
| Even Dilbert wasn't usually _mean_ , and certainly never to
| people who didn't really deserve it.
| hpoe wrote:
| You sure you've been reading the same strip because the PHB
| and Dogbert have both been deliberately mean on multiple
| occasions.
|
| EDIT: Also catbert whose whole character is about being
| cruel.
| teddyh wrote:
| The PHB isn't a viewpoint character. And Dogbert is
| usually only mean to people who can said to be (in some
| sense) deserving.
| rob74 wrote:
| Dilbert himself: no. Most of the other characters: yes
| (mostly to Dilbert).
| errcorrectcode wrote:
| Seconding this. I didn't manage to get through one before it
| seemed absurd, beyond unethical and unprofessional, and petty.
| Reminded me of Comic Book Guy: so smart but no one can stand
| their misanthropy.
| _jal wrote:
| The unfunny, mean frame around hacking things in unexpected
| ways probably seemed like a decent literary device, but turned
| out not to be.
|
| But by then the series was a series, and like a bad Sunday-
| paper comic strip back when, just kept going. This seems to be
| a failure mode peculiar to syndication.
| kbenson wrote:
| > Sure, the stories are parodies and written in an exaggerated
| manner, but the underlying humor seems to be saying "Isn't this
| what we all really think? Isn't this how we would all wish we
| could behave?", which is an attitude I find deplorable.
|
| No? Not everyone sees all types of humorous behavior as
| something to aspire to. Did people always look at Chaplin's
| antics as the fool and think "that's funny, I should act the
| same way"? Do people look at asshole comedians because that's
| how they wish they were?
|
| I think it's more accurate to say that people find extreme
| behavior funny because we have urges _sometimes_ to act the
| same, and while we recognize that 's not a good way to act, it
| can be cathartic to see someone unrestrained by social norms in
| a fictional setting where nobody is actually hurt or upset.
|
| I'll be the first to condemn someone for harmful behaviors to
| others without cause, but fiction is another thing entirely.
| Even if I didn't find this type of fiction humorous, I would be
| very careful not to ascribe motivations and idea about those
| that do. People have many reasons for enjoying stories, and
| they may be entirely alien to your own way of thinking, so
| generally I find it's best to deal with the individual (if
| needed) and not the source.
| teddyh wrote:
| > _I think it 's more accurate to say that people find
| extreme behavior funny because we have urges sometimes to act
| the same, and while we recognize that's not a good way to
| act, it can be cathartic to see someone unrestrained by
| social norms in a fictional setting where nobody is actually
| hurt or upset._
|
| This is exactly the attitude which I called "deplorable". I
| _dont't_ feel that urge, as I explained in my linked
| comments.
| kbenson wrote:
| >> I've actually come to despise them and the attitude they
| symbolize.
|
| The issue is, they don't necessarily symbolize an attitude.
| That's an assumption on your part, and in my opinion, and
| erroneous one. These stories let people see urges they have
| played out in a fictional setting, and explore how it might
| play out. This can relieve the pressure people might feel
| to actually act in these ways, because they get some
| outlet, while also seeing how the behavior is problematic
| in real life.
|
| It's fine that you don't like this fiction, but when you
| start projecting your own interpretations of what the
| fiction means or symbolizes, you are projecting your own
| interpretation and judgement onto others who may consume
| that fiction in an entirely different way. It doesn't
| symbolize what you say it does, it at most makes you feel
| something about it. To others it makes them feel something
| different. In neither case does it necessarily make someone
| act or think more in line with how the main character does.
|
| We can ask people to act a certain way within society, but
| once we start demonizing urges people may have and _not_
| act on, and fiction that appeals to those people, I think
| we 've gone too far.
| cafemachiavelli wrote:
| I'm pleasantly surprised to see this kind of sentiment at the
| top. I also like the posts you linked a lot. I used to like
| these kinds of bitter sysadmin revenge fantasies, but I no
| longer really get the appeal; they seem to exemplify a kind of
| "punching down or sideways because you can't punch up" behavior
| that I see IRL (outside IT) too often to find it funny.
| datavirtue wrote:
| I can't stop reading them because they so accurately depict the
| attitude and MO of a few real life BOFH that I used to work
| with. These guys, one in particular, would do anything in his
| power to torture people while averting any blame due to his
| technical skills. And then openly laugh and make fun of them
| with the other sysadmins...who all pretty much allowed him to
| get away with it all or even encouraged it. These stories do
| not look like fiction to me in any way.
| dkarl wrote:
| I agree there's a power fantasy element to them, but they're a
| reflection of sysadmins' lack of real power. They're at the
| bottom of the pecking order and are only noticed when things go
| wrong, or when users want to project their own frustrations
| onto somebody lower in the office pecking order. They have
| incredible destructive potential at their fingertips yet no way
| to use it in the protection of their own dignity, since doing
| their job well means taking abuse silently when it's directed
| at them. Pushing back against misdirected blame and anger would
| go against the _real_ power structure and would be castigated
| as a lack of empathy for the poor users.
|
| Honestly, the best sysadmins are probably the ones who resort
| to fantasies like this. Real unscrupulous sysadmins can force
| people to kiss their ass before they'll do their job. If you've
| ever worked in an office where the sysadmin is a highly visible
| and highly respected person, and everyone is keen to treat them
| well and be on their good side, it's because they've made it
| their policy to do the simplest aspects of their job
| grudgingly, theatrically, and only after a lot of cajoling.
| Meanwhile at another company there's somebody doing the same
| job ten times better but getting treated like an intern
| precisely _because_ they do the job better, without forcing
| people to beg. And that sysadmin is the one who needs the power
| fantasy.
|
| (I was not sure whether to use the present tense or past tense
| in this post. My memories of company sysadmins are from the
| 1990s and early 2000s, and I have no idea if sysadmins like
| that exist anymore.)
| 2-718-281-828 wrote:
| My psychological intuition tells me that the one with power
| phantasies is the cajoling sysadmin - not the humble one. I
| find it weird that you would think it's the other way around.
| dkarl wrote:
| I would think it would be weird to fantasize about taking
| drastic, socially unsanctioned action to deal with
| circumstances that you are already dealing with effectively
| in real life.
|
| People do commonly fantasize about using violence to escape
| humiliating situations, but very few people take violent
| action against their tormentors, so it stands to reason
| that most of the people who fantasize about violence aren't
| violent in real life.
| teddyh wrote:
| I feel that a _real_ "power fantasy" would be to depict a
| fight against the ignominy, not in petty acts of malice
| against the undeserving.
| Maursault wrote:
| Well, there's something to be said for lightening up, and
| unless assaulted, we choose to be offended. I suppose,
| similarly, most really can't stand Jerry nor find his
| behavior humorous; he's such a jerk to Tom.
|
| The art of parody can be low or high brow. I suppose there
| is some low brow parody I do not appreciate (e.g. Jim
| Carrey's Fire Marshal Bill Burns I find disturbing), but
| BOFH hits too close to home for me to criticize (beyond
| literary). Some users can be demanding, needy, ungrateful
| pieces of work, and fantasizing about retaliation without
| consequences relieves pressure.
|
| Contrast BOFH to dissident heating engineer Harry Tuttle,
| not opposites, but somewhat complimentary. BOFH is probably
| more believable, but Harry wins the absurdity contest. Also
| compare both to Dr. Gregory House and the characters on
| Seinfeld. I will not explain why we sometimes like horrible
| people, but I think it is intersting that Tuttle stands out
| conspicuously gallant and heroic among them.
|
| We even like antiheroes in work that is not parody, such as
| Clint Eastwood's unnamed characters, Han Solo, Michael
| Corleone and Rambo. There are other crossovers like BOFH,
| such as Captain Jack Sparrow, a character that is similarly
| both a parody and an antihero, or Alex DeLarge, a satiric
| antihero. Also notable is Mr. Robot's Elliot Alderson,
| perhaps a closely-related descendent of BOFH.
| AtlasBarfed wrote:
| The moral of the story is, for all of them: "This is why AWS
| ate corporate IT"
| inopinatus wrote:
| > the underlying humor seems to be saying "Isn't this what we
| all really think? Isn't this how we would all wish we could
| behave?"
|
| That's a bad take, for the simple reason that the BOFH series
| was written by a Kiwi, for primarily NZ and UK audiences.
|
| The underlying message is, consequently, quite the opposite.
| teddyh wrote:
| Other people _in this thread_ have stated otherwise.
| inopinatus wrote:
| I can appreciate that being confronted with a statement
| whose essence is "you've been wrong for years and don't get
| other peoples jokes" leads to validation-seeking behaviour.
|
| Nevertheless you're still looking to support what is now an
| _intentionally_ negative misinterpretation of dry humour.
|
| My point being, just because others are wrong too, that
| still doesn't reflect badly on the author, or the source
| material.
|
| This is also why I don't joke on calls with Americans.
| smsm42 wrote:
| This sounds almost like "first they kill monsters in that new
| 'Doom' thing on a computer and then they go out and shoot
| people on the street!"
|
| There's a difference between humorous escapist fantasy and the
| reality, and most adults are capable of recognizing it. We can
| watch "John Wick" without starting to shoot people, and we can
| read BOFH without being forced to act it out too. And as all
| escapist fantasy, there's an element of reality and its
| frustrations baked into it - that's why it works - but
| everybody knows it's not the reality itself.
| sharken wrote:
| I'm totally onboard with this, reality is a different thing
| altogether. BOFH is good entertainment with a touch of
| reality.
|
| The world would be a poorer place if we did not have BOFH.
| W0lf wrote:
| For our german audience here at HN, there's also a (german)
| version called Bastard Assistant from Hell (BAfH) [1] which I can
| highly recommend if you liked the original stories as well
|
| [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastard_Assistant_from_Hell
| de6u99er wrote:
| Danke!
| gostsamo wrote:
| The story is still alive on The Register:
|
| https://search.theregister.com/?q=bofh
| bencollier49 wrote:
| _" It's backup day today so I'm pissed off. Being the BOFH,
| however, does have it's advantages. I reassign null to be the
| tape device - it's so much more economical on my time as I don't
| have to keep getting up to change tapes every 5 minutes. And it
| speeds up backups too, so it can't be all bad can it? Of course
| not."_
|
| So not quite everything he gets up to is fantasy.
| usrbinbash wrote:
| BOFH is probably the best comical criticism of corporate
| "culture", with "Dilbert" as a close second.
| mpol wrote:
| Any love for Hackles?
|
| I have read them twice now from start to end:
| http://hackles.org/index.html
| rsynnott wrote:
| The title's a little misleading; this is all the old stuff, but
| anything after '03 is available on The Register:
| https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/bofh/
| iso1631 wrote:
| The original and the best. After moving to The Reg it stretched
| from grmpy sysadmin deciding to delete peoples files to a
| machivellian character who murders people on a regular basis
| lostcolony wrote:
| I dunno; at least that way it's more obviously hyperbolic,
| and thus less likely to be emulated
| elsjaako wrote:
| BOFH#4 already implies someone is killed by a SWAT team
| CraneWorm wrote:
| > machivellian character who murders people on a regular
| basis
|
| I read the first one he murders someone so it seems it has
| always been like that.
| rsynnott wrote:
| It's oscillated a few times; some of the early ones are quite
| murder-y, and the Reg version has sometimes been a bit more
| normal (though I think he's in a murder-y phase at the
| moment).
| mik09 wrote:
| reminds me of a ctf (overthewire - vortex level 16) that uses
| bofh to crack 100 out of 128 letters of a hash...come to think of
| it now i have more clues for this one.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| I do sometimes wonder how much of the attitude and behavior of
| many IT people I've met might ultimately be sourced from the
| BOfH, taken to heart by people who didn't really get the joke.
| Much like how modern game 'critic' culture seems to have been
| derived from the AVGN.
| dijit wrote:
| I think in this case that art imitates life.
|
| Most people working in IT when these things came about were
| burned very hard by being a "cost centre", they were user
| facing and also had to be deeply technical.
|
| It's difficult to be under appreciated, held to high standards
| for output but also be user facing (because support requires,
| more than anything else, patience) and maintain a positive
| demeanour, most people specialised into roles like "Helpdesk"
| but those always felt very entry level and were probably very
| unfulfilling.
|
| Even if you had a Helpdesk: it probably felt that the
| implementor was "very far removed" from the user, which makes
| things even more annoying when something breaks down and you
| want things to move quickly.
|
| BOFH is almost certainly a fantasy that follows the perception
| of an operations person. Certainly I believe that more than I
| believe it's a work of fiction that came from nowhere that
| people identified with and imitated.
| Maursault wrote:
| > roles like "Helpdesk" but those always felt very entry
| level and were probably very unfulfilling.
|
| I used to think that also until I worked with some career
| helpdesk operators that were well suited to the position for
| their excellent social aptitude and reasonably well
| compensated for their skills and excellent tact. This is not
| confined to Tier I, as the most successful in Tier II will
| also have this gift of being personable that is less common
| or with less opportunity to express it in Tier III, but it
| appears again in Tier IV. It is ironic, but generally a less
| competent but extremely personable operator will be more
| successful than a competent and efficient operator with no
| social skills.
| PragmaticPulp wrote:
| I remember greatly enjoying BOFH when I was young, in the same
| way it's fun to watch a movie with a deeply flawed character
| behaving poorly.
|
| Then I worked at a company where the IT person modeled their
| personality on BOFH and it was, unsurprisingly, a miserable
| experience for everyone. Strangely, they got a free pass for
| the gruff behavior because there was this idea that "that's
| just how IT people are". Fortunately, that's _not_ the norm or
| even acceptable at any sane workplace and I went on to work
| with a lot of great and professional IT people since then.
|
| But I've often wondered how much the BOFH fictions influenced
| some people who missed the point.
| toyg wrote:
| Nah, it's always been considered a revenge fantasy.
|
| IRL BOFHs were BOFHs before it came around, they just didn't
| have a label. The omnipotence mania is built in the very
| concept of "administrator" or "root", and because this
| obviously doesn't translate directly in the real world for IT
| admins, there is always a friction, a source of frustration,
| for people in those jobs.
|
| The real outcome of BOFH was to sensitize some bosses to the
| problems such personalities can produce, a concept that made it
| all the way to Sarbanes-Oxley. And despite that, the likes of
| Terry Childs [0] are still very much around.
|
| [0[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Childs
| datavirtue wrote:
| I though that too until I brought up BOFH to actual BOFHs who
| had no idea the series existed.
| user-the-name wrote:
| Yeah, I really do suspect that a lot of the rotten parts of
| programmer culture stems from things like this.
| datavirtue wrote:
| Real life BOsFH hate developers more than lusers.
| shagie wrote:
| > Want of become enemy of ops? Install developer friendly
| product.
|
| -- DevOps Borat (
| https://twitter.com/DEVOPS_BORAT/status/305113251388203008
| )
| tempodox wrote:
| "The Rag" has even more episodes, starting May 2000 [1]. The most
| recent episodes are at https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/bofh/.
|
| [1] https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/bofh/earlier/7/
| sumtechguy wrote:
| The bound editions are nice as well.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Simon-Travaglia/e/B00JCJDZCU
| saul_goodman wrote:
| BOFH is meant to blow off steam for the lowly enlisted people of
| tech. I think the negative comments in this thread really shines
| a spotlight on the chasm dividing IT people on HN. A lot of the
| ivory tower of IT hangs out here unaware its hell for the
| majority of folks working IT. Spend a few minutes on /r/sysadmin
| if you need a refresher on what it's really like to start out in
| this business working at an ordinary company.
|
| And this is nothing against the ivory tower or the valley. All
| I'm saying is it's a problem when you can't tell that you're
| there because of the echo chamber you're in. To most orgs IT is
| an expense that must be minimized at all costs and that
| translates to treating IT people as dirt. Shops that export
| technology as their business are the inverse of this.
| norpisss wrote:
| I have a couple of coworkers that use this term with pride, e.g.
| part of their nickname, email signatures, etc... Why would they
| do that? To me it reads as unwelcoming or passive aggressive,
| doesn't it?
| op00to wrote:
| Unwelcoming for sure.
| ndlary wrote:
| Why does everyone feel entitled to be welcomed in all
| situations since around 2015? The people demanding to be
| welcomed have more power now than the people who actually
| created something. This is deeply wrong.
|
| Also, the question of welcoming/unwelcoming is entirely
| orthogonal to what the BOFH is about.
| dsr_ wrote:
| It's neither.
|
| BOFH represents an angry, cathartic, antiheroic response to the
| social problems of the IT world. Anyone acting that way in the
| real world deserves the prison sentence that would immediately
| follow... just as anyone who behaved like an action movie star
| in the real world would go to prison for assault and murder.
|
| The primary desired response is quiet sympathy and camaraderie,
| if appropriate.
| bartvk wrote:
| I guess it differs for each person. I think it's funny, it's a
| way of saying that you don't take yourself too seriously.
|
| Of course you could ask the coworkers in question, but do you
| want to bring your account to the attention of a BOFH?...
| vbezhenar wrote:
| Why would I want to be welcoming or positive? While I'm not
| exactly aggressive person, I'm more like neutral person and I
| would never want to fake welcomeness or something like that. If
| someone will approach me with question from documentation, I'll
| never hesitate to answer RTFM and move on.
|
| May be that's US thing that everyone must smile and be kind. I
| was not taught like that, I don't expect that from others and
| I'll not fake good mood being in a bad mood myself.
| neotek wrote:
| Oh man, what a blast from the past. Another great site in the
| same vein was Acts of Gord[-1], which followed the exploits of a
| used game store manager. Similarly semi-apocryphal and perhaps a
| little overstated, but highly enjoyable.
|
| [-1] http://www.actsofgord.com/
| MerelyMortal wrote:
| -1?
| DnDGrognard wrote:
| I remember seeing the early BOFH when I was working for Telecom
| GOLD (Dialcom) in the mid 80's.
|
| I think the BOFH files may have come from the NZ Dialcom
| licensee originally.
| jerf wrote:
| I don't really have a hard time believing that running a used
| game store in what is clearly not the best part of town over
| the course of a couple decades would produce Gord's stories.
|
| As the phrase goes, shit happens. Nothing interesting may
| happen on a normal day but there's a lot of days and eventually
| you roll up all manner of interesting occurrences.
| mattowen_uk wrote:
| WARNING: Site starts playing loud music immediately on load.
| hulitu wrote:
| Oh , so just like any news site nowadays. Some (browser
| developer) people never learn. Or to put it another way:
| "Lusers, bless their little hearts, have simple minds. " [1]
|
| [1] a.s.r. FAQ
| vbezhenar wrote:
| It does not for me and actually modern browsers do not allow
| automatic sound playback without explicit user interaction.
| bombcar wrote:
| Apparently "moving the mouse anywhere near the tab" is
| explicit user interaction unless I disable sound by default.
| beardyw wrote:
| Real life story:
|
| In the late 70s I was new to using the teletype we shared in the
| office, and one day I had a job waiting for a tape to be mounted.
| An old hand asked what the problem was, "here, move over" he said
| "this should help".
|
| He typed a message:
|
| - why don't you .......s do some ....ing work for a ....ing
| change -
|
| and walked away. I was left traumatised.
|
| I later got a call from the ops manager saying that he and the
| operators were shocked by the language. I doubt it.
|
| If that was you, I still haven't forgotten!*
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| A wonderful classic:) It's funny to me how much culture these
| convey even through a warped lens.
| lambic wrote:
| I have a shell script that sends my daily scrum update to slack
| and it includes a fortune at the end, including the occasional
| bofh excuse.
| chrisseaton wrote:
| I never understood - what does 'operator' mean in this context.
| I've never encountered anyone with the job title 'operator'. Does
| it mean 'user'? But that doesn't fit with the content because the
| Bastard Operator doesn't like users. Does it mean 'admin'? But
| then why a different word?
| Joker_vD wrote:
| It means "computer operator": "a role in IT which oversees the
| running of computer systems, ensuring that the machines, and
| computers are running properly" [0] -- a rather interesting
| article to read even on its own.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_operator
| jaggederest wrote:
| "A computer operator is the person responsible for monitoring
| and controlling computer systems especially mainframe computer
| systems in a company or organization."
|
| It's kind of archaic, now, but back in the day you used to have
| a computer that filled a whole room and there would be an
| operator in charge of compiling and running jobs, returning
| (printed) output, managing user accounts, resources, backups.
|
| Sort of analogous to a system administrator on multiple smaller
| computers used as servers, or the IT guy on personal computers
| used for work, but much more direct, in that they would
| actually be the one who operated the computer. Users submitted
| typed programs that would be input into punchcards and run as a
| batch, or run on a scheduled basis.
| throwawayHN378 wrote:
| When I was an undergrad student in 2010 I worked part time as
| a contractor for the state of NY and my official title was
| "computer operator". For the most my job was IT support
| DnDGrognard wrote:
| Normally an "operator" would look after the lower level
| functions changing tapes.
| whoopdedo wrote:
| It's not entirely archaic as the title lives on in DevOps.
| datavirtue wrote:
| Computer operators were not very technical--just trained on
| the various tasks listed. It was often a low wage job. Not
| like a more familiar sysadmin of more recent years.
| lambic wrote:
| My first job was as an operator for a UK bank.
|
| The work was:
|
| * Putting paper on printers * Taking paper off printers *
| Decollating the paper that came off printers * Putting tapes
| into tape drives * Taking tapes out of tape drives
|
| The slacking was
|
| * Going to the pub before it closed on night shift * Having
| sword fights with the plastic swords we used to cut paper *
| Finding an unlocked office and using the phone to call party
| lines
|
| The work highlights were:
|
| * Going to a vault and back flanked by security guards to get
| the Queen's tape * Printing bank statements of the rich and
| famous (I've seen Mick Jagger's bank account)
| xbar wrote:
| When I first encountered BOFH, I recalled TV commercials on
| KTLA Channel for Control Data Institute in order to give me
| context on the "Operator" term.
|
| You could train to be a computer programmer, operator, or
| technician. Seems like a standard term of art for the 1970s.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09y4zT18KXM
| dijit wrote:
| I remember reading in a book once:
|
| Systems Operator: Maintains and runs systems, often works from
| runbooks, or automated UI's; does not write code, works within
| the constraints set by Administrators. Level 2 Helpdesk.
|
| Systems Administrators: Responsible for writing documentation,
| addressing the needs of monitoring. Usually the person writing
| runbooks and scripts, works closely with a Helpdesk and their
| needs, automates recurrent problems. Level 3 Helpdesk.
|
| Systems Engineer: Responsible for architecture, understanding
| complex systems, working on new projects, making Systems
| Administrators lives easier. Working with Architects on
| upcoming projects, likely designed and built the logging
| solution, database migration systems, job control systems.
|
| Systems Architect: Same as a systems engineer except focused on
| business needs instead of technical ones. Usually works on a
| higher level of abstraction, often works across many teams to
| gather needs.
|
| This was a book that was "old" when I read it in 2007, so,
| obviously this no longer reflects reality (if it ever did).
| bombcar wrote:
| Operator as in System Operator or sysop- an archaic term for IT
| administrator from when the computer was a single "system".
| Equivalent to root when used.
| lmilcin wrote:
| Long time ago people could not use computers.
|
| You would write down the program you want to get executed or
| punch it on punch cards.
|
| The only people who could actually operate the computer were...
| the operators. These people (mainly women) would transfer the
| program to the computer, execute it and then transfer the
| answer back to the requestor.
|
| This survived into later because an admin on the server is was
| the only person who could _actually_ operate the server. The
| rest can only within whatever rights the admin gave them, but
| for any important operation (like adding a user) you still
| needed the admin (operator) to take action.
| bitwize wrote:
| And just like programming itself, egotistical and socially
| maladapted men drove the women out of the profession.
| kgwgk wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysop
| jasongill wrote:
| The term would be akin to system administrator now; the sysop
| was the one who was in charge of the computer (you know, the
| one computer on a business or school campus that everyone
| shared via terminals). They would be in charge of monitoring
| the computer, making sure that users weren't doing anything
| they weren't supposed to and impacting other users, managing
| backup tapes, and handling the equivalent of "support tickets"
| (mostly via phone or paper in those days)
| datavirtue wrote:
| Now that person controls access to THE cloud.
| admash wrote:
| Operator in this context is similar to administrator. A cognate
| being "sysop" from the 80s and 90s bulletin-board scene,
| meaning "system operator".
| h2odragon wrote:
| I've had "BOFH" on my license plate for 25 years now. I think
| I've had one person recognize it; and that was out of state at a
| Hamvention.
| peakaboo wrote:
| I would recognize it and LOVE it. But I'm 46 so there is that.
| :)
| rwmj wrote:
| I think I'd be too scared to approach you :-)
| reaperducer wrote:
| I tried to register GOSUB once, but it was taken.
| _joel wrote:
| The one person was the PFY?
| JoeAltmaier wrote:
| Always thank your sysadmin. Always treat them with respect.
| jasongill wrote:
| I love these so much and plan to re-read them all (for the N'th
| time in the past 30 years) again today, thanks for posting this
| nostalgia trip.
| aurizon wrote:
| Back in the day, BOFH was not on the Register. I thought it was
| very topical and I suggested to Mike Magee that they talk to each
| other - the rest is history.
|
| LOL, a downvote for the literal absolute truth, Check with Mike
| and Simon if you have any doubts...
| saul_goodman wrote:
| Lol, welcome to the show, where half the contestants don't
| understand humor and the other half have to explain what it
| Actually means.
| aurizon wrote:
| Yes, I found it funny, and the number of fatalities was
| extraordinary (all for valid reasons...). He should re-
| invigorate it with hacker stuff and ransomware demands for 2P
| or I trash your server - see the coin slot on your server -
| insert 2P - the ideas are endless to expose fools who use
| admin as pw etc..
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I've been following BOFH for decades (It long predates 1999),
| since he was a student in New Zealand.
|
| It is not PC (but also not deliberately offensive -it's a revenge
| fantasy; not a manifesto).
|
| As time has gone on, Simon (the BOFH), has gotten deadlier. He
| started off, nuking students' term papers, and has since
| graduated to routine first-degree, premeditated murder.
|
| It's entertainment. Not my favorite go-to, but I enjoy it.
|
| I'm easily amused, I guess.
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