Prose not content



  • I hate to complain.... but, anyone feel like there is more creative writing than content on this site these days?

    Surely there are plenty of real WTF's out there  rather than resorting to urban myths?

    We havent had a pig, hotel system or venerable Paula in ages ..... 




  • @UnresolvedExternal said:

    I hate to complain.... but, anyone feel like there is more creative writing than content on this site these days?

    Jealous? 



  • Though there are uncountable WTFs out there, I'm afraid that most of them closely resemble already well-known WTFs.



  • @ammoQ said:

    Though there are uncountable WTFs out there, I'm afraid that most of them closely resemble already well-known WTFs.

     Isn't that just a result of the "There is nothing new under the sun" observation from the venerable Solomon?
     



  • Well, don't forget that this site, as all Internet sites has a slightly larger "catchment area" than your direct neighborhood. If out of 100,000 companies maybe 100 experience a spectacular WTF and out of those 100, 50 happen to have employees that read TDWTF and submit the story to Alex, then we have effectively 50 new articles on the site.
    Given an average of one article per day, this would last almost two months.

    I agree, there is a lot of "anonymisation" going on and I don't think the introductions aren't always comedic gold either, but overall I have the feeling that the amount of storytelling is still greatly overstated. This stays mostly a non-fiction site.



  • It's not really the storytelling that's the problem, it's an amusing read only to be disappointed by the WTF at the end. 

    IMHO, we have seen and commented on most of the small (snippet type) WTFs out there.  Since some of the old classics like the pig and hotel system were based on entire applications - maybe that might be a new vein of material?

     



  • Jealous? 

     

    Yes, Mr. Troll - I am.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @PSWorx said:

    I agree, there is a lot of "anonymisation" going on and I don't think the introductions aren't always comedic gold either, but overall I have the feeling that the amount of storytelling is still greatly overstated. This stays mostly a non-fiction site.

    Unfortunately, I think a lot of readers get the wrong impression about what gets anonymised. Really, on the feature stories, we redact information and change names. Maybe, once in a while, if its inconsequential to the WTF, we'll change the industry (Logistics to Insurance, for example). Virtually nothing is changed on CodeSODs.

    A few years back, when there used to be a single Code + Story article, I'd have to get more creative to protect the submitter and fill out the article. Maybe change the language, or the variable names, or add some background. However, now that they are two seperate articles (CodeSoD and the stories), I don't do this anymore. What you see in CodeSOD is what was submitted, and what you read in the stories is what was told to me.

    I would love, by the way, to feature more absurd systems like The Customer Friendly System. But I can only write about what is submitted. So please -- if you have something absurd like that, do share!


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