The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

The Pride Goeth

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-05-14

Janči, a master's student of bioinformatics, was seated near the back of a large classroom. This was a simple compulsory elective course geared toward biologists. The professor was currently walking the class through their latest assignment. "We'll need to connect to some Linux servers," he announced.

The other students seated nearby traded blank stares. They were all Mac and Windows users with no IT background. Meanwhile Janči, a veteran Linux user, started feeling a little smug. An easy A was at hand.

5 comments - Last comment @ 09:03

A Whale of a Problem

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-04-29

From our Anonymous submitter:

Our company creates graphs to visualize data. We have many small fish customers, but we have one whale who uses our product that is 90% of company revenue. (WTF number 1.)

21 comments - Last comment @ 2026-05-12

TDWTF Home Edition: Pt 2

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-03-19

Read (Part One here)

When Ellis awoke on Sunday, the unusual cold broke through her drowsiness right away. Her new thermostat was programmed to maintain a lower temperature overnight, but at 6:30AM, it was supposed to climb again, kicking the heat on right when she got out of bed.

25 comments - Last comment @ 2026-03-21

Anti-Simplification

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-03-09

Our anonymous submitter relates a tale of simplification gone bad. As this nightmare unfolds, imagine the scenario of a new developer coming aboard at this company. Imagine being the one who has to explain this setup to said newcomer.

Imagine being the newcomer who inherits it.

18 comments - Last comment @ 2026-03-13

WTF: Home Edition

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-02-23

The utility closet Ellis had inherited and lived with for 17 years had been a cesspool of hazards to life and limb, a collection of tangible WTFs that had everyone asking an uncaring god, "What were they thinking?"

Every contractor who'd ever had to perform any amount of work in there had come away appalled. Many had even called over their buddies to come and see the stunning mess for themselves:

20 comments - Last comment @ 2026-04-23

Marking Territory

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-01-19

There's something about hierarchical arrangements that makes top-down interference utterly irresistible to many managers and executives. Writers may also experience similar strife with their editors, a phenomenon Robert Heinlein described with the perfect metaphor: "After he pees in it himself, he likes the flavor much better."

Sometimes, a leader leverages their hard-won wisdom and experience to steer a project onto a better path. But, all too often, someone's imagined wisdom and starving ego force a perfectly good train off the rails.

21 comments - Last comment @ 2026-04-06

Un-break-able

by Ellis Morning in Feature Articles on 2026-01-07

Ever feel like it'd all fall to pieces if you so much as turned your head? In the comments section of our article seeking your seasonal horror stories, Wayne shared a holiday WTF of a different sort that's too good not to share:

Not a holiday problem, but a me being on holiday problem.

12 comments - Last comment @ 2026-02-17

Best of 2025: The Modern Job Hunt

by Ellis Morning in Best of… on 2026-01-01

The market's been rough out there this year, and this "from the trenches" recap of the challenges is useful for everyone to review as we go into 2026. Original. --Remy

Ellis knew she needed a walk after she hurried off of Zoom at the end of the meeting to avoid sobbing in front of the group.

She'd just been attending a free online seminar regarding safe job hunting on the Internet. Having been searching since the end of January, Ellis had already picked up plenty of first-hand experience with the modern job market, one rejection at a time. She thought she'd attend the seminar just to see if there were any additional things she wasn't aware of. The seminar had gone well, good information presented in a clear and engaging way. But by the end of it, Ellis was feeling bleak. Goodness gracious, she'd already been slogging through months of this. Hundreds of job applications with nothing to show for it. All of the scams out there, all of the bad actors preying on people desperate for their and their loved ones' survival!

6 comments - Last comment @ 2026-01-16