Techie's One Ring Brought Darkness By Shorting A Server
The Register, Monday, February 2nd, 2026
Monday brings the shock of a return to work, a transition The Register always tries to ease by bringing you a new instalment of Who, Me?, the reader-contributed column in which your fellow readers admit to errors and disclose how they dodged the consequences.
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Steven," who once got the job of installing a mail server for a client.
"The project went well, until I noticed a board in the server was quite warm," Steven told The Register. He therefore opened the chassis and slid his hand inside to feel the warm spot.
Steven's intentions were good, but his memory wasn't: He was wearing a wedding ring, soon received a small electric shock and heard the telltale sound of a solenoid triggering.
And then the server died.