Server Crashes Traced To One Very Literal Knee-Jerk Reaction
The Register, Monday, March 2nd, 2026
Oh, the contortions required to debug strange errors!
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Carter" who shared a story from the latter half of the 1990s when he worked at a telemarketing company.
"It was the time of Novell networks, RG58 cables, and bulky tower PCs," he told The Register. It was also a time before the telemarketer's IT department employed specialists. Carter and his two colleagues - boss Mike and part-time student Stefan - therefore handled tasks ranging from programming to support, and everything in between.
The trio's server room housed a colorful collection of machines scattered across shelves and shoved under desks. If a computer needed work, the team used KVM switches to connect.
"We considered this very modern at that time," Carter wrote.