4 ms·

I'm a bit surprised the newspaper did not validate the source? They're basically quoting a Super User / Stack Exchange thread which was probably a troll. If a

by mgbmtl 11y ago

I'm a bit surprised the newspaper did not validate the source? They're basically quoting a Super User / Stack Exchange thread which was probably a troll. If a hosting company had deleted 1535 client accounts, we would have heard other stories about it from angry clients?

throwanem 11y ago
Doubtful. The set of people willing to do business with a thumb-fingered goober like this one is likely disjoint with the set of HN readers.
- loup-vaillant 11y ago
  There's a specific reason why some called it fake: as adviced by others, Masarla ran the dd command to save the raw content of the disks, in case the recovery process screws up somehow. He inverted the `if` and `of` arguments. You'd expect him to pay attention, after what happens. This doesn't pass the smell test for some. Then again, you'd also expect him to be quite stressed out. That does make that mistake a bit more likely.
  - throwanem 11y ago
    Considering that, if this isn't a troll, he wiped out his entire business with a single command, I think you're giving him too much credit here.
    - loup-vaillant 11y ago
      Possibly, but the dd command does have more affordances than say, ld. `if` and `of` do stand for input file and output file, and it's harder to swap named arguments than positional arguments. He could have swapped arguments like `/dev/sdc` and `/dev/sde` though…
      - JdeBP 11y ago
        That is fairly probable, in fact. See that person's earlier question about block device naming. * http://serverfault.com/q/728725 http://serverfault.com/q/728725
nikkwong 11y ago
The quotes in the article definitely does not match the diction you typically hear in a SE thread. SE users typically chime in with helpful logic-driven advice—the advice they gave this unfortunate person sounded more like 4chan or reddit—"You're screwed!!"
- JdeBP 11y ago
  Read the original for yourself, rather than simply guessing from what you think typically happens. The quotes match what was written: * http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm-rf#comment969353_769357 http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm... * http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm-rf#comment969356_769357 http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm... Both of those people are ServerFault diamond moderators.
yuhong 11y ago
I wonder if there are real cases of StackExchange questions similar to this one.
astrodust 11y ago
If it was 31337 accounts, it would be super-troll territory.
- pmlnr 11y ago
  Or 1507.
ufmace 11y ago
It's kinda strange that major "mainstream" news publications are publishing articles with web board posts as the primary source, indeed, the entire story itself, with basically zero extra work. They could at least try to contact the guy, interview him, make sure he at least seems legit.
- CM30 11y ago
  That's not too surprising, unfortunately. With the internet and the obsession with getting news out as quickly as possible (because hey, being the first to report something gives you a lot more backlinks and clicks), the standard of proof for a story has gone from 'a lot of evidence gathered through actual investigation' to 'someone said this on an internet forum somewhere'. Basically, the internet and social media rewards quick reporting, not accurate reporting or verification. It's still better than a lot of gaming news sites though, where 'some guy mentioned something on Twitter/Reddit/4chan' is suddenly front page news within ten minutes.
charltones 11y ago
Wouldn't have taken too much effort to confirm or deny the story. The poster's SO profile is here: http://serverfault.com/users/251721/bleemboy http://serverfault.com/users/251721/bleemboy That lists twitter and github accounts. The github account lists the website of: http://www.thenetworksolution.it/ http://www.thenetworksolution.it/ Which is an Italian provider of web design and hosting services. There is a phone number on the page.

by mgbmtl 11y ago

throwanem 11y ago

Doubtful. The set of people willing to do business with a thumb-fingered goober like this one is likely disjoint with the set of HN readers.

loup-vaillant 11y ago
There's a specific reason why some called it fake: as adviced by others, Masarla ran the dd command to save the raw content of the disks, in case the recovery process screws up somehow. He inverted the `if` and `of` arguments. You'd expect him to pay attention, after what happens. This doesn't pass the smell test for some. Then again, you'd also expect him to be quite stressed out. That does make that mistake a bit more likely.
- throwanem 11y ago
  Considering that, if this isn't a troll, he wiped out his entire business with a single command, I think you're giving him too much credit here.
  - loup-vaillant 11y ago
    Possibly, but the dd command does have more affordances than say, ld. `if` and `of` do stand for input file and output file, and it's harder to swap named arguments than positional arguments. He could have swapped arguments like `/dev/sdc` and `/dev/sde` though…
    - JdeBP 11y ago
      That is fairly probable, in fact. See that person's earlier question about block device naming. * http://serverfault.com/q/728725 http://serverfault.com/q/728725

nikkwong 11y ago

The quotes in the article definitely does not match the diction you typically hear in a SE thread. SE users typically chime in with helpful logic-driven advice—the advice they gave this unfortunate person sounded more like 4chan or reddit—"You're screwed!!"

JdeBP 11y ago
Read the original for yourself, rather than simply guessing from what you think typically happens. The quotes match what was written: * http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm-rf#comment969353_769357 http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm... * http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm-rf#comment969356_769357 http://serverfault.com/questions/769357/recovering-from-a-rm... Both of those people are ServerFault diamond moderators.

yuhong 11y ago

I wonder if there are real cases of StackExchange questions similar to this one.

astrodust 11y ago

If it was 31337 accounts, it would be super-troll territory.

pmlnr 11y ago
Or 1507.

ufmace 11y ago

It's kinda strange that major "mainstream" news publications are publishing articles with web board posts as the primary source, indeed, the entire story itself, with basically zero extra work. They could at least try to contact the guy, interview him, make sure he at least seems legit.

CM30 11y ago
That's not too surprising, unfortunately. With the internet and the obsession with getting news out as quickly as possible (because hey, being the first to report something gives you a lot more backlinks and clicks), the standard of proof for a story has gone from 'a lot of evidence gathered through actual investigation' to 'someone said this on an internet forum somewhere'. Basically, the internet and social media rewards quick reporting, not accurate reporting or verification. It's still better than a lot of gaming news sites though, where 'some guy mentioned something on Twitter/Reddit/4chan' is suddenly front page news within ten minutes.

charltones 11y ago

Wouldn't have taken too much effort to confirm or deny the story. The poster's SO profile is here: http://serverfault.com/users/251721/bleemboy http://serverfault.com/users/251721/bleemboy That lists twitter and github accounts. The github account lists the website of: http://www.thenetworksolution.it/ http://www.thenetworksolution.it/ Which is an Italian provider of web design and hosting services. There is a phone number on the page.