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Definitely an urban legend at this point. A reddit thread[0] mentions it being collected in 1990 from computer stories going around in the 80s[1] [0] https://o

Definitely an urban legend at this point. A reddit thread[0] mentions it being collected in 1990 from computer stories going around in the 80s[1] [0] https://old.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/5yrs16/the_server_keeps_going_down_at_6am/ https://old.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/5yrs1... [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3227607-the-devouring-fungus https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3227607-the-devouring-fu...

bhickey 3y ago
The story probably endures because things like this actually happen [0, 1] 0. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/janitor-alarm-freezer-rensselaer-polytechnic-lawsuit-new-york/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/janitor-alarm-freezer-rens... 1. http://www.st-v-sw.net/Obsidian/Martin/gravity.htm http://www.st-v-sw.net/Obsidian/Martin/gravity.htm (search sprinkler)
drzaiusapelord 3y ago
Essentially all these stories are apocryphal. Even this vapor lock story. Sorry but even before today, having a automotive engineer sent to a random person's home over what clearly sounds like a quack letter seems implausible to me. The dictates of capitalism, human resources, and the politics of the workplace would make this difficult if not impossible. Even in the past when there was more human capital in support positions and more of a sense of customer service. Way, way too many suspicious stories involve high-level people being involved in trivial issues. I just find it all pretty suspicious. Real stories tend to start with poor customer service at the dealership and being mocked by managers and mechanics. Not some unrealistic ideal white knight manager sending off engineers to people's homes. Imagine how many weird letters a place like pontiac gets. They don't have the manpower to do this if they actually chose to do it, and engineers might balk at the idea of doing at-home support too. Pretty much any "idealized Americana" business story should set off BS alarms in us. "Oh a trivial problem with your car? No problem ma'am, I'm sending our top engineers over tomorrow," doesn't happen because its costly and unsustainable. Instead ask anyone who has odd car problems. Its endless painful calls and visits to dealerships and mechanics. There's a reason we have lemon laws for cars. Its because whats described in this story doesn't actually happen and people demand restitution. I don't doubt that someone had a famous vapor lock shopping story (ive heard different versions of this story, usually about a housewife picking up her child from a nearby elementary school), but over the years these stories get modified into memetic structures based on dishonesty because most people are social capital seeking and having a humorous story provides them the immature ego boost they need. So "wow my car had vapor lock when I make quick trips" became "So the CEO of Ford came to my house to look at my ice cream car..." The latter is just more interesting in the market of storytelling. That is to say, the ONLY reason this story is here is because its been modified to be memeticly attractive. A "boring" (i find old technology faults interesting, personally), but a "boring" story about vapor lock wouldn't make it to places like HN or reddit, which are memetic responders (upvote/downvote mechanisms) and lowest-common denominator (by this demographic) popularity machines. But dress up that boring story and now everyone is repeating it, often times claiming its their story and they know the people in it! The same way the comment you're responding to probably doesn't actually know the famous "unplug the server at 5pm" person.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  Wow, you used "memetic" three times. Very erudite.
  - bityard 3y ago
    Frankly I found the whole thing to be shallow and pedantic.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      I've swung from -2 to +2 during the day. You're right -- it was obviously a fun engineering legend, and leave it at that.
- yamazakiwi 3y ago
  Without vast knowledge, many unreasonable things are seen as reasonable. How much of our history's truth is based on what was told to the gullible majority? Should we not talk about Mythology because a skeptic questions it's authenticity? Comedians make up stories all the time to entertain audiences. These stories don't require accuracy, they are more about delivering specific results; a laugh, a story to share, confirmation bias, etc. Many people lie, believing they're telling the truth. I think you will have a hard time truth policing people who don't and won't care, but focusing on truth and validity is probably a useful skill for you in many parts of your life.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    If I tell you something I believe to be true, but actually isn't, I'm not lying, just wrong. Lying involves an intent to decieve, so if I don't know the truth, it's not a lie.
    - yamazakiwi 3y ago
      That is true, in addition, outcomes are not defined by intentions. It was my hope to draw attention to why we perpetuate this behavior (results). There is a lot of gradation, the differences between stating misinformation you believe is true vs stating what the majority believes to be true due to laziness vs an intentional lie, etc.
permo-w 3y ago
would it be surprising if this has happened more than once?
joshvm 3y ago
I mean it actually happens. Not powering down the actual machine, but in my last house the landlord had a cleaner visit every fortnight. Occasionally I came home to find downloads broken or my remote connection would drop randomly in the afternoon. We lived in an old house and had a wifi extender to reach the upper floors (and not enough sockets). The cleaner would unplug the extender to vacuum the kitchen and half the house would go offline. The ice cream story reads too much like a dramatisation to be truly believable, but accidental and repeated unplugging is common I expect.
btilly 3y ago
The version that I remember hearing was https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/polished-off/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/polished-off/. Also false.
- Paul-Craft 3y ago
  I've never heard that one. It has many more characteristics of a modern urban legend than the simple "janitor unplugs the server then plugs it back in" story. Urban legends are essentially modern day folk tales. They'll often involve fear, horror, or even humor, and they're frequently cast as cautionary tales. They tend to be reasonably detailed (which helps keep a listener's attention), but at the same time they frequently not pinned down to a specific time or place. They're almost always told as secondhand stories (e.g. it happened to "a friend of a friend"), and tend to fall at the edge of plausibility. But, the key thing is that urban legends always reflect some sort of underlying societal belief or worry. "Janitor polishes off patients" is about the fear of death, and how it can come for anyone at any time, and there's nothing they can do about it. "Janitor unplugs server every night at 5" is probably more about the idea that strange things happen sometimes, but it usually turns out that there's a good explanation.
kalleboo 3y ago
I think the vacuum story gets retold because it's so close to real-life stories. The UPS on a server I manage would trip once a week around the same time. The old story came to mind and sure enough, once a week it was time to vacuum and someone would plug in a vacuum cleaner into the same circuit (700W vacuum cleaner on a 100V/15A circuit), causing enough voltage dip to kick the UPS into gear.

bhickey 3y ago

The story probably endures because things like this actually happen [0, 1] 0. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/janitor-alarm-freezer-rensselaer-polytechnic-lawsuit-new-york/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/janitor-alarm-freezer-rens... 1. http://www.st-v-sw.net/Obsidian/Martin/gravity.htm http://www.st-v-sw.net/Obsidian/Martin/gravity.htm (search sprinkler)

drzaiusapelord 3y ago

Essentially all these stories are apocryphal. Even this vapor lock story. Sorry but even before today, having a automotive engineer sent to a random person's home over what clearly sounds like a quack letter seems implausible to me. The dictates of capitalism, human resources, and the politics of the workplace would make this difficult if not impossible. Even in the past when there was more human capital in support positions and more of a sense of customer service. Way, way too many suspicious stories involve high-level people being involved in trivial issues. I just find it all pretty suspicious. Real stories tend to start with poor customer service at the dealership and being mocked by managers and mechanics. Not some unrealistic ideal white knight manager sending off engineers to people's homes. Imagine how many weird letters a place like pontiac gets. They don't have the manpower to do this if they actually chose to do it, and engineers might balk at the idea of doing at-home support too. Pretty much any "idealized Americana" business story should set off BS alarms in us. "Oh a trivial problem with your car? No problem ma'am, I'm sending our top engineers over tomorrow," doesn't happen because its costly and unsustainable. Instead ask anyone who has odd car problems. Its endless painful calls and visits to dealerships and mechanics. There's a reason we have lemon laws for cars. Its because whats described in this story doesn't actually happen and people demand restitution. I don't doubt that someone had a famous vapor lock shopping story (ive heard different versions of this story, usually about a housewife picking up her child from a nearby elementary school), but over the years these stories get modified into memetic structures based on dishonesty because most people are social capital seeking and having a humorous story provides them the immature ego boost they need. So "wow my car had vapor lock when I make quick trips" became "So the CEO of Ford came to my house to look at my ice cream car..." The latter is just more interesting in the market of storytelling. That is to say, the ONLY reason this story is here is because its been modified to be memeticly attractive. A "boring" (i find old technology faults interesting, personally), but a "boring" story about vapor lock wouldn't make it to places like HN or reddit, which are memetic responders (upvote/downvote mechanisms) and lowest-common denominator (by this demographic) popularity machines. But dress up that boring story and now everyone is repeating it, often times claiming its their story and they know the people in it! The same way the comment you're responding to probably doesn't actually know the famous "unplug the server at 5pm" person.

AlbertCory 3y ago
Wow, you used "memetic" three times. Very erudite.
- bityard 3y ago
  Frankly I found the whole thing to be shallow and pedantic.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    I've swung from -2 to +2 during the day. You're right -- it was obviously a fun engineering legend, and leave it at that.
yamazakiwi 3y ago
Without vast knowledge, many unreasonable things are seen as reasonable. How much of our history's truth is based on what was told to the gullible majority? Should we not talk about Mythology because a skeptic questions it's authenticity? Comedians make up stories all the time to entertain audiences. These stories don't require accuracy, they are more about delivering specific results; a laugh, a story to share, confirmation bias, etc. Many people lie, believing they're telling the truth. I think you will have a hard time truth policing people who don't and won't care, but focusing on truth and validity is probably a useful skill for you in many parts of your life.
- fragmede 3y ago
  If I tell you something I believe to be true, but actually isn't, I'm not lying, just wrong. Lying involves an intent to decieve, so if I don't know the truth, it's not a lie.
  - yamazakiwi 3y ago
    That is true, in addition, outcomes are not defined by intentions. It was my hope to draw attention to why we perpetuate this behavior (results). There is a lot of gradation, the differences between stating misinformation you believe is true vs stating what the majority believes to be true due to laziness vs an intentional lie, etc.

permo-w 3y ago

would it be surprising if this has happened more than once?

joshvm 3y ago

I mean it actually happens. Not powering down the actual machine, but in my last house the landlord had a cleaner visit every fortnight. Occasionally I came home to find downloads broken or my remote connection would drop randomly in the afternoon. We lived in an old house and had a wifi extender to reach the upper floors (and not enough sockets). The cleaner would unplug the extender to vacuum the kitchen and half the house would go offline. The ice cream story reads too much like a dramatisation to be truly believable, but accidental and repeated unplugging is common I expect.

btilly 3y ago

The version that I remember hearing was https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/polished-off/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/polished-off/. Also false.

Paul-Craft 3y ago
I've never heard that one. It has many more characteristics of a modern urban legend than the simple "janitor unplugs the server then plugs it back in" story. Urban legends are essentially modern day folk tales. They'll often involve fear, horror, or even humor, and they're frequently cast as cautionary tales. They tend to be reasonably detailed (which helps keep a listener's attention), but at the same time they frequently not pinned down to a specific time or place. They're almost always told as secondhand stories (e.g. it happened to "a friend of a friend"), and tend to fall at the edge of plausibility. But, the key thing is that urban legends always reflect some sort of underlying societal belief or worry. "Janitor polishes off patients" is about the fear of death, and how it can come for anyone at any time, and there's nothing they can do about it. "Janitor unplugs server every night at 5" is probably more about the idea that strange things happen sometimes, but it usually turns out that there's a good explanation.

kalleboo 3y ago

I think the vacuum story gets retold because it's so close to real-life stories. The UPS on a server I manage would trip once a week around the same time. The old story came to mind and sure enough, once a week it was time to vacuum and someone would plug in a vacuum cleaner into the same circuit (700W vacuum cleaner on a 100V/15A circuit), causing enough voltage dip to kick the UPS into gear.