4 ms·
Do You Have a Name For
...when you go to look at someone's computer/device/app and it magically is working perfectly when they go to show you? Like when the person is "Oh sure NOW it works..." simply by your presence? (Sorta like how the car stops making The Noise when the mechanic is nearby)
I've always called it "I.T. Person Proximity Location Rectification" and was just wondering if we have a better name for the phenomenon
- theandrewbailey 2y agoI thought it was due to +10 points to my computing skill, and possibly to others in close proximity.
- talldayo 2y agoPEBCAK
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 2y agoThat's more like when they show you it's not working after doing almost everything wrong which can possibly be wrong. Then you just show them the right way and suddenly it's "working" even though the only thing that changed is they just started click "save" instead of "cancel". What OP is talking about is probably the user forgetting some detail about their actions immediately prior to the problem occurring and thereby being unable to reproduce the behavior, which is something anybody can do regardless of their technical knowledge.
- muzani 2y agothis is a reverse PEBCAK
- philipswood 2y agoThe technician effect. See e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11799365 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11799365
- brudgers 2y agoHeisenbug seems related but not exactly right.
- helph67 2y agoHow about LUCK? (Life's U - Unexpected C - Charms K - Keep spreading) suggested by...https://randomgenerate.io/mnemonic-generator https://randomgenerate.io/mnemonic-generator
- jaredsohn 2y agoThis isn't an effect name but if I see this in a bug report I'd tag it a 'works for me' / 'unable to repro'
- mikewarot 2y agoI've been told that computers have given their owners tons of grief... right up to the moment they considered calling me (I was their IT support)... then they worked correctly the rest of the day. I always carried a Leatherman tool, and was unafraid to open a computer at a moment's notice. I ruled the computers by fear. ;-) On the other hand... one of the people I supported did exactly the right things to her computer as I watched... and it didn't work... I recommended she avoid computers, and she's now a very happy motivational coach.
- throwaway211 2y agoMagic touch
- Jeremy1026 2y agoMy dad is the 'IT guy' in an office of about 150 people doing general hardware support and in-house server maintenance. He says he has a little button in his pocket that he'll press when he is walking over to fix the problem.
- schappim 2y agoThat phenomenon is often referred to as the "Tech Support Superpower" or "Tech Support Magic." Another popular term is the "Tech Support Effect." These terms capture the idea that technical issues often resolve themselves when an IT person is present. Your term "I.T. Person Proximity Location Rectification" is quite descriptive and amusing!
- toast0 2y agoOther people's computers are scared of me. My spouse just asks me to come over because things aren't working, but doesn't need to ask me to help. No big deal, I like help call where I don't need to do anything. Better than trying to figure out why something doesn't work when it should and I can't influence the responsible people to actually fix it.
- yonatan8070 2y agoI say the computers have (translated from Hebrew) technician syndrome
- compressedgas 2y agoCompare with Heisenbug.
- mac3n 2y agoseems like this should be the Anti-Pauli effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_effect see also https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_koan#Enlightenment https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_koan#Enlightenment