5 ms·

Snark and sarcasm aside, I am impressed with the level of detail that the IT department is sharing; it is refreshing to see such a disaster being discussed so o

by miles 12y ago

Snark and sarcasm aside, I am impressed with the level of detail that the IT department is sharing; it is refreshing to see such a disaster being discussed so openly and honestly, while at the same time treating customers like adults.

song 12y ago
Yes, shit happens. It's how you solve it and make sure that it doesn't happen again that's important. With the way they're communicating, they seem to be on the top of their game
harrystone 12y ago
It is impressive. I can't imagine dealing with that kind of nightmare. I once worked as an admin on Solaris boxes at a big pharma company. There were ~77,000 users in their LDAP directory. I was very careful.
- cfreeman 12y ago
  That sounds terrifying.
keithpeter 12y ago
At one place I worked, in the days of XP, the 'index server'(?) had a problem and un-installed all the application programs. The basic OS was there but MS Office, MSIE, all the doodads just got removed as each machine logged in. This was a small college, so the IT guys just went round explaining and told us to log out and log in again. Applications re-installed. No data loss and so no shouting. Stuff happens. We did 'assignment action planning' that morning: mind maps, essay plans and research ideas. Results better than normal anyway
filmgirlcw 12y ago
100% agree. My initial response was to laugh, but dude, I so feel for the team that has to clean the mess up.
swasheck 12y ago
It's not a standard across the board, but I've found academic institutions to be more honest about their technological mistakes (outside of large-scale breaches) than the private sector.
- SoftwareMaven 12y ago
  I worked at a company for several years that provided software to the IT groups in the higher ed vertical. What I found is there are two types of people in higher-ed IT (and they often congregate at different campuses): First are the people who believe in the mission. They are really good, and are willing to take a cut in pay for some combination of social good, great working environment, etc. These kinds of people tend to be forthright about problems. The second group are people who would struggle with the demands of the normal corporate world. They are getting paid less in higher ed and are worth what they are getting paid.
  - drivingmenuts 12y ago
    When I was in college, I worked for the IT department. While there's politics and bullshit no matter where you go, the politics and bullshit in Ed IT was not that noticeable where I was. Furthermore, the profs were always happy to see me coming because I fixed their broken stuff without pointing any fingers. It was heaven.
  - PhasmaFelis 12y ago
    I think I might actually be both of those.
TheRealWatson 12y ago
Yup. There's reason for some initial amusement but much respect for openly taking care of the problem. This will win them appreciation and confidence in the aftermath of this disaster.
magpi3 12y ago
I imagine this is what the sysadmins conversations at Emory are like right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkAyUmyQko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkAyUmyQko
nissehulth 12y ago
Indeed. Though the step described as "We are developing a more automated approach" is a bit scary. :)
arde 12y ago
Snark and sarcasm somewhat aside, it's not like they could tell the users about the remediation progress through their intranet, so they probably didn't have many options besides posting it on the Internet for all to see.

by miles 12y ago

song 12y ago

Yes, shit happens. It's how you solve it and make sure that it doesn't happen again that's important. With the way they're communicating, they seem to be on the top of their game

harrystone 12y ago

It is impressive. I can't imagine dealing with that kind of nightmare. I once worked as an admin on Solaris boxes at a big pharma company. There were ~77,000 users in their LDAP directory. I was very careful.

cfreeman 12y ago
That sounds terrifying.

keithpeter 12y ago

At one place I worked, in the days of XP, the 'index server'(?) had a problem and un-installed all the application programs. The basic OS was there but MS Office, MSIE, all the doodads just got removed as each machine logged in. This was a small college, so the IT guys just went round explaining and told us to log out and log in again. Applications re-installed. No data loss and so no shouting. Stuff happens. We did 'assignment action planning' that morning: mind maps, essay plans and research ideas. Results better than normal anyway

filmgirlcw 12y ago

100% agree. My initial response was to laugh, but dude, I so feel for the team that has to clean the mess up.

swasheck 12y ago

It's not a standard across the board, but I've found academic institutions to be more honest about their technological mistakes (outside of large-scale breaches) than the private sector.

SoftwareMaven 12y ago
I worked at a company for several years that provided software to the IT groups in the higher ed vertical. What I found is there are two types of people in higher-ed IT (and they often congregate at different campuses): First are the people who believe in the mission. They are really good, and are willing to take a cut in pay for some combination of social good, great working environment, etc. These kinds of people tend to be forthright about problems. The second group are people who would struggle with the demands of the normal corporate world. They are getting paid less in higher ed and are worth what they are getting paid.
- drivingmenuts 12y ago
  When I was in college, I worked for the IT department. While there's politics and bullshit no matter where you go, the politics and bullshit in Ed IT was not that noticeable where I was. Furthermore, the profs were always happy to see me coming because I fixed their broken stuff without pointing any fingers. It was heaven.
- PhasmaFelis 12y ago
  I think I might actually be both of those.

TheRealWatson 12y ago

Yup. There's reason for some initial amusement but much respect for openly taking care of the problem. This will win them appreciation and confidence in the aftermath of this disaster.

magpi3 12y ago

I imagine this is what the sysadmins conversations at Emory are like right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkAyUmyQko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOkAyUmyQko

nissehulth 12y ago

Indeed. Though the step described as "We are developing a more automated approach" is a bit scary. :)

arde 12y ago

Snark and sarcasm somewhat aside, it's not like they could tell the users about the remediation progress through their intranet, so they probably didn't have many options besides posting it on the Internet for all to see.