MetaFilter posts tagged with fail

Accept defeat

AceRock — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:28:35 -0800

The Neuroscience of Screwing Up by Jonah Lehrer

The fact is, we carefully edit our reality, searching for evidence that confirms what we already believe. Although we pretend we’re empiricists — our views dictated by nothing but the facts — we’re actually blinkered, especially when it comes to information that contradicts our theories. The problem with science, then, isn’t that most experiments fail — it’s that most failures are ignored.

From WIRED's FAIL issue. Also from that issue: The Fall and Rise of Alec Baldwin, How Success Killed Duke Nukem, and Oracle's Lost Revolution.

Move over bit.ly and goo.gl!

mkultra — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:15:43 -0800

GOP.AM was launched this week by these guys (worth the click for the rotating banner images) as a URL shortening service. Their stated aim is "Making long URL's more... Conservative". It didn't take long for the pranksters to arrive.

Banks are too big to fail (at social media)

subpixel — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:33:19 -0800

A software engineer blogs about the inept and insecure way in which a bank asks customers to file a claim when they're the victim of fraudulent transactions. Dozens of customers chime in with similar experiences, over the course of months. The bank in question contributes nothing to the conversation, and the system remains both insecure and broken today [that last link is probably blocked by your browser or operating system, but don't worry - the form on the page doesn't work anyway].

Your tattoo! ... wow. Just... wow.

not_on_display — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:54:45 -0800

NSFW - A gallery of the world's Ugliest Tattoos. [via FAIL Blog]

Sweet Smell of Success

Halloween Jack — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:38:03 -0800

Getting tired of fail, fail, and yet more fail? SUCCEED Blog chronicles that which is made of win. Leave your schadenfreude at the door. (via).

Radio Fail

hnnrs — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:41:06 -0800

"I leave with a heavy heart as part of the changes that have, in my humble opinion, destroyed the station that I helped to set up 29 years ago."
Radio Fail documents (mostly UK) radio bloopers and cock-ups.

(Don't) Think Pink

CheeseDigestsAll — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:18:41 -0800

In the light of the Microsoft/Sidekick data disaster, it might be a good time to take a look at just what's happening with Microsoft's half billion dollar investment in Danger. Despite already having a mobile phone operating system (Windows Mobile) and an entire division (Zune) just itching to go head to head with Apple's iPhone. Microsoft decided to turn Danger into a skunkworks for "Project Pink," named, apparently, after the pop star. Now, According to MobileCrunch, the project is two years late, most of the team has left or been fired, Microsoft hasn't managed to create an app store, and the demoralized team is more enamored of their iPhones than their own product. Once the first leaks hit, more details began to trickle out. First there were photos. Then, the stories of management incompetence and mis-handling of vendor relationships, with Palm and Motorola dropping Microsoft entirely. Aside from the loss of $500,000,000 and running into the ground what was one of the most innovative cell phone companies, things are looking bleak for Microsoft mobile systems in general. The newly released WinMo 6.5 was not well received and phones running it reportedly have a 25% return rate according to Verizon.

Danger data loss

finite — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:29:30 -0800

T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger probably lost all Sidekick users' data. They continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost.

"It's not the final answer, and you just lost a lot of money."

Damn That Television — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:13:31 -0800

As George Carlin once said, "it is an infinitely more interesting news story for a team to repeatedly fail at the highest level than it is for them to finally win." After ten years and over 1,500 episodes, last night's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (the US version) featured its very first Top Prize Loser. Ken Basin, of Los Angeles, incorrectly guessed that LBJ prefered Yoo-Hoo over Fresca, and walked away with $25,000 instead of $1,000,000. He's not the first person to screw up a game show, though. And to tie it back to Carlin's original quote, there's no Top Prize Loser worse than the Buffalo Bills, who lost the Super Bowl four (1 2 3 4) consecutive years.

Social software design (anti-)patterns

acb — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:32:20 -0800

Yahoo!'s Christian Crumlish puts forward five principles of good social software design, and five anti-patterns, or ways to get it wrong. The anti-patterns will undoubtedly be familiar to most people from sites they have used:

Briefly, the Cargo Cult means imitating superficial features of successful websites and applications without really understanding what makes them work. Don't Break Email warns against the practice of using email as a one-way notification or broadcast medium while disabling your users' ability to hit reply as a normal response. The Password Anti-Pattern is the pernicious practice of asking users to give you their passwords on other systems so that you can import their data for them, thus training them to be loose and insecure with their private information. The Ex-Boyfriend Bug crops up when you try to leverage a user's social graph without realizing that some of the gaps in a person's network may be deliberate and not an up-sell opportunity. Lastly, a Potemkin Village is an overly elaborated set of empty community discussion areas or other collaborative spaces, created in anticipation of a thriving population rather than grown organically in response to their needs (see also Pave the Cowpaths).

The Shack

swift — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:32:01 -0800

RadioShack to rebrand itself later this year. via Slashdot.

Get your schadenfreude here

reenum — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:53:08 -0800

Recently, there have been a host of websites that delight in exposing the inanity and stupidity of our society. There is the granddaddy, Overheard in New York, which recounts silly conversations heard in the Big Apple, as well as a host of similar sites. There are now a variety of such websites, dedicated to different aspects of our society. First, there are the ones targeted at different groups: STFU, Marrieds, STFU, Parents, STFU, Believers, and My Roommate is Such a Dick. Then, there are the ones that expose the silliness and inanity in our communications: Texts From Last Night, My Drunk Texts, Passive Aggressive Notes, and Lamebook. Relationships and sex loom large as well: Disgusting People I Have Made Out With, Why My Ex Sucks, and I Bang the Worst Dudes. Finally, there is just plain bad luck or failure: F My Life and FAIL Blog. Bonus: Awkward Family Photos and Hot Chicks With Douchebags

Halp your Queen's boobs, My Lord!

Foci for Analysis — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:29:14 -0800

The downward spiral that is Evony, a web based multi-player game, advertising. Also: The Best Worst Ads by 1UP and fake in-game ads by Something Awful.

Joint oil ventures with attitiude

codswallop — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:26:46 -0800

Russia's Gazprom and Nigeria's oil company NNPC are forming a joint venture. Hmmmm...what do you call such a thing? GazGeria? Nah, Nigeria should come first. How 'bout NIGAZ? Perhaps unsurprisingly, some people have a problem with this.

Thermodynamics FAIL

Avenger — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:29:59 -0800

Claiming to have invented a perpetual motion machine in 2006, Steorn Inc. (previously on Metafilter here and here) challenged a team of 22 international scientists and engineers to "verify" their apparently impossible device. Last week the scientific jury announced their results: “The unanimous verdict of the jury is that Steorn’s attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy,” it stated. “The jury is therefore ceasing work.” But have no fear, fellow citizens. Steorn has fixed the "key technical problems" which kept the device from working, and now plan to commercially launch their perpetual motion device towards the end of 2009. Perhaps more interesting than the repeated failure of impossible physics is the question of whether or not Sean McCarthy and the several dozen engineers that he employs are scammers or perhaps just delusional. A long postmodern treatise on Steorn, the Orbo and the Steorn Forums here.

The importance of being a failure

bjrn — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:41:56 -0800

The internet loves it when things go wrong, anything from photoshopping to cakes. And while your personal failure might turn out to provide enjoyment for others, Adam Savage tells about the importance and upsides of colossal failures at Maker Faire. Failure for your enjoyment: photoshopping, cakes, english, craft projects, tattoos, converted storefronts, "quotation" marks, absolutely everything and of course everything tagged fail on Metafilter.

Fighting Crime AND Fat

mippy — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:22:27 -0800

Marvel think that not enough of their readers are female. So they decided to hook them in in a way that girls understand.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

fourcheesemac — Sun, 17 May 2009 05:59:50 -0800

A message from baby Emily. Most popular baby names + Medicare advice + awful Elvis impersonation = EPIC FAIL. A single link video post from the Social Security Administration. You will laugh. Until you remember we (USians) paid for this. (via Andrew Sullivan)

Grant the Preferred Individual Access

robocop is bleeding — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:40:15 -0800

You may want to skip the US DVD version of "Let the Right One In." The Magnolia/Magnet release of the indie horror movie darling dumbs down the Swedish-to-English translation for the subtitles for the US DVD and Blu-ray versions. (via)

Mehness and FAILitude

WCityMike — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:12:07 -0800

John Hodgman: "Did I ever tell you people how much I hate the word 'meh'? Nothing announces 'I have missed the point' more than that word. It is the essence of blinkered Internet malcontentism. And a rejection of joy. By definition, it may mean disinterest (although simple silence would be a more damning and sincere response, in that case). But in use, it almost universally seems to signal: I am just interested enough to make one last joyless, nitpicky swipe and then disappear. It's part of the toxic Internet art of constant callous one upsmanship." (via Andy Baio)

Andy Baio: "Part of the problem is that 'FAIL' implies objective truth, when it's just your personal opinion. Tantek Çelik pointed out that, in LOLspeak, 'DO NOT WANT' would be more appropriate since it clearly conveys a personal opinion. [...] I know many people who make stuff for the web, all of them very passionate about what they do. And every time I see a 'FAIL' assigned to their work, it makes me sad. Yes, I know you're trying to be funny. But I'm starting to see a trend away from the funny, and towards the angry, bitchy, or mean. So please, mind yer words." Previously on Ask Mefi.

Obama FAIL?

kliuless — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:33:04 -0800

The Bad Bank Assets Proposal: Even Worse Than You Imagined -- the administration appears intent on building another black swan. This is political capitalism. [v i a]

Zune apocalypse

yellowbinder — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:00:26 -0800

So you've decided that you're uneasy with Apple's virtual monopoly on digital music. So you picked Microsoft's Zune. Hell, maybe you even got a tattoo! You're bucking the trend, and you're satisfied with your purchase. It's not like Microsoft would make a faulty machine, would they? Well...Happy New Year!

Failing Hard Drive Sounds

sveskemus — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:55:19 -0800

Failing Hard Drive Sounds. via

It looks so cool though...

Large Marge — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:22:21 -0800

GM has been touting the Volt as it's triumphant entry into green transportation, but 2011 is a long way off and the big three aren't doing so hot and neither is the Volt, it would seem. Meanwhile, Dean Kamen shows off a working Hybrid Electric/Stirling Engine car based off the TH!NK, a car Ford canceled over a half decade ago (and shipped to Norway where they still live on). The full Frontline Documentary, Heat, which is about the current state of energy policy, implementation, and the climate (which is not good!) is online and well worth watching. So is Who Killed the Electric Car, which you can view in full online apparently. And a full Stirling Engine writeup (ignore the section on Stirling's curse, it is wikipedia after all) Previously: Stirling Engines in Space!

Standards fail.

jaduncan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:26:12 -0800

Only 4.3% of the web validates. Opera have finished a scan and validation check of the net using their new MAMA spider and have got an extremely interesting dataset. Did you check your website today?