November 3, 2001

5:04 PM

Need a job? Read the source code.
posted by dchase (20 comments total)

WELCOME TO BOSTON.COM!...

And by the way, don't be afraid to send us your resume! We may not be hiring at this exact moment; however, we're always looking for smart, creative, entrepreneurial individuals who can help us build the best regional Web site on the planet ... the fact that you're looking at our code means that you're probably better than most candidates!
posted by dchase at 5:06 PM on November 3, 2001

Just a question here; but how on earth did you discover this!?
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:08 PM on November 3, 2001

I was under the assumption that if you were looking to hire someone, a job ad in a paper with decent circulation was the way to go, not a dark corner of the web where no one will see it. Not all web designers look at the source on every page (especially on a site as nondescript as boston.com). Strange.
posted by eyeballkid at 5:09 PM on November 3, 2001

how on earth did you discover this!?

Some text that's clearly part of some tag gets redered at the top of the page when viewed in IE 6. I checked out the source to find out why.

posted by dchase at 5:24 PM on November 3, 2001

the fact that you're looking at our code means that you're probably better than most candidates!

The man's got a point !
I love this idea, really. They probably mostly expect geeks and nerds to write them about this :
- I saw your ad ?
- An ad ? What ad ?
- Err... the one in the source-code ?
- Oh, THAT one... Hold on a second, please...
posted by XiBe at 5:27 PM on November 3, 2001

Nonsense.
posted by internook at 5:29 PM on November 3, 2001

Part of the source code is BLINKING (in my version of Netscape, at least)! What the hell is that about?

And I almost made the word BLINKING blink in this post, but I figured it'd just annoy people.
posted by diddlegnome at 5:34 PM on November 3, 2001

diddlegnome - This usually means there's an HTML coding error. I'd tell you what specifically, but then you'd get the job instead of me!
posted by kirkaracha at 5:40 PM on November 3, 2001

This reminds me of that game hidden inside excel. What was it...and while we are at it....how do you get to it?
posted by Voyageman at 5:43 PM on November 3, 2001

And before you steal our source code or graphics, remember that the source and contents of this document and all other Boston.com and Boston Globe documents is copyright 1999.

1999?
posted by Optamystic at 5:47 PM on November 3, 2001

"If you find anything wrong with our code, or if you know of ways you can improve Boston.com's speed..." blah blah blah.. My guess is they have purposefully put at least one 'mistake' in the page's code, so that it might encourage people to write them back and show the error. This way the employer already knows that the candidate is smart enough to see what's wrong with code.

Kinda reminds me of the laundromat that purposefully put all of its store signs upside down. Just to get attention.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:53 PM on November 3, 2001

Voyageman: The coders hid a flight simulator in Excel 97. Details here.
posted by Su at 6:47 PM on November 3, 2001

It might shave but mere bits, but one way to increase boston.com's speed might be to take crap out of the source code in the first place. It's just more text to be downloaded. True, its menial and the impact would be trivial, but hey, they asked.
posted by benjh at 6:57 PM on November 3, 2001

"HERE STARTS THE SPONSOR COLUMN"
posted by starduck at 8:23 PM on November 3, 2001

whoops it wouldnt post my tag...no closing tag for wire_Hertz.
posted by carolinagrl at 9:46 PM on November 3, 2001

If you can read this, you can get a job reading and posting to METAFILTER, the web's hottest discussion board! We're not hiring at the present time, but keep checking back!
posted by dhartung at 10:36 PM on November 3, 2001

Re: hidden games in Excel, another biggy is Spy Hunter in Excel 2000.
posted by Mrmuhnrmuh at 11:48 PM on November 3, 2001

Another hidden game in Excel is The Hall of Tortured Souls. You had to negotiate your way down a path and at the end you see photos of the folks that worked on Excel 97 (I think).
posted by Oriole Adams at 7:33 AM on November 4, 2001

We had a lot of fun naming the images on this site...

http://www.22online.com/199908/02/art/guns_and_iqs_below_six_dont_mix.jpg

http://www.22online.com/199908/02/art/gun_toting_haggis_shagger.jpg

http://www.22online.com/199906/25/art/did_somebody_say_anal_probe.jpg

http://www.22online.com/199904/06/art/this_is_not_politically_correct_but_who_cares.jpg

http://www.22online.com/199905/18/art/i_wish_i_was_dead_too.jpg

(Just a few examples. Nobody would notice unless they looked at the source.)
posted by Fat Elvis at 11:42 AM on November 4, 2001