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IT Horror Stories Podcast

@ithorrorstories.bsky.social
29 followers 22 following 159 posts

Real IT failures, questionable decisions, and lessons learned from the people who were there. From mainframes and datacenters to cybersecurity, cloud, Shadow IT, and AI. No blame, some sarcasm. You are one of us.

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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 4h
“Obsolete” is one of those wonderfully optimistic IT words. Somewhere, somebody is still running the technology you just laughed at. And it's probably connected to something important. What's the oldest technology you personally know is still doing a real job in production? #Technology #IT
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 22h
AI is the new Shadow IT. And blocking everything won't fix it. Jack joined Aaron Crow on PrOTect IT All to discuss uncontrolled AI, corporate data, and why training beats another firewall rule. Thanks for having us! protectitallpod.com/ep126/ #Technology #ShadowAI #Cybersecurity
protectitallpod.com
Ep 126: AI Is the New Shadow IT: Why Blocking It Never Worked with Jack Smith
Work with Aaron: https://protectitallpod.com/work/ The book: https://protectitallpod.com/book/ This episode: https://protectitallpod.com/ep126/ The OT...
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Cray systems. Novell networks. Silverlight. Supercomputers. They're all in our production queue. Got an IT horror story of your own? We're always looking for people who were there when technology did something it really shouldn't have. #Technology #IT #SysAdmin #ITHorrorStories
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Margaret Hamilton (1936–2026). During Apollo 11's landing, the computer reported overload alarms. Her team's software prioritized critical tasks and kept running. Good engineering means surviving when things go wrong. #Technology #Apollo11 #SoftwareEngineering
Black-and-white historical photograph of Margaret Hamilton, lead software engineer for NASA's Apollo program, standing beside a towering stack of printed Apollo Guidance Computer software listings.

Photo credit: MIT Instrumentation Laboratory / NASA.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
At what point does a machine become an IoT device? Modern pinballs have Wi-Fi, accounts, updates, leaderboards, apps & cloud services. Disconnect the Internet and there's still a machine happily throwing a steel ball around. ithorrorstories.eu#ep23 #Technology #IoT #Pinball
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
We uncovereth this in the sacred archives of Reddit. Knoweth thy classics. And thy logic gates. #Technology #LogicGates #Electronics
Six-panel meme based on the Norwegian flag. It progresses through “Norway,” “Andway,” “Xorway,” “Nandway,” “Xnorway,” and “Notway,” replacing parts of the flag with the corresponding AND, XOR, NAND, XNOR, and NOT electronic logic-gate symbols.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Messaging without Internet, cellular service, or somebody else's cloud? Jack's Rant 9 goes down the MeshCore rabbit hole: LoRa radios, decentralized mesh networking & off-grid communication. Sometimes the best network doesn't need the Internet. ithorrorstories.eu#rant09 #Technology #MeshCore
Episode artwork for IT Horror Stories Jack’s Rant 9, “MeshCore,” featuring the podcast branding and title for an episode about LoRa-based decentralized mesh networking and off-grid communication.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
At what point during troubleshooting did you realize: “Oh. This is going to be a story.” Not necessarily the biggest outage. Just the moment the evidence stopped pointing toward anything normal. #Technology #IT #Troubleshooting
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
What's the longest you've seen a “temporary” IT solution remain in production? Next month. Next quarter. After the migration... Ours involved a laptop, a warehouse, and sleep mode: ithorrorstories.eu#ep14 #Technology #IT
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The software was correct. The input was correct. The CPU instruction gave the wrong answer. IBM 3031, 1978. The investigation went all the way down to single-cycling the processor. UNPK was broken. ithorrorstories.eu#ep24 #Technology #Mainframe
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
IT protocols are standardized. IT people considerably less so. “The normal way of doing things” is mostly just the way you're used to doing things. What's the biggest cultural difference you've encountered in IT? ithorrorstories.eu#ep25 #Technology #IT
ithorrorstories.eu
IT Horror Stories With Jack Smith
IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith is a technology podcast about real-world IT incidents, outages, cybersecurity events, DevOps failures, legacy systems, and the lessons learned when production…
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This deserves a signal boost. A lot of us got into IT because somebody gave us access to a computer, old hardware, or simply the opportunity to take things apart and learn. Sometimes that opportunity changes a career. Sometimes a life. www.youtube.com/shorts/7aUmV... #Technology #IT
youtube.com
Second Chance Silicon Booth - GrrCon 2026 #chrisboden #comedy #educational #it #helping #skills
NEW LIVE CHANNEL - https://www.youtube.com/@chrisbodenlive/streams And come hang out in the Discord! https://discord.gg/RGkCS4JApw Get the T-shirts here! :) bigbeaverenergy.com Here is my Patreon…
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We know how many of you listen. We know considerably less about who you actually are. So, IT Horror Stories now has an anonymous listener survey. All questions are optional, including whether IT people apparently own their homes. surveys.blubrry.com/3957342 #Technology #Podcast
surveys.blubrry.com
IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith Survey
Thanks for participating, now share your thoughts on the show.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
IT is global. Work culture isn't. Ep25 of IT Horror Stories: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany & the Netherlands. Directness, responsibility, deadlines, escalation, engineering & bureaucracy. Same technology, very different ways of working. ithorrorstories.eu#ep25 #Technology #IT #WorkCulture
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
As randomly found on the internet. We could add a funny twist or try to turn this into an IT lesson. But sometimes it's better to just leave things as they are.
Screenshot of a post by rekdt reading: “They call me 007... I am very bad at Linux permissions.” The joke refers to Linux permission mode 007, which gives full permissions to others while giving none to the owner or group.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Recently recorded at IT Horror Stories: Cray systems. Novell networks. Microsoft Silverlight. Supercomputers. Got an IT horror story of your own? We're always looking for more. #Technology #IT
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
IT archaeology: Old tickets. Forgotten scripts. Emails from 2009. FINAL_v2_OLD_DO_NOT_DELETE What's the oldest artifact that ever saved you ? #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Which one started your career ? And who is going to be first to complain that punch cards and reel-to-reel tapes aren't included ? Image: We Fix Stupid Computers ( wefixstupidcomputers.com ) #RetroComputing #FloppyDisk #IT #Technology
Three generations of floppy disks arranged by size: an 8-inch floppy disk, a 5.25-inch floppy disk, and a 3.5-inch floppy disk. The image compares the changing physical size of removable computer storage media.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Laptop solves problem. People depend on it. Business depends on it. Congratulations. It's production. Someone closes the lid. ithorrorstories.eu#ep14 #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The software was correct. The input was correct. The CPU instruction gave the wrong answer. Texas, 1978. Robert Garrett single-cycled an IBM 3031 until he found the problem: UNPK was broken. Ep24: When UNPK Broke ithorrorstories.eu#ep24 #Mainframe #RetroComputing #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
If three teams claim ownership, nobody owns it. If three teams deny ownership, it's probably business-critical. #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Complete the sentence: "We don't need to document this because ________." We'll start: "...everyone knows how it works." Your turn. #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
IT outage: Email unavailable: annoying. Factory losing ~$1M/day: suddenly everyone is interested. Episode 17: Cardboard Confidential ithorrorstories.eu#ep17 #OT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Production: down. P1: open. Vendor: "Please send a screenshot." Screenshot: CONNECTION TO VENDOR SERVICE FAILED Your best useless support request ? #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Pinball used to need electricity, a ball, and some coins. Now we have Wi-Fi, accounts, leaderboards, achievements, software updates, cloud services, and apps. Congratulations. Pinball has become IoT. Episode 23: Pinball as IoT ithorrorstories.eu#ep23 #Pinball #IoT #Technology #Arcade
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
"Our server hasn't been rebooted in four years." Engineering ? Luck ? Fear ? Nobody remembers the password ? ithorrorstories.eu#rant08 #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Every old IT environment has one. It works. Nobody knows why. Nobody dares replace it. Documentation: DO NOT TOUCH What was yours ? #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Random LinkedIn find of the day: Some procedures only exist because somebody already tried it. "Do not use $400,000 storage system as structural support." Found in a server room by Volodymyr Dubkin. #DataCenter #Technology
Photo of a printed sign attached to server equipment. The sign reads, “This is a $400,000 storage system, not a wall to lean ladders against,” and includes a photo of a large ladder leaning directly against a rack of IT equipment.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Melbourne Cup day, 1991. Betting system at peak load. CPU utilization drops to 5%. Good news ? Absolutely not. ithorrorstories.eu#ep19 #Mainframe #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Excellent. Our therapist will be delighted with the roadmap.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Btw, can we also get the tiny files that move block by block, and the large immovable section of the pagefile ? Asking for a therapist... ehh, friend...
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Someone recreated the Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter. Multiple drives. HDD sounds. Realistic speed. There's even a mode where Windows touches the disk, forcing a rescan and losing progress. Now THAT is accurate nostalgia. Made by @morello.dev defrag98.com #RetroComputing #Technology
defrag98.com
Windows 98 Disk Defrag Simulator
The classic Windows 98 Disk Defragmenter, free in your browser. Pick a drive, cue the HDD sounds, and relive 1998.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Three envelopes. Open the first when things go wrong. Open the second when they go wrong again. The third ? Perhaps start updating your résumé. Episode 22: The Three Envelopes ithorrorstories.eu#ep22 #ITHorrorStories #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"It should only take five minutes." In IT, this is not an estimate. It's the opening line. What's the longest five-minute change you've ever worked on ? #IT #Technology #SysAdmin #ITOperations
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Yes, we still have an IBM Model M. No, it's not our daily driver. We use a clone that speaks USB. Some concessions to modernity had to be made. Chris Boden explains why the original is still rather special: www.youtube.com/shorts/-_114... #IBM #RetroComputing #Keyboards #Technology
youtube.com
Model M Keyboard #chrisboden #comedy #educational #computer #history #technology #engineering
NEW LIVE CHANNEL - https://www.youtube.com/@chrisbodenlive/streams And come hang out in the Discord! https://discord.gg/RGkCS4JApw Get the T-shirts here! :) bigbeaverenergy.com Here is my Patreon…
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sometimes we have to look for IT Horror Stories. Sometimes Microsoft writes the episode for us.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If your business is nothing without Claude, you probably shouldn't have Claude. Somewhere, Shadow IT just became the business continuity plan.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We took a device with one dependency, electricity, and improved it until it had six. This is how enterprise architecture happens too.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Professor Uni's computer history class begins now. Today's lesson: why the mainframe is still running the code your grandfather forgot to document.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
AI hiring assessment, 2027: Candidate followed the instructions exactly, destroyed the hardware, killed a spider, and upset the customer. 98% skills match. Proceed to second interview.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Excellent storage density, centuries of backward compatibility, low power and water requirements, no subscription required, and most of the data survives a power outage. The cloud could learn a few things.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Somewhere out there is the person who actually paid for WinZip, subsidizing the rest of us for 30 years. Thank you for your service.
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Somewhere, a disaster recovery plan still says: "Call the person who knows how it works." That person left three years ago. What's the most optimistic DR plan you've encountered ? #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
You know one. The sysadmin who won't reboot "that" server. The developer who knows why it says DO NOT REMOVE. The PM who fears "small changes." Know someone who belongs here? Send them our way. ithorrorstories.eu #IT #Technology #ITCommunity
ithorrorstories.eu
IT Horror Stories With Jack Smith
IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith is a technology podcast about real-world IT incidents, outages, cybersecurity events, DevOps failures, legacy systems, and the lessons learned when production…
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"My server hasn't been rebooted in three years!" Congratulations. Should we perhaps discuss why? Uptime isn't automatically reliability. Jack's Rant #8: Why You Need To Reboot ithorrorstories.eu#rant08 #IT #Technology #SysAdmin
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
We want your small IT horror stories too. The 5-year "temporary" fix. The typo that ruined Friday. The server nobody dares reboot. The migration that "technically succeeded". Those are IT history too. Stories can be anonymized. ithorrorstories.eu#story #IT #Technology
ithorrorstories.eu
IT Horror Stories With Jack Smith
IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith is a technology podcast about real-world IT incidents, outages, cybersecurity events, DevOps failures, legacy systems, and the lessons learned when production…
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Supplier stops sending data. Production stops. Lunch rush approaches. There is no time for a vendor-management meeting. There is only DevOps. And cheese. ithorrorstories.eu#ep08 #DevOps #Technology #IT
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Which is worse? "It's a tiny change." "We don't need a rollback plan." "Nobody has touched that server in years." "The vendor says it can't be their problem." "Can you join a quick call?" Write-ins welcome. #IT #Technology
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IT Horror Stories Podcast @ithorrorstories.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"We'll test it later." Narrator: They did not test it later. Episode 21: Testing Software Properly. Mooly Beeri talks testing, development culture, and why finding bugs is only part of the job. ithorrorstories.eu#ep21 #SoftwareTesting #technology #devops #development
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