Where it came from, How and Why

I get people asking from time to time, so I may as well tell...

Where it came from:

So I was writing the Striped Irregular Bucket and I was in much the same situation as the poor operator I was writing about. I was bored shitless. So I thought I'd bash out a couple of lines about something, and where better to start than a place I knew. So I chunked out Striped Irregular Bucket, which was far less offensive than some of my previous posts. Unlike most of my other posts, I knew the area I was talking about. (Being bored in a Computer Room that is). Then I started getting mail from people, which was unusual in itself, and it didn't say that my library books were overdue and it wasn't from story-tellers who wanted to tell you why they needed more disk, connect time etc. I ignored most of this and went on with other writing, resurrecting BOFH (who was as yet pretty much unnamed) in Striped Irregular Bucket #5. Then I got more mail, so I thought I'd bash out a couple of BOFH articles. So I did, then ran out of material briefly, so I stopped. Then got some material, and started then stopped again. That was about BOFH #15, after a brief splurge into BSMFH. Etc etc. Then I went to Britian for a year and worked for Enterprise Oil PLC (good place, say Hi!) in London, bricking out 2 articles in that time. Along the way, Waikato kept my old account open, so I'd get maybe one mail message a week from someone who'd just read it for the first time. I still do, strangely enough. Anyway, so I got back home, took up a job as Analyst Programmer, kissed the Computer Room goodbye, and thought that would make a fitting end to the BOFH.

To all the people who mailed me over 1993 or so and got no reply, sorry, but had to login from a Sun Sparc SLC via a modem to a machine which connected to a machine which let me login via a weird version of telnet to home in New Zealand.

Anyway, that's the very end of it. I know I've said that a couple of times, but there you go, you can't trust an Operator. But you can trust an A/P - Trust me.

---------------------------------------------------------

21-Mar-1994. Okay, so I lied.

18-Nov-94 Lied again..

The BOFH FAQ

	Q1.  Can you mail me BOFH?
	A1.  No

	Q2.  Can you tell me where to get BOFH?
	A2.  Possibly.  It should be available on Anonymous FTP at the
		following site(s).  It may not be up to date at all tho:

		cathouse.org		in	/misc/fun/humor/simon/bofh
		ftp.cs.uni-sb.de	in	/pub/misc/doc/misc/BOFH
		unixd1.cis.pitt.edu	in	/users/i/n/infidel/.Backup
	(old)	ftp.cco.caltech.edu	in	/pub/humor/computer.jokes

	     Other than that, go to archie with the regex string:
			[Bb][Oo][Ff][Hh]

	Q3.  How many were there?
	A3.  Well, it's a little grey for me, but to my knowledge there was:
		2	pre-BOFH texts (Striped Irregular Bucket Series)
		~15	BOFH real
		2	Bastard System Manager from Hell
		2 or 3	Bastard Operator from Britain
		1	Last Bastard Operator from Hell
		1 more  Bastard returns briefly
		1 more  Bastard goes to the trade show
		(There's probably a discrepancy as I didn't keep a hot copy
		the whole time so I may have missed one somewhere.
		There were two "full" reposts to my knowledge:
			"The Executive Relief" and  (prior to BOFB)
			"The Penultimate REREPOST" 
		The Penultimate REREPOST (or REPOST) is the last compilation
		available, so if you have that, you have it all.


	Q4.  Will there be any more?
	A4.  Not that I know of.  I doubt it, but you never know what the
		hell will happen when I'm bored.  Don't bank on it tho.
		Late Note:   Could be.
	
	Q5.  Is any of it true?
	A5.  None of it.  P.s.  You have a lot of free disk now.  Don't thank
		me, it was my job.


	Q6.  Why did you do it?
	A6.  At first because I was bored.


	Q7.  Did you ever *really* do any of that stuff when you were an
		operator?
	A7.  The 5th


	Q8.  Can I use the BOFH in my magazine/newspaper?
	A8.  What the hell.  The only things I ask are:
		1.  You acknowlege the author (me!)
		2.  You don't edit it  (If it sucks, don't use it)
		3.  If your magazine/newspaper is earning a shitload of
			cash it would be nice to see some of it ;-}, or
			AT LEAST the magazine/newspaper.
		4.  Even if you're not getting a shitload of dosh, I'd
			still just like to get a copy of your magazine,
			book, paper whatever, just to know how it's
			travelling.
	     NOTE:  The electronic rights of BOFH are owned by Datamation
		    magazine and it's publishers

	Q9.  Where can I send the shitload of cash?
	A9.  To me!:	Simon Travaglia 
		C/-	University of Waikato Computer Centre,	
			Private Bag 3105
			Hamilton,
			New Zealand

	Q10.  What if I haven't got a shitload of cash?
	A10.  I collect cameras...  Pentax K1000s by preference of course.
              I *also* would like to collect enough frequent flyer miles to
	      visit the UK again, so if you've got any laying around...

	Q11.  When did the last one come out?
	A11.  Mid November 1994

	Q12. When did the first one come out?
	A12. I was hoping you wouldn't ask that.  I don't know, I didn't
		pay attention at the time, I didn't think it would catch
		on.  (I got a few bits of angry mail from people who didn't
		like it)

	Q13. Have you written anything else?
	A13. Yes, but mostly in the bad taste market.  Cathouse.org
		has directory called 'simon' that has some of my stuff
		in it.

	Q14. I'm a psych grad - what was BOFH's motivation?
	A14. That realisation that Computer Operators rule the world!


	Q15. Is that the lot then?
	A15. Ah.  Well, there's a WWW distribution at Waikato University
		under:  http://www.waikato.ac.nz/simon/default.html
		which contains a few graphics, updated as time allows.

        Q16. Anything Else?
        A16. I thought about getting "The Bound Bastard" or "The Bound
                Bastard and Other Stories" printed or maybe a tee-shirt
                with "Talk to me and I'll kill -9 you!" but I didn't know
                how well it would go.
 
        Q17.  What, no "Sorry about all your files" or "What was your
                username again?"
        A17.  Oh.  What was your username and password again?
 
        Q18.  How many K1000's have you got?
        A18.  One.  Broken.  And I paid for it too.  (Before it was broken)