Talk:Bastard Operator From Hell

I took out a lot of the non-canonical material
I took out a lot of the non-canonical material (BiOFH and so on) and made the entry much more about the stories. If someone really wants that stuff back in, perhaps there could be a more comprehensive "BOFH fan fiction" section or something. - David Gerard 10:05, Jan 23, 2004 (UTC)


 * I reverted your removal of "luser". A quick Google of luser site:bofh.ntk.net reveals that the maestro did indeed use the term on at least one occasion. And it's funnier that way :-) HTH --Phil 15:47, Jan 23, 2004 (UTC)


 * (blush) You are, of course, right. Ahem! - David Gerard 16:21, Jan 23, 2004 (UTC)


 * I Did a minor edit to explain who lusers who in relation to BOFH. --Dan 14:57, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

In regards to change in setting, I believe the change between University and Company was when the BOFH took up a job as a programmer.

Also, articles are published every friday. I'm not sure where that should go. --Spook` 08:46, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Took out a Speedy deletion of the logo as the user who did the change is on holiday (So I suppose not available to talk about it) --User:FabrizioMarana 13:35, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

request for clarification
The intro says the stories began publication in 1995, but there is an external link to stories going back to 1988? Some clarification about pre-1995 could be useful for people unfamiliar with this subject. --W.marsh 23:03, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Theres no definate start date that I can find. The only real way as I see it would be to email Simon himself. Spook 05:05, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

It is definately pre-1995: in the stories there are often subtle references to events which happened at the time of publication, one of these that I can remember is Black Wednesday, so the stories were around at least 1992. Simon's site has the following

''So I was writing the Striped Irregular Bucket around 1988-89 or so - it's hard to remember - and I was in much the same situation as the poor operator I was writing about. I was bored shitless. So I chunked out Striped Irregular Bucket, which was far less offensive than some of my previous posts. Somewhere along the line, I mentioned computing and the Bastard Operator from Hell Manual.''

What is the BOFH, really?
I don't see mention of the term "sociopath" anywhere...

This guy is definitely Mr. Danger. ;>

Pazouzou 08:13, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, on numerous occasions the character has been labeled sociopathic by a psychologist. Once or twice he has actually labeled himself as being anti-sociopathic/sociopathic.

So yeah, you're right. He is really just the voice inside every computer support person's head that doesn't get listened to, especially when brain-dead users are involved. Thats the main reason that readers relate so well with the character. --Spook (my talk 10:59, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Mantra
I removed the "Mantra" section. "Down, not across" is the motto of alt.sysadmin.recovery (see ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/sysadmin-recovery section 1.6). "Non ex transverso sed deorsum", which appears to be a Latin translation, doesn't seem to be the mantra or motto of anything (though it does seem to be a somewhat popular sig). Afiler 23:02, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I think it's the mantra of depressed teenagers who use it to refer to the fact that that is the correct way to cut your wrists if you actually serious about killing yourself. Thedarxide 17:10, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Dilbert?
This seems like a more extreme form of Dilbert. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by DigitalEnthusiast (talk • contribs) 20:11, 21 December 2006 (UTC).
 * Not quite; Dilbert is mainly a victim, whereas the BOFH is most definitely the perpetrator. The companies in which they work do have a number of similarities, though, and the style of humor is at times similar. Rosuav (talk) 00:35, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Should a "References in other media" section be added?
It's just on the recent DVD release of The IT Crowd, when the leet subtitles are turned on, the spoken sentence, "I'm going to put you in IT because you put on your CV that you have a lot of experience with computers" is subtitled as "1'm m4k1ng u BOFH b3c4u53 y0ur .pl4n f1Le s4sy y0u r 4 h4xx0r". --86.27.61.248 15:41, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Steven/Stephen
I don't believe the PFY's name has changed, I just think the boss got his name messed up in the episode mentioned in the character list. Thus I don't really think that annotation belongs there... Cclyde 12:00, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Outside sources and original research
This article really needs some non-BOFH sources. Everything in it is sourced directly to the stories themselves. Has this been covered by outside reliable sources? I'm going to look at the Wikisalting section and remove some of the more egregious original research in there, if not the whole section. Good luck finding sources!--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 08:01, 16 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I have removed the entire section (again). Please do not add it until proper sourcing is provided. Cheers!--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 15:44, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Hee-hee, did I just stumble into an edit-war? It matters not whether some entity says "Wikipedia" - that's not encyclopedic, happens all the time, and is just plain self-referential. Did some third party comment on BOFH causing a wiki-ruckus? Maybe (but marginally) that would qualify a mention here. (Compare Colbert/elephants, which could be externally sourced). Anyway, it's back out pending a reliable third-party reference. Franamax (talk) 11:34, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Datamation carried the BOFH columns. Need any other sources? I read( and collected )them . Simon's website was where I could get the e-versions of all his works, so I didn't have to keep track of the aging, yellow slips of paper. Aeb1barfo (talk) 05:27, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Wikisalting
It may be worth re-adding the Wikisalting section in some form or other to the article as it has been a recurring theme in recent BOFH editions. - Cyclonius (talk) 04:26, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Why an entire section? Is it the subject of external commentary?
 * If it is of equal prominence to the "tricks" described in the Storylines section, it can have a bullet point there. The mere fact that zOMG Wikipedia is mentioned confers no extra notability. Franamax (talk) 06:42, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Source

 * comment moved from article r ʨ anaɢ talk/contribs 18:45, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Source of the term BOFH requires updating - The term BOFH was used as far back as the 80s with members of UNIFORUM, USENIX, and SAGE. The fact that Simon created a fictional character is NOT the source of the term. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.140.176.30 (talk) 18:44, 1 July 2009

List of "tricks"
Considering the list of methodologies is introduced with the word "mainly", ("mainly using the following tricks"), is it really necessary to list one-off events? Specifically, "Slamming their testicles in desk drawers" and "Pushing users off the comms riser". This isn't supposed to be a complete laugh-a-minute list of acts.--Rfsmit (talk) 22:00, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree - pull them out. Rich Farmbrough, 20:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC).

.Exe
Was BOFH in .EXE Magazine ? Rich Farmbrough, 20:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC).

Web page update
Simon updated his website. The BOFH web links have changed, i have updated what i can but i cant change the link in references —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.73.199 (talk) 17:46, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Job Title
I'd take issue with describing him as a systems adminstator, as his job title is clearly stated in his name IE Operator, as anyone who has worked on any large site will know Operators and sys admin are very diffrent beasts indeed. Yakacm (talk) 15:05, 14 September 2010 (UTC)


 * BOFH is a computer operator, not a system administrator. The typical work in the 1960s to 1980s was to put the staple cards, the magnetic tapes or the removeable hard disk into the batch processing computer, start execution and after the run collect the output. These were blue collar workers. --AndreAdrian (talk) 19:30, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
 * You are replying to a very old post, which is irrelevant for the current version: BOFH is described as computer operator in the current article. Staszek Lem (talk) 23:56, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

Don't get me wrong
I am a huge fan of BOFH (and Mel and Mythical Man-Month and more) for 20 years and counting. And I think it is shame that the BOFH series did not gain a more complete coverage. Once a year I myself am trying to find if there something wikipedable appeared for the subject, with little success. A sad state of the affairs, but it does not justify any original research in wikipedia in order to pay tribute to this immortal character. Let the people click and enjoy the text itself (preferably the ACSII format version; even better in teletype font :-) Staszek Lem (talk) 21:39, 7 March 2014 (UTC)


 * I have fully protected this article for 1 week, as it seems the current edit war wants to continue, and I prefer not to block the participants.
 * Please see WP:BURDEN. If an assertion is introduced into the article, the burden is on the person who introduces it to back it up with sources. ~Amatulić (talk) 00:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Uncited material
I've taken out all the stuff that was uncited in 'Other characters' because there were no references to it in the canonical BOFH. Please feel free to add it back in if you can find some sources! eeeeeta (η) (talk) 06:54, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Pasty / Pimply Faced Youth
I'd have to go back and re-read the canon (Oh, my aching sides!), but didn't the Youth start off as Pimply-Faced but slowly morph into being Pasty-Faced? AKarley (talk) 11:05, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Use of masculine pronouns
I had edited the introductory bit to switch the pronouns used to neutral ones but my edit was reverted by without explanation. Bastard operators from hell aren't necessarily men. Any input from the community?

-Egefeyzi (talk) 20:35, 20 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Your edit was not based on any reliable sources. Please do not edit in areas where you have no knowledge until you get some experience how wikipedia works. Lembit Staan (talk) 18:31, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
 * To the contrary, using masculine pronouns when describing BOFHs is a claim that needs to be cited. I don't see any source that says "BOFHs must be men", so, it is more appropriate to use neutral pronouns. I'm not sure what source you want me to cite, demographics information showing that not all system administrators are men? If so, here, I can show you at least one counterexample . -Egefeyzi (talk) 22:11, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

If this article is primary about the BOFH character by Simon Travaglia, the story text identifies the BOFH as a man, from referring to himself as "I'm not a well man" (97-34) to talking about using the "men's toilets" (99-9). — xaosflux  Talk 22:41, 21 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes it is. Other rip-offs are just mentioned. While other fictional BOFHs are nonnotable, it will be interesting to find out whether there are notable persons referred to as or compared with BOFH. This can be a nice expansion of the article. Lembit Staan (talk) 19:01, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Bastard Operator From Hell seems to be used to describe people link. Though I'm not sure if this counts as people comparing others to the BOFH character, or describing them as bastard operators from hell. I would say the latter but it's a tricky question since Bastard Operator From Hell could be used as a descriptor, as well as a name. -Egefeyzi (talk) 04:41, 25 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I double-checked the article all places where the masculine pronoun is used, it refers to the original BOFH. Lembit Staan (talk) 02:09, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Re-reading with that in mind, I agree -Egefeyzi (talk) 18:36, 26 February 2021 (UTC)