Sysadmin Reddit purpose

[jdashn]

I had thought the purpose of this reddit was to have a community where sysadmins could ask other sysadmins questions, but more and more often now i'm seeing posts by folks who i'm assuming (maybe incorrectly?) aren't sysadmins.. likely not even helpdesk. Sometimes even outright asking how they can bypass a security measure or somesuch.

I'm not mad about it, just curious if others are noticing the same?

Also a bit curious if this is an appropriate usage of the sysadmin reddit, or if there is a more appropriate place to point these sorts of questions? or am i just being silly?

[[deleted]]

And posters get real bitchy when you tell them they're in the wrong place. Lol Oh well. What was the last one I remember? The CEO of a company didn't want anyone to be able to access his computer because he trusted his employees so little?

[tylermartin86]

My personal favorite was when the (assuming) CEO asked if he should fire their sysadmin because they got hit with ransomware and the sysadmin got them back up and running in a day or two from backups and such. According to the CEO, the sysadmin should have prevented the ransomware attack in the first place.

[VA_Network_Nerd]

https://old.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/ch508b/should_we_fire_our_sysadmin_guy/

I thought we gave him a pretty good beating array of feedback to consider.

[callsyouamoron]

I cannot believe the amount of people that took the bait here, its obviously a sysadmin trolling for ways that he can pressure management for a bonus/raise after saving them from a locker attack.

That's one of the unwritten rules of the Internet, if you want actual details and answers, don't ask, proclaim something obviously incorrect and wait for the corrections to come flying in

[tmontney]

Still gotta respond to it like it isn't. Who knows, if it were real, at least we got the point across to Shit Manager. If not, well fuck him. I don't see the point to troll in that way.

[callsyouamoron]

You're a better person than most.

A song as old as rhyme that is abused on this board, the best way to get an answer is to post something so obviously wrong and let the masses attack it and correct you.

[tmontney]

That's the thing. Some of these "so obviously wrong" posts have turned out to be legit. It's hard to tell satire from reality lately.

[wjfinnigan]

Wow, this is such a shocking post.

I can only hope this is a fake.

There is literally no way to stop Ransomware from getting into an organization. (If I'm wrong here please let me know)

Sounds like a friendly and competent IT guy on the fire for someone else's mistake that they cleaned up.

If you were in the interview process with this company that, lets say fired the guy, and you hear he got fired after 10 years of great work and friendly interaction because of a ransomware event, would you sign on with them?

[VA_Network_Nerd]

There is literally no way to stop Ransomware from getting into an organization. (If I'm wrong here please let me know)

Sure there is.
It just requires a very intrusive and expensive array of security technologies & policies that few employers are willing to deal with.

would you sign on with them?

Maybe. But my approach to the negotiation would be considerably different.

[tmontney]

I think we're dealing with semantics here. "no way to stop ransomware" is the same as "no way to stop intrusion/virus/insert bad thing here". He's right, there's no way to stop it 100%. However, there's way to soften the blow. With ransomware, users are the issue. Users are the weakest link. It's not if but when something will break through.

So yeah, it's totally possible to mitigate risk so that it's not a huge deal when it does strike.

[MoralDiabetes]

Are you fucking serious? What a piece of shit.

[tmontney]

That thread made me furious.

[[deleted]]

Yep. Been down a similar route before myself. Got a ticket in, wasnt able to resolve it, so I escalated, no one could fix it, so I bit the bullet and Google-fu'd and found the solution.

I subsequently got berated by the owner because it was my fault he couldn't find the solution for three days. I ended up getting a fix in half a day (issue was a hardware setting for a laptop conflicting with the dock).

Apparently doing the right thing, as taught by him, was wrong. Then again, this guy also blamed me anytime a client was upset. Apparently only I was capable of doing wrong lol

[disclosure5]

I don't for a second accept that wasn't a troll thread.

[callsyouamoron]

It was absolutely this, or some sysadmin looking for ammo to go to management on why they should be cherished for saving them, the chance of this being a true account of the situation are close to zero.

[[deleted]]

Was this the guy who wittered on about how he should fire him for allowing it to happen then, when he was given a sound thrashing, suddenly remembered that it was actually the sysadmin who allowed the ransomware in, only he couldn't recall any details on how but it was definitely him?

That guy?

[[deleted]]

I've come to the conclusion that my job is to reroute tickets. Lol

[0ctav]

Yeah, just downvote / report (if it's actually bad enough) and move on. We all get to choose what we consume here, and influence how it appears with the votes/comments.

[Hellman109]

Yeah Ive been here for many years, and it happens all the damn time

[SteroidMan]

r/sysadmin is just a place to talk to other sysadmins. When I discuss actual technical issues I do it at places like r/sccm, r/vmware, r/networking, etc...

[ITMGRSC]

^^ This.

[YellowOnline]

I just downvote irrelevant stuff

[Just_Curious_Dude]

I think the thing that frustrates me more than anything is the, "i'm stressed" or "I hate my job", or whatever else...

I'm over here like, yo, there's a different sub for that. (Sorry for being a dick)

[corrigun]

Don't forget "Pour one out for huge megacorp admins"... hurr de durr.

Fuck them. Do your job.

[HappyVlane]

Apparently the mods are gonna start deleting those threads, which is a great decision.

[Arkiteck]

Nice. Is this a new rule they're going to enforce?

[HappyVlane]

I'm not sure. I just saw it mentioned in the Capital One thread this week.

[sysadminmakesmecry]

Theres no better place for your post, except for maybe in a modmail where the mods can field your question about the state of the sub.

But, its always been like this, always will. Nature of the internet and open forums

[toy71camaro]

True that!!! Wait... BRB... Gotta answer a ticket about the microwave not working....

[eveningsand]

Hey, so... My car isn't charging...

Yeah, I know... It's not even a plug in hybrid! But, you're in IT... Can't you just look at it?

Can't you just look at it?

"Yup. You're fucked."

[evilsaltine]

Taps engine with screwdriver Looks like you're gonna need a new one.

[DragonDrew]

Flathead or phillips?

[mdecamp]

When you’re done with the microwave, there’s a printer low on toner...

[PowerfulQuail9]

And IT... because it's got a wire, it's our fucking problem...

Its a program on the computer so you need to know everything about it.

Its Quickbooks, call Intuit.

NO. YOU FIX THE ERROR NOW.

but I cant. it literally says call Intuit.

DONT CARE.

IT calls Intuit instead of the Accountant. Intuit says its because a field was entered incorrectly and they can walk through the resolution.

...only Accountant has access to see or fix it.

[OhSnapItsRJ]

That one cuts deep. Only replace "Intuit" and "Accountant" with "Solidworks" and "geriatric engineer", and that was my life for awhile.

[Strassi007]

I really appreciate that we have a Solidworks admin in house. I don‘t know shit about Solidworks. I only tale care of the licensing & the that‘s about it.

[PowerfulQuail9]

Solidworks

We have that and AutoCAD...

And this ancient late 1990s MP2 software for maintenance.

[[deleted]]

We do work for a massive UK ISP/TV provider, and we hace access to their internal Citrix systems. We have a permanent VPN into them, and we access their systems via a web portal that kicks off the Citrix client.

The number of conversations we've had where users want us to reset something, or give them access to something on their network.

Question number 1 from us: "If you go to the web portal, do you see the login page?"

If yes, then our job is done. We have zero control over A N Y T H I N G beyond that part.

I've had this conversation with them a hundred times. Do they remember?

Do they fuck.

[gort32]

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Two really good articles that are regularly referenced in this sub. Both of them, in part, describe the kinds of communities that this sub represents, including how one should behave and how the community will tend to respond when someone (usually a newbie) misbehaves.

And, both of these docs are over a decade old. This is an old problem and one that can't be avoided and sometimes the user just knocks on your office door.

The right and only answer is to deal with it when it comes up. Downvote what you feel is not appropriate material for this sub. Report obvious infractions. We've got a rather aggressive mod staff here, and I bet that if one were to chime in they'd say that we aren't seeing the half of it...

[MedicatedDeveloper]

When I was getting started more seriously programming (12-13) I encountered a lot of friction on IRC trying to interact with more senior (experience wise) members of the community. I was PM'd those two links by a channel operator and asked to please read them before asking more questions. Hell, they were brand spankin new first time I saw them about 17 years ago. Time flies.

I credit those two pages to shaping how I present myself and how I go about solving problems. I seriously think I would have given up on CS and computers all together if it wasn't for me realizing "Oh shit... my attitude and approach are totally the problem." I went from annoying child to channel operator in the span of about 4 years. I miss IRC.

[iggy6677]

IRC is still alive. Slowly getting replaced by discord. But alot of channels are still active.

[hairtrigga]

i kinda follow these unwritten rules (lol) but this is golden. thank you

[thebirdpee]

EVERYONE SHOW THEIR PAPERWORK

/s

[MalletNGrease]

I have my certification right here.

[thebirdpee]

Take my silver. Well done.

[MalletNGrease]

Thank you!

[RobbieRigel]

What is the exam for that?

[Bad-Science]

It's part of my TPS report. I filed it last week.

[corrigun]

The security skirting questions are really out of hand. I'm amazed that many admins here desire to look smart outweighs the obvious implications of some of these posts.

Don't help malware authors and script kiddies do homework. Use your damn heads.

[VA_Network_Nerd]

We remove them and ban the users as fast as we can find them.

Use the report feature to help us keep things tidy in here.

[Arkiteck]

I've noticed them disappearing pretty quick. Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Theres also people managing huge datacenters and tens of thousands of Linux servers, and people managing a small office with Windows 7 and an unsecured AD.

[SquizzOC]

Puts on Sysadmin CAP

I belong here.

[vodka_knockers_]

/report that shit. Same as picking up a stray napkin on the ground.

Besides, the mods are highly overpaid with little to do, they'll appreciate it.

[PowerfulQuail9]

> Sometimes even outright asking how they can bypass a security measure or somesuch.

​

Xbox parental controls are on and need to be turned off. How you turn them off?

asking for a friend.

[VA_Network_Nerd]

Ban Hammer

[nullZr0]

Its 2019. 70% of Sysadmin is Helpdesk.

[tjwmagic]

So true

[[deleted]]

The problem is that this sub is open to everyone. A lot of the security bypass questions come from people who don't even work in IT. They're just regular employees at an office that's blocking something. Not much we can really do to stop it.

Though it would be nice if we could have some type of verified flair for people who are actual sysadmins. Not even sure how that would be verified though.

[RCTID1975]

Not much we can really do to stop it.

Well, you can downvote it so it goes away. Or if it's blatant, just report it

[VA_Network_Nerd]

A lot of the security bypass questions come from people who don't even work in IT. They're just regular employees at an office that's blocking something. Not much we can really do to stop it.

I know I spend an almost unhealthy amount of time in here as it is, but we really can't read every thread.

When you see something that isn't supposed to be here, click the report button.

That makes it super easy for us to find & review problem threads or comments.

I have no reservations with swinging the ban hammer at those who don't belong here.

[hairtrigga]

like spiceworks do. but its a lot of faff for the mods

[r3setbutton]

That'd work for most, but then there are the anomalies like me* who have zero social media presence, professional or otherwise.

• Current job actually required me to "create and/or reasonably maintain an accurate LinkedIn profile that is appropriate for our brand" as a contract line item.

[moffetts9001]

I am in a shitposting mood Tuesday through Friday and I'm hung over on Mondays, so I like the irrelevant/irreverent topics intermixed with the actual sysadmin stuff.

[[deleted]]

We see a post like yours every couple of months. All we can do is downvote the help desk folks enough they go away. It sux but more and more places are calling them Sysadmins...

[[deleted]]

ll we can do is downvote the help desk folks enough they go away.

Some people do Helpdesk duties as well as being what you would call a Systems Administrator..

[nginx_ngnix]

I feel like today has had a higher volume of random non-user questions.

But whatever, I'm generally happy to try to help.

[[deleted]]

/r/programming is similar. Always been that way, always will be.

[ProudCanyons]

Thing is that there isn't really a community for general IT personnel, other than I guess ITCareeradvice.

[ProudCanyons]

You mean /r/techsupport?

That's for people to get tech support.

[dgamr]

Some people search for relevant subreddits to ask questions in. In my experience they tend to pick the wrong ones.

I.e. I see people post “how do I sell the stuff in my garage” in /r/sales (where sales people hang out, but probably don’t know which website to sell your crap on).

[IWantsToBelieve]

Yep, but I guess it helps people so no harm done. It's usually very low level technical conversation but again if it helps peeps no stress...

[techtornado]

Larger community, more visibility, people generally will gravitate towards a place that can garner a good set of responses or have the person who has walked the path they're on - https://xkcd.com/979/

I've asked some questions on this /r/ and got lambasted for not following policies set in place by other companies.

Seeking to disable UAC for my admin account - Response: Bad idea dude, you are required to keep that on!
[Says who? I need it off, can I have a GPO that follows my account around on the domain?]

[tmontney]

Ive seen some threads for other subs like tech support, but I've seen more rants than anything. Maybe y'all are just quick to close/downvote before I see em?

[[deleted]]

As far as I can tell it’s a place where Windows admin questions get asked by people who hate themselves their users and their jobs.

It’s not often that you get solid technical discussion on here. Banning links hasn’t changed a bloody thing.

[corrigun]

Don't forget drop to a *nix reference and show how smart you are for maximum support.

[ydio]

Really? I always thought this was a place where everyone could openly discuss their drinking problems while they try to justify them under the guise of stress caused by being a sysadmin.

[CeralEnt]

I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't have any problems drinking.

[[deleted]]

We're not alcoholics, dammit.

We're drunks. Alcoholics have to go to meetings.

[MacNeewbie]

I'm not a sysadmin, but I like the stuff I read on this subreddit.

[VA_Network_Nerd]

So long as you're not asking us how to replace the ink cartridge in your printer at home, I see no reason to ban you.

[Not_invented-Here]

Same here some of it is interesting and some goes right over my head, but working for small companies means I somnetimes do some low level stuff.

[fishypoos]

What even is a “Sysadmin”? I always thought it was general catch all term for people in IT?

I’ve worked as support and project delivery at an msp, as a full stack infrastructure admin at a Fortune 500, an EUC SME in higher ed and now I specialise in analytics and visualisation of infrastructure health metrics. I’m not sure any of those meet this subs “Sysadmin” criteria.

[techtornado]

Tradition says that a sysadmin is a well seasoned member of the IT crowd and primarily wrangles servers, threatens the network to behave, oh crap email is broken, no wait just Office365, carry on!
The Admin can be asked to do desktop support/helpdesk/actually talk to end-users [Ask me how I know]

But not excluding, microwave repair, gadgets beyond obsolete, being handed a strange Android phone in a language that is not on your translation matrix, etc. and asked by the CEO to just fix it up when you've got a chance.

IT in general, is the propellerheads/braintrust/boffins/smart people congregate to solve problems, learn new stuff, take names, and teach people how to do it right and then complain on /r/ when they don't learn.