[LINK] arstechnica problem

[Roger Clarke]

At 10:30 +1100 6/2/09, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>I'm getting this error on all arstechnica at the moment:
>Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ')' in
>/var/www/published/includes_c/category_recent.ars on line 11
>
>anyone else?
>http://arstechnica.com/ and all others.

It was back up at 10:40.

 From bitter experience, PHP sends such messages when you make tiny 
syntax errors.  (Missing "?>" and missing close-quotes, usually due 
to imprecise cursor control while doing copy-and-paste, has been the 
bane of my life while converting my ANU site to rogerclarke.com 
during the last week).

It's incredible that organisations like arstechnica (and Google) make 
major changes in live services, rather than flushing them through a 
test-environment.  IT professionalism went out the window in a lot of 
organisations many years ago, and hasn't come back yet.

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW