TRWTF is waiting 11 days to reply.

 TRWTF is astrology.

TRWTF is shaadi.com

Oh dear.

He's correct about the web being generally stateless, but he clearly doesn't know what it means.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Well, not dangerous, as such, but annoying, at least.

 It looks like Sriram pastes the request into a knowledgebase and then pastes the first result that appears into his reply.

TRWTF is that you are a complete dick to some customer support guy who is probably only reading from a script.  I wouldn't be shocked if it was the developers who told him this little spiel to begin with. 

Customer Relations guy reads (11 days late) reply... then proceeds to ignore the uncalled for, mean and ironic reply... Then continues to do whatever thing he was doing.. and goes on with his live. Less than an hour later he would have completely forgotten about the incident. On the other hand someguy that knows it all feels superior and funny and witty... and will keep thinking about how stupid some people are.. and how many WTF are walking around...  

TRWTF is that I frequently encounter this basic issue:

A person asks an 'expert' why a device works contrary to its documentation. The person includes a description of how the device actually works. The 'expert' explains, in excruciating detail, how the device really works. Generally, this matches the person's description. The 'expert' seems to think this explains why.

Further discussions with the 'expert' only result in frustration. The 'expert' rejects all suggestions of how to fix the device as invalid - the device "doesn't do that". The 'expert' disclaims all responsibility for the documentation. The 'expert' exits the conversation apparently thinking he/she has 'helped' the person who sought his/her assistance.

Thinking about it more, I guess they are appealing to the authority of reality. However, when the individual is responsible for controlling that aspect of reality, it seems to me to be a very shaky form of appeal. When the individual is speaking on behalf of whoever controls that aspect of reality, it still seems very shaky.

fatdog:

Customer Relations guy reads (11 days late) reply... then proceeds to ignore the uncalled for, mean and ironic reply... Then continues to do whatever thing he was doing.. and goes on with his live. Less than an hour later he would have completely forgotten about the incident.

Not necessarily. Maybe the script guys are used to it, but I (at a smaller helpdesk among other things) take negative feedback seriously.

In this case, it was totally uncalled for. The response omitted the actual question, but you could just have rephrased to ask what does the option actually do. Complex posts to heavily loaded support desks often get bad answers.

jpa:

Not necessarily. Maybe the script guys are used to it, but I (at a smaller helpdesk among other things) take negative feedback seriously.

In this case, it was totally uncalled for. The response omitted the actual question, but you could just have rephrased to ask what does the option actually do. Complex posts to heavily loaded support desks often get bad answers.

I agree negative feedback should be taken seriously, but this guy (OP) did not give negative feedback... he was just being a prick. There are ways to treat people.. I hope he doesn't treat his wife (if he finds one) like that.. 

A default PHP installation garbage collects its sessions after roughly 30 minutes of inactivity.

If you use the default session store (/tmp/) on a high volume website, increasing this lifetime could potentially be problematic.

TRWTF is using PHP's default session configuration when your customers obviously want more.

I use one problem tracking site that takes you back to the log-in page after some period of inactivity, but since I have checked the option to log me in automatically, I just have to click "OK" or something on that page. It's a little silly.

seamustheseagull:

 It looks like Sriram pastes the request into a knowledgebase and then pastes the first result that appears into his reply.

Most companies have tech support not to help the customers or enhance the customers' experience with the product, but to insulate the company and its managers from any heat regarding the awful quality of the software. The tech support people are the whipping boys (and girls) who take the flak for a company's carelessness and/or ineptitude.

I don't like being mean to tech support people (or anyone else), but in this case, it is the right thing to do. Of course the tech support people don't deserve it; the point is, the only way any of us can ever break through the wall which the company has put up (in the form of scripted tech support), is to give the tech support department hell, creating a high turnover rate and a reputation for an unpleasant work environment. (Would you choose to work tech support for notoriously terrible software, if there were twelve other tech support job openings advertised with the same pay, benefits, hours, and commute?) After it gets bad enough, the company may get a clue that they need to start listening to their users.

I do feel there's a limit to this. Repeatedly giving tech support grief probably yields diminishing returns. Do it enough to let them know someone out there in the ether that is the consumer base is pissed, then move on to a competitor. Sometimes, though, that's not possible, if the company in question is a monopoly (<cough> Verizon <cough>).

In any event, claiming to allow permanent logins while not actually allowing them is a WTF. Not just for the dishonesty, but for the readily apparent incompetence.

morbiuswilters:

TRWTF is that you are a complete dick to some customer support guy

VGR:

I don't like being mean to tech support people (or anyone else), but in this case, it is the right thing to do.

Being rude is never right thing to do, there is always better way.