Happy Tech Nostalgia Day! Some posts from Spiceworks Past

[Suzanne-Spiceworks]

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Happy Tech Nostalgia Day, our very own Spiceworks Community holiday.

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Image by Suzanne from Spiceworks

For Tech Nostalgia Day, I figured we could revisit some of the popular community posts from past years. So, I did some searches and a little bit of tweaking^[1], and very minor cherry-picking^[2], and came up with a list that takes us further and further back through Spiceworks Community history.

Let’s get on with the countdown of the top topics for each year:

2025 (so far)

• Words a Technician never wants to hear
• Wrong Answers Only: What’s the strongest password?
• Wrong Answers Only: Why is the Caps Lock key always on?
• Wrong Answers Only: Can you make the words bigger?
• Wrong Answers Only: Did you get my request for a better computer?
• Temporary Fire Safety Orders - “I promised not to burn the place down” Edition
• Wrong Answers Only: Why does my mouse keep disappearing?
• Wrong Answers Only: Why is the WiFi not working?
• Wrong Answers Only: What does it mean when the screen turns blue?
• Wrong Answers Only: What’s the safest way to share passwords?

2024

• Wrong Answers Only: Why can’t I print?
• Wrong Answers Only: Why is the server room so hot?
• Wrong Answers Only: Why is my computer slow?
• What obsolete tech do you still keep around?
• Happy Sweet Sixteen, Spiceworks Community!
• Calling all gamers! Which PC game holds the top spot in your favorites list?
• Wrong Answers Only: When is the internet going to be fixed?
• Wrong Answers Only: Can you send me my password?
• Wrong Answers Only: What does PEBKAC mean?
• Wrong Answers Only: How should I submit my tickets over the holidays?

2023

• The Birthday Badge Thread
• How much money do you make?
• Happy 15th Anniversary Spiceworks Community!
• How often do you take sick days?
• What was your first job?
• What do you do to relax?
• When did you know IT was right for you?
• What are your favorite real-life superpowers?
• How many monitors would you use if money were no object?
• How old are your favorite computer / video games?

2022

• What was IT like when you started?
• Let’s wish SpiceRex a very happy birthday as he turns 12!
• What is the one piece of advice you would give a newbie, which still holds true
• What do you geek out about?
• What are your thoughts on the concept of “quiet quitting”?
• Honest question: Why don’t you want to be tracked?
• Work Stress
• If you had a flag for your IT department, what would it be?
• What is your funniest IT ‘Story’?
• Celebrating SysAdmin Day 2022; what is an excuse every IT pro has heard before?

2021

• Spiceworks Community Birthday Party!
• What is a problem all SysAdmins will understand?
• Ever feel like you’re faking your career?
• Users lashing out at IT
• Celebrate SpiceRex’s Birthday with a Fun Activity!
• How do you identify a SysAdmin?
• What is an excuse every SysAdmin has heard before?
• What sci-fi franchise would you want to work for?
• It’s security storytime boys and girls!
• Wow! What a first day at the new job.

2020

• Update your picture for Halloween and earn a special badge!
• What is your best user story?
• Are Excel formulas IT’s responsibility?
• Spiceworks Pinterest: What are some great IT Humor images?
• User Wonders why WIFI isn’t Working
• Have you ever “ghosted” an employer?
• Monday Funday Question 1-20-2020: If you could have an office pet…
• Uh-Oh! Fired and hired in the same day
• Supporting 1,640 end users by myself
• Introducing: SpiceBux! [April Fool’s Day 2020]

2019

• What is the story behind your Profile Picture and/or username?
• Things You Only Know When You Work in IT…
• When Users Blame Technology Instead Of Themselves
• It’s always wise to use the proper tools for the job
• Debate: What are hotdogs?
• Clean jokes
• IT Alignment Chart
• IT Imposters
• Do You Discuss Salary with Co-Workers?
• Interesting causes for equipment damage?

2018

• What is the most unbelievable request you’ve ever had?
• Don’t apply ‘if you even remotely resemble the grumpy IT stereotype’
• What is the silliest problem you’ve had to fix this week?
• You know you’re a true Geek when …
• Friend is a PC gamer so he thinks he can do my job..
• Computer fail: Weird, real reasons computer equipment wasn’t working
• What are some old best practices that are no longer true?
• Hey, HP, Brother, Xerox, Samsung, and Epson - Can we talk, please?
• How can you respond to: All you do is press buttons all day, how hard can it be?
• Mystery of the week - Why is my switch calling the DoD?

2017

• What’s Been the Most Surprising Thing About Working in IT?
• Worst Fix Requests Ever?
• Your best funny helpdesk tickets
• This is why you didn’t get the job.
• IT jokes: 9 punny dad jokes about computers
• Job Title: IT Support and Plumbing Specialist II
• Incompetent new employee-should I advise HR/ethics?
• 5 funny computer-related Google search suggestions
• When a user complains that their computer looks too old
• IT nostalgia: You know you loved computers in the 1980s if …

2016

• Jokes only IT pros get
• Just for fun. Things you never want to hear a user say…
• 100 Things Young IT People Will Never Know or Experience…
• Dumbest thing you’ve ever received a complaint about
• Whats your worst case of PEBKAC?
• USAF Office of Special Investigations and FBI want to inspect a network
• What’s the worst / most pointless interview question you’ve ever been asked?
• Will windows admins be out of a job soon?
• Well I have found the quickest way to get sacked…
• Wait, What?

2015

• What are things dumb things that users blame you for?
• What is the most Humorous IT request you ever received?
• Lies! Worst line a client has tried to feed you.
• First World IT Problems
• I hate idiots.. especially when they claim to be in IT.
• Jokes that only IT people will understand?
• Why is IT so stuck on having tickets?
• What is the dumbest thing a user has said to you or asked you?
• What IT tool would you never give up?
• Ridiculous user requests

2014

• Ridiculous places users store passwords?
• End User Fails - November 2014
• User… has no base unit!
• What is the craziest/strangest thing you have ever heard as a SysAdmin?
• Top 3 IT SMH moments
• Best IT related meme you’ve seen? It’s that time again.
• I hate dishonesty
• Funny/clever names for home wifi
• Back To School: What are you learning about next in IT?
• Things our users teach us.

2013

• The “Little tricks every IT Support person should know” thread
• Official “Huzzah!” Thread
• What is your IT related arch nemesis?
• Really dumb mistake you made while doing your job?
• How to fire a sys admin: When IT pros go rogue
• Tattoos in the workplace
• How Do You Tell a User, “It’s you, not me.”
• Frustrated new IT guy
• What do you hate about IT?
• Running cable is like a box of chocolates….

2012

• Funny Pic…
• Spiceworks Badger badge
• What’s your funniest Help Desk story?
• Priceless questions I’ve ever gotten in the IT dept.
• Zero defects: Why backup is NOT necessary
• Angry ex-employee still has email access: Have we been hacked?
• Three Envelopes That taught me a Life Lesson in IT
• The network is slow: The secret to diagnosing that oh-so common complaint
• What Tech Do Small Businesses Love?
• Create an LCD Network Monitor using Opsview, Nagios and Nagvis

2011

• You know you’re in IT/IS when…
• What’s your favorite joke? Spice up the ones you like!
• Why are IT workers burning out?
• Shut down computers at night or let ‘em run?
• SpiceRex tattoo? Oh yes I did.
• Why are so many IT people anti-mac?
• Haiku Contest
• IT terms that make you cringe.
• The damndest ticket I ever got
• zombie apocalypse weapon of choice?

2010

• Post your Desktop
• Ensure your DR Plan is ready for a Zombie Apocolypse
• IT documentation examples and templates
• Sticking to IT Office standards
• Poor Man’s Guide to Setting Up Virtualization
• Demotivational posters - funny interesting pics
• Build yourself a tool kit
• Default Password List
• How to smoke out a badger - unsuccessfully
• WSUS GPO Settings for the real world

2009

• Totally random thread - anything goes! (Part 1)
• Using a Command Line to Uninstall Software on Remote PCs
• FOG Server Install (Free Opensource Ghost)
• How DNS works
• Using a Command Line to Install Software on Remote PCs
• How Reverse DNS works
• What Is Your Role At Your Organization?
• Imaging for Free using Clonezilla live
• How to lock down USB Keys and Be Notified When They Are Opened
• WSUS Step by Step

2008

• What is the funniest thing a user has asked you?
• File Server/AD Migration
• Test Email flow using SMTP commands
• Monitor User Log In and Log Off without 3rd party software
• IT Interview Questions
• List your top tools
• IT Pranks
• Best Practices for a Password Policy
• The Ultimate Thumb Drive Quest
• Is there a way to change workstation (PC) names from Active Directory?

2007

• Remote install and uninstall software
• OS on the machine is configured with a name that is different from its hostname
• Keeping things ‘organized’
• Bandwidth usage and individual ports on Switches
• What Preventive Maintenance tasks do you perform?
• Best Anti-virus application for enterprise/corporate
• Getting Ready for Daylight Saving Changes
• Realtime Bandwidth Monitoring
• Allow rogue laptops to connect to your network?
• ^[3]

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That’s it^[4]. Tell us your favorites.

Also, if we missed something from the past that you loved, feel free to post it in the comments, or if you especially like one of these posts and want us to either unlock it^[5], or start a modern version, shout that out as well.

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1. I’m leaving out support/administrative topics and other “official” ones like the pepper level thread. ↩︎

2. Avoiding gibberish and obsolete topics ↩︎

3. No tenth item was non-support related in the top 100 results for 2007. ↩︎

4. For 2006 and earlier… the community existed in 2006, but all the posts seem to be support posts about legacy Spiceworks helpdesk stuff, so unfortunately, nothing relevant to revisit. There are also posts dated earlier than this, but they look to all be imports from when we brought in posts from Toolbox. ↩︎

5. I did start unlocking them when I was first doing research, but I got a lot of backlash about old posts popping up in feeds. I didn’t know that just unlocking would do that, so I left the majority locked, but happy to open any that you feel deserve to live again. ↩︎

[DailyLlama]

Well there goes my day, trying to read all of that lot!

[Suzanne-Spiceworks]

Ha ha… you don’t have to read it all, but I thought people might find a title or two that were interesting, and check out something from the past.

[ajason]

No time to post… Busy reading old articles…

[ode2joy]

Wow, @Suzanne-Spiceworks! This had to have taken quite a bit of time, Z! Nicely done! I honestly have no idea how I missed this one, but that one definitely helped with my wake-up procedure this morning. I enjoy the “Wrong Answers Only” threads, but I’m a little sad to see them dominating this list for the last two years, as opposed to seeing all the wonderful variety of topics from the prior years. Looks like I will certainly not get bored today!

[Suzanne-Spiceworks]

Yeah, that’s a good point. Probably should have limited the slots for Wrong Answers only and gotten some other ones below that. When it comes to ReX Awards time, I will definitely do that.

And just for you, the last two years without any wrong answers only:

2025 so far:

• Words a Technician never wants to hear
• Temporary Fire Safety Orders - “I promised not to burn the place down” Edition
• What technology sound triggers you the most?
• What’s your Spiceworks “origin story”?
• The 2024 ReX Awards
• IT showdown: Star Trek vs. Star Wars - Whose tech wins for your job?
• Computer jokes and comics to make you grin (or groan)
• What is your IT-related arch nemesis?
• How many characters do you use in your password?
• As an IT pro, have you ever felt isolated at work?

2024:

• What obsolete tech do you still keep around?
• Happy Sweet Sixteen, Spiceworks Community!
• Calling all gamers! Which PC game holds the top spot in your favorites list?
• What are some good tech history facts I can use to horrify my 13-year-old daughter?
• Crowdstrike IT Outage disaster
• What are some of your favorite MS-DOS memories?
• What candy is the best bribe to move tickets up the queue?
• Did you intentionally pursue a career in IT?
• How will end users adapt to Windows 11 start button and UI changes?
• Do you remember these old browsers and services?

[ode2joy]

Thanks, these are awesome, and I’m proud to say I remember most of them!

[HulkSmash]

Someone one is going to have a busy day spicing those posts up.
Not naming any names.
Always nice to see one or more of your posts included.

[ode2joy]

@HulkSmash

Not naming any names.

Hey, I tried, but I’d already spiced up all but one!

[it-monkey-mike]

@HulkSmash

Someone one is going to have a busy day spicing those posts up.

He’s already spiced up one of mine!

[machomanrandall]

Woo hoo! I made the list in 2022 I got some really interesting perspectives on the post about quiet quitting. Glad everyone shared their thoughts and opinions. What’s the next trendy work term that needs to be discussed

[Jay-Updegrove]

I don’t support necro-bumping, but I might at least read through the more interesting subject lines!

[HulkSmash]

How about machine unlearning?

[Terecia5538]

I was trying to figure out why some of my comments from several months ago were being spiced up today… Makes so much sense now. I guess I have a few stalkers in Spice-land.

[noitforyou]

Wow, quite the list!

(I may have to pretend to be “researching” later today…)