Bastard Operator From Hell

The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue computer operator who takes out his anger on users and others who pester him with their computer problems, uses his expertise against his enemies and manipulates his employer.^[1][2]

Several other people have written stories about BOFHs, but one by Simon Travaglia is considered canonical.^[2] The BOFH stories were originally posted in 1992 to Usenet by Travaglia, with some being reprinted in Datamation.^[3] They were published weekly from 1995 to 1999 in Network Week. Since 2000 they have been published regularly in The Register (UK).^[4] Several collections of the stories have been published as books.

By extension, the term is also used to refer to any system administrator who displays the qualities of the original.^[1][2]

The early accounts of the BOFH took place in a university; later the scenes were set in an office workplace. In 2000 (BOFH 2k), the BOFH and his pimply-faced youth (PFY) assistant moved to a new company.

Other characters

• The PFY (Pimply-Faced Youth, the assistant to the BOFH. Real name of Stephen^[5]) Possesses a temperament similar to the BOFH, and often either teams up with and/or plots against him.
• The Boss (often portrayed as having no IT knowledge but believing otherwise; identity changes as successive bosses are sacked, leave, are committed, or have nasty "accidents")
• CEO of the company — The PFY's uncle Brian^[6] from 1996 until 2000, when the BOFH and PFY moved to a new company.^[7]
• The Head of IT, almost as disposable as the Boss.
• The help desk operators, referred to as the "Helldesk" and often scolded for giving out the BOFH's personal number.
• The Boss's secretary, Sharon.
• The security department ^[8]
• George, the cleaner (an invaluable source of information to the BOFH and PFY)^[9]

Books

• The Bastard Operator From Hell (Plan Nine, ISBN 1-929462-17-4)
• Bastard Operator From Hell II: Son of the Bastard (Plan Nine, ISBN 1-929462-40-9)
• Bride of the Bastard Operator From Hell (Plan Nine, ISBN 1-929462-48-4)
• Dummy Mode Is Forever (Plan Nine, ISBN 1-929462-63-8)
• Dial "B" For Bastard (Plan Nine, ISBN 1-929462-94-8)

References

1. Paul, Ryan (2008-09-08). "The BOFH lives: 88% of IT workers would steal data if fired". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
2. Raymond, Eric S. (1996). The New Hacker's Dictionary. The MIT Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-262-68092-9.
3. Travaglia, Simon. "The Bastard Operator from Hell Official Archive". Datamation Magazine. Archived from the original on 2015-12-05.
4. Simon Travaglia, The Register, accessed 18 January 2013
5. "BOFH: You just can't go around killing people (The Register)".
6. "The Bastard Operator From Hell Official Archive 1996 "The Bastard meets his match"". Archived from the original on 2014-09-27.
7. "BOFH returns from the dead (The Register)".
8. Travaglia, Simon. "The Bastard Operator from Hell Official Archive: In the aftermath of the trade show the PFY is forced to dip into the favour bank...". Archived from the original on 2015-01-08.
9. Travaglia, Simon. "Bastard Operator from Hell Official Archive: The boss tries to oust the BOFH and the PFY again. Enter George, some lager, a shredder and several PFYs to-be...". Archived from the original on 2014-12-19.

External links

• "The Bastard Operator From Hell: The Complete WWW Edition". Archived from the original on 2 October 1999. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
• Travaglia, Simon. "Data Centre: Bastard Operator From Hell". The Register. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
• Travaglia, Simon (9 June 1992). "BASTARD OPERATOR FROM HELL #1". Newsgroup: alt.tasteless. Usenet: [email protected]. Retrieved 2016-08-22.

Further reading

• Marti, Don (1 December 2000). "The Trouble with the Bastard Operator from Hell". Linux Journal. Retrieved 2016-08-22.