Segfault (segfault.org) (1998-2001) was a popular humor website which posted fake news reports on hacker-related topics on a near-daily basis. The range of topics was approximately the same as that covered and regularly discussed on the weblog Slashdot — including free software, Internet phenomena, programming, and technology in general. The name "segfault" refers to the segmentation fault, a computer software error.

Most stories were written and submitted by the site's readers. One famous name in the contributor list is Peter Norvig, who submitted the story "Songwriters, Publishers Sue Themselves" [1].

In late 2001, the site shut down after losing its web server. Attempts to relocate the site to a new host failed, as it turned out that the database containing all the stories had been lost and that there were no backups available. The segfault.org domain has subsequently shown messages about the site's status; some have indicated a resurrection attempt being in progress, but nothing appears to have happened.

Some of the content has been recovered and is available via the Internet Archive.

Stories

The following is an excerpt from the Segfault story "Man clicks Internet banner ad" [2]:

For the first time in recent memory, someone actually clicked an Internet banner ad. This refutes a previous experiment, in which one thousand monkeys were placed in a room for a year with one thousand Internet-connected computers. None of the monkeys clicked a banner ad (one did write a Shakespearean play, however).

Another Segfault story, "Microsoft Supercomputer Discovers New Integer Between 5 and 6" [3], reported the following:

Scientists at Microsoft's new MS-NeatStuff (tm) lab announced today that they have discovered a previously unknown integer, sitting about 2/3 of the way between the integers 5 and 6. The integer, named MS-glef(tm) by its discoverer, is claimed to revolutionize all branches of mathematics.

[...]

Mathematicians around the world are having a hard time accepting this new integer. "It's really kind of embarassing for them, to think that there was another number right under their noses all along", countered Dr. Thelma Janssen, of Microsoft University. "It will seem weird to teach kids to count ...4...5...MS-glef (tm)...6..., but with our new MS-Math (tm) books and MS-Calculators (tm), I'm sure we'll get through it."

The symbol for MS-glef (tm) looks something like a 'B' and 'G' combined with a '$', but cannot be printed yet until Microsoft licenses the new symbol to font packages throughout the world, scheduled for 4th quarter 2001.

External links

• Recovered stories from the Internet Archive
• http://segfault.org