is glitchcentral accurate?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

somebody in a previous thread mentioned a "bottomless graph" that supposedly shows inormation in a skewed way... will somebody explain this.. and go to www.ciaosystems.com/glitchcentral.htm and evaluate the graphs there.

-- jeremiah (braponspdetroit@hotmail.com), February 23, 2000

Answers

Is Glitch Central accurate? The answer is Yes and No.

Yes, all the glitches they mention have occurred, so therefore they are accurate.

No, not all the glitches they mention are Y2K faults, so therefore they are not accurate.

Their main graph shows a cumulative total which means that it can only ever go up. Each days glitches are added to the previous days total to give a new total. So even if a whole day, week, month or even year went by with no new glitches, the graph would just stay right up there, and not come back down to zero. It is not misleading if you realise that it is cumulative, but it does give the impression that the rate of Y2K glitches occuring is increasing when that may not be the case.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), February 23, 2000.


I disagree. The second graph, which is on the same page and is just as big, is a daily tracker of glitches. The purpose of each graph is made clear by the text. Therefore, it's not misleading as to number of reported glitches. Who knows how many are Y2k?? Probably a significant portion.

At any rate, note the substantial recent increase in glitches - true, the first graph will always be going up, but it's shot up recently.

-- robert bright (roosterbos@go.com), February 24, 2000.


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