Bastard Operator From Hell

The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue system administrator 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.^[2][1]

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 following other characters appear regularly:

• 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")
• "Beancounters", also known as accountants.
• 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])
• Engineers, from various suppliers ^[9])
• George, the cleaner (an invaluable source of information to the BOFH and PFY)^[10]

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.
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"".
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...".
9. Travaglia, Simon. "Bastard Operator from Hell Official Archive: The BOFH becomes a contract killer as he undoes some damage caused by the boss...".
10. 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...".

External links

• BOFH stories, 19??-1997
• BOFH stories, 1988–1999 – copy in the Internet Archive.
• BOFH stories, 2000-present from The Register
• The Original BOFH #1 Usenet Post, June 10th, 1992