Sometimes the best way to find out who is using something is a scream test.
I have had to do it several times. It has yet to fail me.
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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you know the computer thing is it plugged in?
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Scream tests are fun, especially when you have documentation that people were warned multiple times for months to speak up or its getting removed ๐
I do these against myself all the time! "Why the fuck did I build this machine? What's it doing? It doesn't look like it's serving anyone... Let's turn it off and... Yup, probably started building it and fell asleep."
As a veteran in IT, the scream test is sometimes the only way to figure out what the heck this thing does. The only time it blows up in your face is when the thing you've turned off or unplugged is seldom used, (like once per quarter, let's say). Discovering you've forgotten you've an active scream test running after spending hours tracking down that thing you pulled the plug on is enough to make one question one's sanity.
I do the same thing to find breakers every once in a while. If I need a breaker off to do something on a work site and the breaker box isn't labeled then a sure fire way to do it is to just cut hot and neutral on that circuit simultaneously with my crappiest insulated wire cutter. Then I can just check which breaker just tripped.
Yeah, unplugging a thing in may to find out it's used in year-end closing several months later is always fun.
Exactly the scenario I thought of.