| Recurring |
unknown |
(a) The software failure incident of a mass deletion due to a faulty server migration at Myspace is a unique incident specific to that organization. There is no mention in the provided article of a similar incident happening again within the same organization.
(b) The article does not mention any specific instances of a similar incident happening at other organizations or with their products and services. Therefore, there is no information provided in the article about this option. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase can be attributed to a faulty server migration that led to the mass deletion of content on Myspace. The company blamed this issue on a server migration that occurred more than a year ago, resulting in the loss of millions of songs, photos, and videos uploaded before 2016 [81993].
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase can be seen in the aftermath of the deletion, where Myspace initially claimed the deletion was a temporary error and assured users that the issue would be fixed. However, as time passed, it became evident that the content was permanently lost, and the company had to publicly acknowledge that no fix was forthcoming. This highlights a failure in the operation and communication aspects of managing the incident [81993]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) within_system: The software failure incident at Myspace, where all content uploaded before 2016 was lost, was attributed to a faulty server migration conducted by the company itself. The mass deletion of millions of songs, photos, and videos was a result of this internal system issue [81993].
(b) outside_system: There is no specific mention in the article of the software failure incident at Myspace being caused by contributing factors originating from outside the system. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident occurring due to non-human actions:
The software failure incident at Myspace was attributed to a faulty server migration, which resulted in the mass deletion of millions of songs, photos, and videos uploaded to the site before 2016. This deletion was not a deliberate human action but rather a consequence of the migration process gone wrong [81993].
(b) The software failure incident occurring due to human actions:
There is no specific mention in the article of the software failure incident at Myspace being directly caused by human actions. The primary reason cited for the data loss was the faulty server migration, which points to a technical issue rather than deliberate human actions [81993]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
hardware, software |
(a) The software failure incident related to hardware:
The incident of Myspace losing every single piece of content uploaded before 2016 was attributed to a faulty server migration. This indicates that the failure originated in the hardware aspect of the server migration process, leading to the mass deletion of millions of songs, photos, and videos [81993].
(b) The software failure incident related to software:
While the primary cause of the data loss on Myspace was attributed to a faulty server migration (hardware-related), there were also implications of software-related issues. The company's handling of the situation, including the initial claim of a temporary error and the subsequent acknowledgment that no fix was forthcoming, suggests potential software-related failures in managing and resolving the issue effectively [81993]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident related to the mass deletion of content on Myspace before 2016 was non-malicious. The company attributed the deletion to a faulty server migration that occurred more than a year ago. There is no indication in the article that the deletion was intentional or malicious. The incident was described as a blunder, with some questioning the company's competence and effort in migrating and hosting the old content [81993]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions, accidental_decisions |
(a) The software failure incident related to the mass deletion of content on Myspace before 2016 appears to have been a result of poor decisions. The company blamed a faulty server migration for the deletion, which led to the loss of millions of songs, photos, and videos with no other backup. The decision to not properly backup the content and to proceed with a server migration that resulted in permanent data loss reflects a poor decision-making process within the company [81993].
(b) Additionally, the incident could also be attributed to accidental decisions or mistakes. Initially, Myspace claimed the deletion was a temporary error and customer support staff informed users that the issue would be fixed. However, as time passed, it became evident that the data loss was not temporary and no fix was forthcoming. This indicates that there were mistakes or unintended decisions made during the handling of the situation, leading to the loss of valuable user content [81993]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, accidental |
(a) The software failure incident related to development incompetence is evident in the case of Myspace's mass deletion of content. The company blamed a faulty server migration for the deletion of millions of songs, photos, and videos uploaded before 2016. Web expert Andy Baio expressed skepticism about the incident, suggesting that "flagrant incompetence may be bad PR" but is a better explanation than not wanting to make the effort and incur the cost of migrating and hosting the old content [81993]. This indicates that the failure could be attributed to a lack of professional competence in handling the server migration process.
(b) The software failure incident related to accidental factors is also apparent in the case of Myspace. Initially, Myspace claimed the deletion was a temporary error and customer support staff informed users that the issue would be fixed. However, by July of the following year, the company publicly acknowledged that no fix was forthcoming, indicating that the deletion was not intentional but rather an accidental consequence of the server migration project [81993]. |
| Duration |
permanent |
The software failure incident related to the deletion of content on Myspace was considered permanent. The incident was attributed to a faulty server migration that occurred more than a year ago, resulting in the loss of millions of songs, photos, and videos uploaded before 2016 [81993]. Despite initial claims by Myspace that the deletion was a temporary error and that a fix would be implemented, it was later publicly acknowledged that the content was permanently lost, with the company advising users to retain their backup copies [81993]. The loss of content, including music from millions of artists, was irreversible, dashing hopes of recovering the data for future generations [81993]. |
| Behaviour |
crash, omission, timing, value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in the Myspace article can be categorized as a crash. The article mentions that Myspace lost every single piece of content uploaded to its site before 2016, including millions of songs, photos, and videos. This loss of data was attributed to a faulty server migration that occurred more than a year ago, leading to the system losing state and not performing its intended functions of retaining user-uploaded content [81993].
(b) omission: The incident can also be categorized as an omission. Users reported being unable to access older content on Myspace, indicating that the system omitted to perform its intended function of providing access to previously uploaded content [81993].
(c) timing: The timing of the software failure incident can be considered as a factor as well. The article mentions that the mass deletion of content happened more than a year ago, with the first reports of users unable to access older content appearing around that time. This delay in addressing the issue could be seen as a timing failure, where the system performed its intended functions incorrectly by not addressing the problem promptly [81993].
(d) value: The incident can also be linked to a value failure. The system failed to preserve and protect valuable user-generated content, including music, photos, and videos, which were significant to the Myspace community. This failure to correctly perform the function of safeguarding user data can be categorized as a value failure [81993].
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident does not exhibit characteristics of a byzantine failure, which involves inconsistent responses and interactions within a distributed system. The incident in the Myspace article primarily revolves around data loss due to a faulty server migration, rather than erratic or inconsistent behavior of the system [81993].
(f) other: The other behavior exhibited in this software failure incident could be described as a data loss incident. The system failed to adequately backup and protect user-uploaded content, resulting in the permanent loss of millions of songs, photos, and videos. This data loss can be considered a significant aspect of the failure incident [81993]. |