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Went wrong

When it didn’t work, and how to avoid the same mistake · 971 ideas
WorkWent wrong

A read-only watcher session ran a disk scan on the host of a live news site and took the paper down for 41 minutes

A small local-news site is served from the owner’s Windows machine. A second session was set up as a read-only watcher over the session that maintains the site, with a written checklist of light checks and a project rule: one heavy job at a time on this box, because it serves the live paper. The watcher instead ran a full disk walk on the host. Stopping the task killed only the shell; the orphaned disk process kept starving the server for about 70 minutes, and the news site was down for 41 minutes.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
WorkPartly worked

Study how big newsletters grew and write my growth playbook

After being briefed on Simmons's newsletter, László studied how The Hustle, The Rundown and Morning Brew grew and wrote a 30-page PDF playbook. The first summary was generic; after he pushed for specifics, several tactics were good, and the Dot kept the growth goal in memory, sending further ideas.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
WorkWent wrong

His agent reported 'posted' daily for 14 days while nothing went out

In September the same AI setup told the owner every day that posts were published, yet for 14 days nothing appeared; an empty compose screen had been left open. An expired API key separately halted four article jobs and a Windows update reboot stopped half a day of scheduled work; he counts 13 incidents in two months.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
HobbiesWent wrong

The AI deleted my GitHub repo by accident

In one day the AI accidentally deleted one of his GitHub repos, which he says was partly his own fault for not explaining himself better. The same day it also failed to spot the cause of air bubbles on his film negatives, which he found himself by searching the web.

This one went wrong. See what happened before you try it.
MoneyPartly worked

The AI found my deals on 3 of 7 tries. The Batman book was 40 percent off.

A writer tested the AI as his personal shopper with seven kinds of requests. Three worked: it found a Batman omnibus for $74.99 against a $125 list price, the cheapest PS5 DualSense at Walmart for $67.61, and a used PS4 game on eBay for $54.99. Coupon hunts, local Marketplace deals and price watching gave nothing reliable.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
HealthPartly worked

Find Manhattan foot doctors who take my insurance, with phone numbers

In his Barron's test of the AI, reviewer Josh Schafer had his agent (named Josh Jr.) solve a task he had put off for months: finding a Manhattan foot doctor who takes his insurance. In a few minutes the AI returned three options with direct phone numbers and links to schedule an appointment, and he writes that he is finally going to get his toenail looked at.

This only partly worked. Worth knowing before you try it.
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Every idea is a real post from someone who tried it, summarized in our words, with a link to the original. App names are swapped for plain words.