The roller coaster works, but the Six Flags kiosk has gone off the rails

What frightens a seasoned IT professional? A screen streaked with unidentified fluid? An error message that only hints at what has gone wrong behind the scenes? Roller coasters are not scary. Nausea-inducing, yes. Scary? No. However, what if the kiosks surrounding the attractions have been lightly touched with the wand of the bork fairy? Would that make strapping oneself into a vehicle to be flung along some rails a little bit worrying? Quite possibly. A Register reader spotted today's entrant into the pantheon of Bork at a Six Flags park in San Antonio, making Six Flags Fiesta Texas the likely venue. The screen is streaked with what we sincerely hope are traces of rain, although the proximity of roller coasters means it could easily be something else. The screen itself is calling for the installation of a custom app. It's probably an Android or Linux device, and somebody has passed it an invalid URL for the app's location. There's an OK button to jab, but we're not sure we'd want to find out if that's an active touchscreen by putting a digit anywhere near it. Based on location, the background might feature the Iron Rattler, a hybrid roller coaster with a wooden structure and steel rails, whose cars can hit 70 mph. Reflected in the screen might be the SUPERGIRL Sky Flight ride, but it's difficult to be sure. What we can be sure of, however, is that this kiosk is borked. Perhaps an ill-conceived update left the screen in an unhappy state, or somehow, somewhere, a service has done the computing equivalent of expelling whatever has run down the screen. Or perhaps a new attraction is about to be unveiled: The Garden of Borked Kiosks – fun and laughter for the IT professional in your family. Who needs thrill rides when there are IT problems to sort and digital signage to restore? A custom app failure is only the start of the experience. Dare you face the horror at the end? "Windows is installing updates. Please wait…" The horror. The horror. ®

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