Oh the horror! It’s enough to make our spreadsheets lose their headers! Do you have stories of devastating data loss, failed saves, daring rescues, or disturbed vibe coding?
Did saving to the cloud end up raining on your parade? Did cleaning up some code break a team project? Did a typo send your work to the spirit realm?
Horror stories aren’t limited to the page and screen! They can happen in your lab notebooks, in your coding sessions, in your spreadsheets, and in the eleventh hour of project progress. What’s your data horror story? Share it with us at Research Data Services and UW Madison Libraries via this Google Form by October 20, 2025 for a chance to win cool library swag and to have your story shared (credited or anonymously!) on our social media.
The Rules
- The story must be true
- The story must not contain sensitive or restricted data
- Tell the story in 500 words or less
If you need some inspiration, check out this example:
“When I was an undergrad in an art history program, I was super excited to work on my thesis. I wanted to go all out and capture original images of the frescoes I was studying. I took out an exorbitant amount of student loan money to pay for the opportunity to go see the frescoes in person. I was able to take great photos of details and perspectives that weren’t easily seen in books or online images. I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose the images so I did what I thought was the responsible thing to do. I moved all my images off the fragile camera I was carrying around with me everywhere and onto my stable, trusty laptop. I had exactly what I needed for my thesis and was so excited to get home and go through all my photos. But nope! My bookbag and laptop were stolen from me at the airport on my way back and I never saw those photos again. It was a devastating way to learn I needed to back things up in more than one way. I was too heartbroken to write about the frescoes or to even look at any photos of them, so I had to pick another topic. And the student loans still haunt me.” –Submitted by baroque_n_roll
By submitting to the Data Horror Story Contest, you are agreeing to have your story, if selected, published on the Research Data Services blog and possibly the Libraries social media accounts.
Have questions? Reach out through the RDS contact form.