Posted By Paul Kafasis on August 9th, 2003

When people buy our products, they get a license key to unlock the full version (in most cases, to simply stop noise from being overlaid). We email these serials, along with a note that users should save the email, and print it out to store somewhere. This is, of course, rarely done (as Joel S. points out below).

Because of this we created the Lost Serial Number Recovery Tool (otherwise known as LSNRT). As part of LSNRT, we include an excuse area where people can enter the reason for losing their codes (We send out the codes no matter the excuse, of course). Most people leave the default excuse of “My dog ate it.” but for a select few, it becomes a playground of bizarre humor that has not gone unappreciated. So now, the best of the LSNRT Excuses:

Eileen W. – “My dog ate it-No-really! They’re Dachshunds-they eat anything.”

Several – “My cat ate it.” [Editor’s Note: Most cats I know won’t even eat their own food if you don’t present it just right]

Roy M. – “It arrived as Porno solicitation.”

Joel S. – “No one ever keeps these, PULEEZE!”

Dirty M. – “I WANT A F—ING SERIAL NUMBER”

Dave C. – “I blame Eudora”

John B. – “Santa took it!”

Harvard W. – “My wife’s cat peed on it” [Editor’s Note: This sounds much more like the cats I know]

John M. – “I may never have registered – I meant to!” [Editor’s Note: He hadn’t. He then did. Thanks John!]

Paul C. – “Really I can’t figure out if I purchased, sorry, I am an idiot, at least with regards to this.” [Editor’s Note: He hadn’t either and like John, he did shortly thereafter]

David J. – “No excuses, Sir. I screwed up.”

Steven D. – “Malfunction in the circuit operating the keyboard.”

Many – “I’m an idiot.” [Editor’s Note: And all manner of other self-insults. We don’t think you guys are idiots, just forgetful]

Stefan W. – “Brain seizure wiped my memory clean”

Jeff – “It exploded”

Winner of the longest excuse, Ivan D. – “I still have it, it’s just on my other machine, which is at my girlfriend’s house. In the meantime, there’s a ballgame on, but if I don’t take a nap I’m going to completely collapse. Thanks for understanding.”

Stefan W. – “Lost my mind — and the number” [Editor’s Note: The same Stefan W. from above :)]

Jonathan B. – “Well, there was this guy,see…..and he asked for a piece of paper to write on, and I wasn’t thinking…..”

The desperate Michael H. – “Ran out of toilet paper (had to use something)”

Some straight honesty from Edward N. – “Didn’t print like you told me to :-(”

Along with dogs and cats, we’ve had all of the following eat codes:

Entourage
iPod
PDA
iBook
child
Hotmail
piranha

And finally, we have two people who seem to be confused about what exactly the LSNRT is. Their names?

Map & Guide 6
I want the serial number for MAYA 4.5