USENIX incompetence

[Dave Martindale]

I have seen perfectly good tape which had the duller of the two sides out.
The backing of the tape was actually duller than the oxide - it may have
been some kind of coating to keep it from curling, or to reduce static
electricity problems.

In any case, given modern tape drives, it would be rather unlikely for
someone to ship you a tape with the oxide on the wrong side.  Since
the drive reads what it has written after writing it, the USENIX people
would have to either reverse the tape after writing it (!), or not
bother writing on it at all.

Most likely, you got a perfectly good tape that didn't match your
idea of where the "dull side" should be.  Did you, perchance, try reading
it before sending it back?