In September, I asked TechRepublic members to submit their photos of messy, chaotic, or just plain scary server rooms for the first TR Dojo Server Room Nightmare Challenge.

The response was amazing! Over 30 members sent in shots of wild wiring, hanging hardware, and server rooms filled to the rafters with everything BUT networking equipment. Our editors had a tough time picking the top three, but we did our best.

So without further ado, here are the winners of our Server Room Nightmare Challenge 2010. As promised, these three members have earned a little TR swag for their effort. And for having to support these IT catastrophes, they deserve it.

Be sure to check out the other entries in our gallery of Real-world server room nightmares.

1st Place

TR member Luca claims the glory with this lovely scene.

2nd Place

It was a photo-finish with this horrendous hanging garden of cables and equipment from TR member Handyman.

3rd Place

This landscape from TR member Tony B. won third for sheer weight and amount of spaghetti cabling!

2011 Server room nightmare challenge

Thanks to everyone who sent in a photo. Be sure to check out our gallery of  We’ll definitely run this challenge again next year, so save those pics!

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