Heroics signal planning failure
Several commenters, including a former Fog Creek lead, argue the bucket-brigade story lionizes a preventable failure: no backup site and poor DR planning made the heroics necessary.
Effort still deserves credit
Others, including people who carried the buckets, say the workers' effort was real and worth recognizing even if leadership caused the situation, and a cold standby may have been a reasonable risk tradeoff.
Practical generator and fuel lessons
Many dig into why generators sit on high floors, diesel going bad and clogging filters, flooded basement pumps and fittings, and how to avoid being the unpaid on-call guy.