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Government Web Sites Are Not for the Incumbents

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the says-who dept.

Hal Plotkin has a column pointing out a severe deficiency in how the U.S. government handles web sites - they are often designed more to promote current office-holders than to conduct governmental affairs. The practice of using official resources for partisan political purposes is not new - the big rush actually hit about 3-4 years ago - but we could make such better use of the web, if only...

7 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. wait.... by standsolid · · Score: 3, Funny

    The US Government promotes candidates currently in office... this can't be fair. we didn't elect them there in the first place.

    -1: sarcastic

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    WTPOUAWYHTTOTWPA
    What's the point of using acronyms when you have to type out the whole phrase anyways?
  2. Re:the big question for me is by elfkicker · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sure. You're telling me that Bush and the Republican party pay for trips in Air Force One that are basically for party affairs and endorsements? Riiiight.

  3. At least some are straight up and honest... by The_Guv'na · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...they are often designed more to promote current office-holders than to conduct governmental affairs."

    And a lack of transpanrency? Nonsense, one guy is so open and honest I even managed to find his price list on the net!

    Ali

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    Ph33r m3!!!
  4. Re:the big question for me is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think you meant to say unfortunately. He's the most honorable candidate we've had in a long time. he hates corporations which is a good thing, and he cares about the public, which is a better thing. People matter more than corporations, politicians or money. You are the sux0rz.

  5. Real Reform by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    1. Enact term limits, to ensure a citizen-legislature.
    2. Repeal _all_ campaign finance and reporting regulations, so minor party candidates and independents can challenge the Republicrats.
    3. Repeal _all_ ballot access laws that prevent challengers from getting on the ballot.

    Excellent ideas, all of them! How about also getting rid of all the money wasted by the government to subsidize the big 2 parties? This includes the millions given for their conventions. Then, let the parties run their own primaries (don't have the government waste resources on party internal matters). Saves a lot of money, too.

  6. You Need To Add A Few Zeros To That... by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Funny

    3 or 4 years? ROTFLMAO!

    To give one relatively recent example, in the late sixties all construction projects receiving Federal money sprouted signs announcing that fact. The largest letters on those signs spelled out "PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON".

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  7. Pain in the arse by Superfreaker · · Score: 2, Funny

    I consulted on a "transition team" for the state of NJ's current governor (J. McGreevey) - after I had help build the previous governor's (C. Whitman) version of the state web site.

    The web site has over 1,000,000 documents. Each head honcho wants the site branded to them specifically.

    This is an actual line of process:

    Find:
    img src="/assets/images/logo_top_gov_whitman.jpg"

    Replace with:

    img src="/assets/images/logo_top_gov_mcgreevey.jpg"

    Do that about 1,000 times for each variation. Then use the site's spider engine to index all of the pages where the old name appears and go through manually.

    That was soo much fun! Almost as fun as doing my COBOL Y2K contract!