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MuckRock Launches March Madness -- For FOIA (muckrock.com)

Posted by timothy on from the beats-ebay-sniping-for-a-512-sided-die dept.

v3rgEz writes: Looking for a new office pool to get in on, but can't tell a layup from a low post? MuckRock has launched a FOIA bracket that pits 64 agencies against each other in a single-elimination tournament of transparency. The Freedom of Information website is working to get processing manuals for each of the agencies in the tournament, and invites you to pick winners across four divisions, with winners receiving free requests, MuckRock swag, and, of course, bragging rights among transparency aficionados.

6 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. After reading the introduction five times... by Nemosoft+Unv. · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...I still have no idea what the bleep this is about. Am I the only one that can't make heads or tails of FOIA, brackets, layup and low post?

    --
    "Fix it? It has been disintegrated, by definition it cannot be fixed!" - Gru in Despicable Me.
    1. Re:After reading the introduction five times... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      So, they seem to be organizing some kind of knock-out tournament where unwilling participants (government agencies) are scored by how they respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for their manuals on responding to FOIA requests. Each round has different winning criteria - providing a tracking number before your rival, actually responding with useful information etc.

      For some reason this is called a "bracket"... Maybe some kind of American English thing?

      You can guess who will win the tournament, but I'm not really clear about what you get if you choose the winner.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:After reading the introduction five times... by thebryce · · Score: 1

      LOL, too much of a sports analogy for this crowd. TFO is entertaining, but not nearly as much as the confusion in this discussion thread :)

    3. Re:After reading the introduction five times... by thebryce · · Score: 1

      TFA, that is

  2. Huh... by Jaden42 · · Score: 1

    Individually, all of those words make sense. But strung together, huh?

  3. I vote for jack-squat by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Because a ridiculously low percentage of FOIA requests made during the current administration turned up anything.
    The whole concept is ridiculous. "We demand to see the documents on *insert controversy here*" "There are no documents." "Oh, okay, thanks."
    How hard is it for the government to say, "We can't find anything."? What are you going to do? Say they are lying? Prove it.