4 ms·

This is surprisly reasonable compared to what I thought it was going to say when I heard about it first from others. The first I heard it was "A total media bla

by sqeaky 10y ago

This is surprisly reasonable compared to what I thought it was going to say when I heard about it first from others. The first I heard it was "A total media blackout" on the EPA and other departments. This article just says, that buzzfeed says, that goverment employees can't post on Twitter and Facebook claiming their personal opinion is policy. Unless I misread something, let me know if I did, or if this article is just wrong. Edit: Other sources indicate other kinds of communications are stopped also, it seems that it could be totally nefarious or just part of some kind of re-organization. Are scientific papers block or not? Everything seems confused, but the general tone seems to be hugely negative, what do know for certain?

nikdaheratik 10y ago
As far as private accounts go, there are already social media policies in place just as in most other large organisations. They already have policies that govern scientific papers as well and those haven't been overridden. The administration just doesn't know how to communicate what it wants (which is for no one to talk to the media without "their people" in place), and to make it worse they don't have a timetable on when their media people are in place because they don't have people who know what they are doing running the transition. This gives government employees who have their own agenda (and not necessarily left-vs-right wing either) the ability to control the message by leaking to the press.
belovedeagle 10y ago
From what I can tell, there was a notice that public-facing communication be put on hold. Then EPA employees started howling that since peer reviewed articles are public, the administration had just ordered a gagging of all scientific endeavors. The administration put out a clarification that of course scientific articles weren't banned, upon which the media jumped on this as evidence that "aha! So you did ban science and now we made you back down!" I'm no fan of Trump but this behavior by the left is absolutely idiotic.
- facetube 10y ago
  Who is "the left"? Be specific.
  - ryanx435 10y ago
    Why should they be specific when the left groups half of America into a basket of deplorables?
    - spurcell93 10y ago
      I can't tell if this comment is brilliant sarcasm or if it has completely missed the point.
      - facetube 10y ago
        I'm really sad that comment ended up being flagged; it illustrated our current slide toward mindless partisanship and collective punishment perfectly.
        belovedeagle 10y ago
        It's become increasingly clear in part several weeks that flagging posts and comments is just another way of downvoting them. Accordingly, I've personally started downvoting and flagging any comment I strongly disagree with just to balance things out. I realize perfectly well that this makes me part of the problem, but if you can't beat 'em...
dashundchen 10y ago
It's more than a social media blackout, it's getting spun to exclude they're holding up EPA operations and grants, and restricting the publishing of Department of Ag research. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13477258 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13477258

by sqeaky 10y ago

nikdaheratik 10y ago

As far as private accounts go, there are already social media policies in place just as in most other large organisations. They already have policies that govern scientific papers as well and those haven't been overridden. The administration just doesn't know how to communicate what it wants (which is for no one to talk to the media without "their people" in place), and to make it worse they don't have a timetable on when their media people are in place because they don't have people who know what they are doing running the transition. This gives government employees who have their own agenda (and not necessarily left-vs-right wing either) the ability to control the message by leaking to the press.

belovedeagle 10y ago

From what I can tell, there was a notice that public-facing communication be put on hold. Then EPA employees started howling that since peer reviewed articles are public, the administration had just ordered a gagging of all scientific endeavors. The administration put out a clarification that of course scientific articles weren't banned, upon which the media jumped on this as evidence that "aha! So you did ban science and now we made you back down!" I'm no fan of Trump but this behavior by the left is absolutely idiotic.

facetube 10y ago
Who is "the left"? Be specific.
- ryanx435 10y ago
  Why should they be specific when the left groups half of America into a basket of deplorables?
  - spurcell93 10y ago
    I can't tell if this comment is brilliant sarcasm or if it has completely missed the point.
    - facetube 10y ago
      I'm really sad that comment ended up being flagged; it illustrated our current slide toward mindless partisanship and collective punishment perfectly.
      - belovedeagle 10y ago
        It's become increasingly clear in part several weeks that flagging posts and comments is just another way of downvoting them. Accordingly, I've personally started downvoting and flagging any comment I strongly disagree with just to balance things out. I realize perfectly well that this makes me part of the problem, but if you can't beat 'em...

dashundchen 10y ago

It's more than a social media blackout, it's getting spun to exclude they're holding up EPA operations and grants, and restricting the publishing of Department of Ag research. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13477258 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13477258