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If the Trump administration wanted to control the story they could've just posted information about the change on the webpage and redirect users to the Obama ad

If the Trump administration wanted to control the story they could've just posted information about the change on the webpage and redirect users to the Obama administration archive (which exists, as pointed out here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13647041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13647041). Instead they chose to break all links and API integrations with no warning or information.

mattdeboard 10y ago
The problem is you've just invented a "fake news" story, in practical terms. You took an event, invented a conspiratorial narrative, then presented it as unvarnished truth. The fact you qualified your title as speculation in the comments doesn't matter. I'll tell you what I tell my very conservative family members: Your feelings or beliefs are not the same as facts. They are not equivalent in any way. Representing your emotions or opinions as anything other than your emotions or opinions is dishonest.
grzm 10y ago
What's your goal? What do you want to accomplish? Raise awareness of what's going on in the Trump administration? Who's your audience? Do you want to reach anyone other than people who already share your concerns? Do you want to be written off by people who aren't already predisposed to agree with you? Sure, they could have handled this differently. I also suspect that the people who are running IT at whitehouse.gov may not be used to doing the work that they're currently doing (how often do you change administrations? I know I rarely optimize once-every-four-year processes that aren't critical), or are doing it under time constraints that's preventing them from doing the job the best they can. Except under the most ideal organizations, I think most of us have been in situations where things have been rolled out, on purpose or by accident, that haven't been done the best way possible. There are plenty of things for people who are concerned about the Trump administration to watch closely. To raise the alarm at all of them very much dilutes the power of the alarm for more serious issues. In such a polarized climate, preaching to the choir isn't going to make things better. People need to be focused on reaching some kind of shared understanding, and that takes people paying attention to what they're saying and how they're saying it, as well as people being willing to listen and understand (even if they don't agree) what others are trying to say.

mattdeboard 10y ago

The problem is you've just invented a "fake news" story, in practical terms. You took an event, invented a conspiratorial narrative, then presented it as unvarnished truth. The fact you qualified your title as speculation in the comments doesn't matter. I'll tell you what I tell my very conservative family members: Your feelings or beliefs are not the same as facts. They are not equivalent in any way. Representing your emotions or opinions as anything other than your emotions or opinions is dishonest.

grzm 10y ago

What's your goal? What do you want to accomplish? Raise awareness of what's going on in the Trump administration? Who's your audience? Do you want to reach anyone other than people who already share your concerns? Do you want to be written off by people who aren't already predisposed to agree with you? Sure, they could have handled this differently. I also suspect that the people who are running IT at whitehouse.gov may not be used to doing the work that they're currently doing (how often do you change administrations? I know I rarely optimize once-every-four-year processes that aren't critical), or are doing it under time constraints that's preventing them from doing the job the best they can. Except under the most ideal organizations, I think most of us have been in situations where things have been rolled out, on purpose or by accident, that haven't been done the best way possible. There are plenty of things for people who are concerned about the Trump administration to watch closely. To raise the alarm at all of them very much dilutes the power of the alarm for more serious issues. In such a polarized climate, preaching to the choir isn't going to make things better. People need to be focused on reaching some kind of shared understanding, and that takes people paying attention to what they're saying and how they're saying it, as well as people being willing to listen and understand (even if they don't agree) what others are trying to say.