3 ms·

Move Fast and Break the Iowa Caucus

30 points by tysone 7y ago

rednerrus 7y ago
I feel like a company named "Shadow" funded by "Acronym" doesn't instill confidence.
- skat20phys 7y ago
  For me, this whole thing goes in the category of "what the @#$ were they thinking?" I'm not sure if I should interpret it as a isolated case of misjudgment, evidence of poor organizational features, overinterpreting the significance of this by outsiders (the Iowa caucuses are notoriously fuzzy, which is kinda the point of them, so maybe the party saw this as an appropriate test case?), technological naivete, or what.
  - t-writescode 7y ago
    Exactly. Digitizing even the caucus voting steps, after what happened in Georgia, the 2016 DNC and all other voting controversies, why they would use an app to manage votes - especially one by “Shadow, sponsored by Acronym” is ... tone deaf.
- peac3 7y ago
  I think whats more alarming, is that if you read either Shadow or Acronym's websites is that they are primarily based on an ideological "Progressive" position. Is this what anyone wants the future of politics. Shadowy opaque companies running an arms race to win elections.
  - saeranv 7y ago
    What's wrong with them being ideologically progressive? This is tech developed for the Democratic Party, of course they're going to be progressive.
    - inkeddeveloper 7y ago
      Not sure how tech and progressive politics interact; handling of data is another issue but that's not the tech side IMO.
  - csb6 7y ago
    > they are primarily based on an ideological "Progressive" position Doubtful, considering many members of the moderate Democratic establishment were involved or associated with these companies, including former advisers and strategists of the Clinton campaign, which was definitely not progressive. Buttigieg, a moderate, and his campaign have also worked with these companies. So I think it’s misleading to call them “progressive”; it would be more accurate to say “moderate” or “establishment”.
- acheron 7y ago
  The founder was last seen stroking his Persian cat.
dnpp123 7y ago
More infos : https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/mysterious-startup-shadow-under-scrutiny-after-iowa-caucus-meltdown/amp/?__twitter_impression=true https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/mysterious-startup-shadow... https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1224597485781303297 https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1224597485781303297
thedudeabides5 7y ago
Great title. Good reminder to the occasional overconfident technologist (myself included) not to trust untested machines with critical responsibilities. When your gmail doesn't load for 30 seconds, that's not the end of the world. When an app breaks a process that's been working relatively smoothly for hundreds of years, it may be time to take a moment and reflect. Also another example of why spreadsheets will never die. As long as the human can see the data, the inevitable machine breaks can only cause so much damage.
- jhbadger 7y ago
  Although even spreadsheets have gotten too "smart" for their own good and can corrupt data. Biologists have actually had to rename the septin-1 gene because spreadsheets containing its abbreviation "sept1" get automatically changed to 01-Sep in Excel.
mc3 7y ago
Good old votetech

30 points by tysone 7y ago

rednerrus 7y ago

I feel like a company named "Shadow" funded by "Acronym" doesn't instill confidence.

skat20phys 7y ago
For me, this whole thing goes in the category of "what the @#$ were they thinking?" I'm not sure if I should interpret it as a isolated case of misjudgment, evidence of poor organizational features, overinterpreting the significance of this by outsiders (the Iowa caucuses are notoriously fuzzy, which is kinda the point of them, so maybe the party saw this as an appropriate test case?), technological naivete, or what.
- t-writescode 7y ago
  Exactly. Digitizing even the caucus voting steps, after what happened in Georgia, the 2016 DNC and all other voting controversies, why they would use an app to manage votes - especially one by “Shadow, sponsored by Acronym” is ... tone deaf.
peac3 7y ago
I think whats more alarming, is that if you read either Shadow or Acronym's websites is that they are primarily based on an ideological "Progressive" position. Is this what anyone wants the future of politics. Shadowy opaque companies running an arms race to win elections.
- saeranv 7y ago
  What's wrong with them being ideologically progressive? This is tech developed for the Democratic Party, of course they're going to be progressive.
  - inkeddeveloper 7y ago
    Not sure how tech and progressive politics interact; handling of data is another issue but that's not the tech side IMO.
- csb6 7y ago
  > they are primarily based on an ideological "Progressive" position Doubtful, considering many members of the moderate Democratic establishment were involved or associated with these companies, including former advisers and strategists of the Clinton campaign, which was definitely not progressive. Buttigieg, a moderate, and his campaign have also worked with these companies. So I think it’s misleading to call them “progressive”; it would be more accurate to say “moderate” or “establishment”.
acheron 7y ago
The founder was last seen stroking his Persian cat.

dnpp123 7y ago

More infos : https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/mysterious-startup-shadow-under-scrutiny-after-iowa-caucus-meltdown/amp/?__twitter_impression=true https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/04/mysterious-startup-shadow... https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1224597485781303297 https://twitter.com/drmistercody/status/1224597485781303297

thedudeabides5 7y ago

Great title. Good reminder to the occasional overconfident technologist (myself included) not to trust untested machines with critical responsibilities. When your gmail doesn't load for 30 seconds, that's not the end of the world. When an app breaks a process that's been working relatively smoothly for hundreds of years, it may be time to take a moment and reflect. Also another example of why spreadsheets will never die. As long as the human can see the data, the inevitable machine breaks can only cause so much damage.

jhbadger 7y ago
Although even spreadsheets have gotten too "smart" for their own good and can corrupt data. Biologists have actually had to rename the septin-1 gene because spreadsheets containing its abbreviation "sept1" get automatically changed to 01-Sep in Excel.

mc3 7y ago

Good old votetech