3 ms·

How to not make great government websites: use random domain names instead of a single dedicated tld, different contractors and design for each, make sure there

by sgu999 2y ago

How to not make great government websites: use random domain names instead of a single dedicated tld, different contractors and design for each, make sure there's enough overlap in functionality in-between each of them, and then regularly remind everyone that it's very easy to scam you with fishing attacks. Here are just some of the official French websites: service-public.fr impots.gouv.fr gouvernement.fr ameli.fr vie-publique.fr info.gouv.fr santepubliquefrance.fr

Kiala 2y ago
Yeah, the Netherlands got 1,800 of those..
- Tmpod 2y ago
  Yeah here in Portugal we have a ton of those too. Each municipality has its own cm-<name>.pt domain, but there some exceptions. For example, Lisbon's domain redirects to lisboa.pt, and while no other major city I know does this, almost all of them have separate website and domain without the cm- part.
g15jv2dp 2y ago
That's a very unfair take. The examples you list are of a completely different nature. > gouvernement.fr info.gouv.fr These are the same website. gouvernement.fr is a legacy URL that redirects to info.gouv.fr. Why did you include both? > ameli.fr As I'm sure you know, in France, social security is not administered by the government directly but by the social partners. They're in charge of managing ameli.fr, not the government. Go there, you won't find any logo from any ministry. Why did you include it? With this and the previous example, I cannot shake the feeling that you're on a mission to denigrate with little regard to the facts. > vie-publique.fr santepubliquefrance.fr These websites are basically blogs about respectively the institutions of the republic and about public health. > service-public.fr General informational website. For most sensitive procedures, you're redirected to a .gouv.fr website. Yes, it could have had a .gouv.fr URL, that's true. > impots.gouv.fr Yep, that's the tax website. You can notice it's official thanks to gouv.fr, like all website where you do actual online procedures.
- darkamaul 2y ago
  And then, the French governement has released an official and mandatory Systeme de Design [0], to have an unique visual identity across all official websites. [0] https://www.systeme-de-design.gouv.fr/ https://www.systeme-de-design.gouv.fr/
- sgu999 2y ago
  > Why did you include both? I was making a non-exhaustive list of the ones that came through my mind. > As I'm sure you know, in France, social security is not administered by the government directly but by the social partners. What matters is whether that's an entity of the state or of a third party that is potentially trying to scam you. I could have included pole-emploi.fr, oh sorry, I mean, francetravail.fr in my list. All of the above plus the ones of the sibling comments under a single .etat.fr, .admin.fr, .public.fr, .france or whatever would only make sense. None of us would have to double-check again whether the information we're getting or form we're filling is official or not.
jpmoral 2y ago
How about the totally not-dodgy-sounding ustraveldocs dot com?
- cnity 2y ago
  It says "Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service" right there at the top. It even has the US flag emoji so it is clearly legit.
  - cs02rm0 2y ago
    Clearly. :)
- g15jv2dp 2y ago
  Let's not forget payusatax dot com and all the other IRS "partners" that you somehow need to go through.
  - beryilma 2y ago
    Also freetaxusa.com; a legit and almost free tax filing service, which is much less evil than TurboTax and Intuit.
- fleischhauf 2y ago
  it also looks dodgy to be honest. Also if you click too much while logged in they detect "suspicious behaviour" and block you from logging in again for a couple of days without warning, saying don't call customer service, they won't help you (very frustrating if you are short on time). They also have the option of maestro for payment (was decommissioned years ago in Europe) and don't accept real credit cards, only debit apparently.
ropejumper 2y ago
And of course, you never know where to look for information, and sometimes it's replicated to other official websites with differences. Let's not forget the weird decision they made with the ac- domains, too. Instead of having all of them under one domain, they just use a naming convention: ac-nice.fr and ac-aix-marseille.fr are both official. It should've been nice.academie.fr and aix-marseille.academie.fr, imo.
AlienRobot 2y ago
When making a blog for your small town, don't forget to use Wordpress so it gets full of malware!

by sgu999 2y ago

Kiala 2y ago

Yeah, the Netherlands got 1,800 of those..

Tmpod 2y ago
Yeah here in Portugal we have a ton of those too. Each municipality has its own cm-<name>.pt domain, but there some exceptions. For example, Lisbon's domain redirects to lisboa.pt, and while no other major city I know does this, almost all of them have separate website and domain without the cm- part.

g15jv2dp 2y ago

That's a very unfair take. The examples you list are of a completely different nature. > gouvernement.fr info.gouv.fr These are the same website. gouvernement.fr is a legacy URL that redirects to info.gouv.fr. Why did you include both? > ameli.fr As I'm sure you know, in France, social security is not administered by the government directly but by the social partners. They're in charge of managing ameli.fr, not the government. Go there, you won't find any logo from any ministry. Why did you include it? With this and the previous example, I cannot shake the feeling that you're on a mission to denigrate with little regard to the facts. > vie-publique.fr santepubliquefrance.fr These websites are basically blogs about respectively the institutions of the republic and about public health. > service-public.fr General informational website. For most sensitive procedures, you're redirected to a .gouv.fr website. Yes, it could have had a .gouv.fr URL, that's true. > impots.gouv.fr Yep, that's the tax website. You can notice it's official thanks to gouv.fr, like all website where you do actual online procedures.

darkamaul 2y ago
And then, the French governement has released an official and mandatory Systeme de Design [0], to have an unique visual identity across all official websites. [0] https://www.systeme-de-design.gouv.fr/ https://www.systeme-de-design.gouv.fr/
sgu999 2y ago
> Why did you include both? I was making a non-exhaustive list of the ones that came through my mind. > As I'm sure you know, in France, social security is not administered by the government directly but by the social partners. What matters is whether that's an entity of the state or of a third party that is potentially trying to scam you. I could have included pole-emploi.fr, oh sorry, I mean, francetravail.fr in my list. All of the above plus the ones of the sibling comments under a single .etat.fr, .admin.fr, .public.fr, .france or whatever would only make sense. None of us would have to double-check again whether the information we're getting or form we're filling is official or not.

jpmoral 2y ago

How about the totally not-dodgy-sounding ustraveldocs dot com?

cnity 2y ago
It says "Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service" right there at the top. It even has the US flag emoji so it is clearly legit.
- cs02rm0 2y ago
  Clearly. :)
g15jv2dp 2y ago
Let's not forget payusatax dot com and all the other IRS "partners" that you somehow need to go through.
- beryilma 2y ago
  Also freetaxusa.com; a legit and almost free tax filing service, which is much less evil than TurboTax and Intuit.
fleischhauf 2y ago
it also looks dodgy to be honest. Also if you click too much while logged in they detect "suspicious behaviour" and block you from logging in again for a couple of days without warning, saying don't call customer service, they won't help you (very frustrating if you are short on time). They also have the option of maestro for payment (was decommissioned years ago in Europe) and don't accept real credit cards, only debit apparently.

ropejumper 2y ago

And of course, you never know where to look for information, and sometimes it's replicated to other official websites with differences. Let's not forget the weird decision they made with the ac- domains, too. Instead of having all of them under one domain, they just use a naming convention: ac-nice.fr and ac-aix-marseille.fr are both official. It should've been nice.academie.fr and aix-marseille.academie.fr, imo.

AlienRobot 2y ago

When making a blog for your small town, don't forget to use Wordpress so it gets full of malware!