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It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

washingtonpost.com

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Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#121

Post by masswerk »

turc1656 wrote: post #105

This doesn't add up for me and doesn't pass the smell test. Looking at that dashboard and the way it's set up and knowing PACOM stands for Pacific Command, I'm not buying this story at all. Look at the way that screen is designed. You don't just click one of those and it sends the alert off. The link sets the type of alert (i.e. Amber) and the destination/recipients (i.e county, statewide, etc.). It doesn't set the c…

In the news, I followed, it was said that one of the causes for the delay of the "False alarm, all clear" message had been the clearance of the particular wording with various authorities, because it hadn't been implemented before. This hints to a set of prefabricated message which are to be selected by this application. However, you may be right on that screen not being all of the selection process in its entirety.

Edit: Also, I guess, there's still some kind of message authenticator, which has to be entered in the process?

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#123

Post by Chaebixi »

DDub wrote: post #114
Chaebixi wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When a drill deviates from the actions taken in an emergency it becomes a pantomime of little value. Sending an emergency alert isn't an action that requires split-second muscle memory. I think slight deviations in the drill vs. the real thing are fine in this case, in order to prevent false alarms. There's no one-size-fits-all solution here, you have to analyze the trade-offs around speed and the cost of a false a…

It hasn't prevented a false alarm, which is why it hit the news... it's interesting that there is a lot of hang up on false negative (false alarm) and very little discussion about a false positive (hitting the test button instead of the real alarm)

> It hasn't prevented a false alarm, which is why it hit the news...

That's because they forgot the lesson decades ago. It seems like the 1971 event is a forgotten piece of cold war history. I haven't seen any mention of it in the couple of news articles I read.

> it's interesting that there is a lot of hang up on false negative (false alarm) and very little discussion about a false positive (hitting the test button instead of the real alarm)

We haven't ever had a nuclear missile attack, and even if we had one, there's very little anyone could actually do to protect themselves. The alert seems more of a courtesy than a real actionable warning. The fear and panic of a false alarm are real, though. Also, if there are too many false alarms, they turn into crying wolf and will be ignored.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#124

Post by skellera »

nsxwolf wrote: post #101
jklowden wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one stopped caring. What we stopped doing was pretending the civilian population could be protected against nuclear holocaust. The bomb that obliterated Hiroshima was a toy next to a thermonuclear bomb, which is 1000 times as powerful. If one lands on Oahu, there won't be anyone to pass out iodine pills in Hawaii, or anyone to pass them out to. Hawaii is just stupid to spend a nickel on an early warning system. Th…

Looking at NUKEMAP [1] and playing with Honolulu as a target using the various weapons that are common to nuclear arsenals your claims just sound totally false. It seems like there would be a great chance of survivability in many areas if one were properly sheltered. This doesn't even take into account that Oahu is a mountain which would shield many inhabitants from the air blast. I frankly am glad you are not in cha…

For anyone wondering, highest estimate for Korea is 280kt. It would take a chunk out of Honolulu but no where near what people assume.

As someone living in Hawaii, I’m more worried about the aftermath and how people react. More chaos will be caused by them rather than the bomb.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#125

Post by qbrass »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #117
qbrass wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Unless you can tell at a glance that a firearm is not in a ready-to-fire state, you treat it as if it is That's when you need to treat it like it is the most.

You'd really exercise more caution with a broken-open shotgun than a closed one?

Not more, but I wouldn't let my guard down just because it's playing dead.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#126

Post by 794CD01 »

lutorm wrote: post #72
794CD01 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The intent of most death threats these days, almost certainly including these, is simply to express dissatisfaction, not to "place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury", even if that's how an outside observer unfamiliar with cultural context might interpret it.

That is ridiculous. While it may be done out of dissatisfaction, it is most definitely made for the purpose of "placing the person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury."

It is ridiculous because it is an accurate statement about modern internet culture, which is ridiculous.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#127

Post by 794CD01 »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #83
794CD01 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The intent of most death threats these days, almost certainly including these, is simply to express dissatisfaction, not to "place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury", even if that's how an outside observer unfamiliar with cultural context might interpret it.

> The intent of most death threats ... is simply to express dissatisfaction Are they? There are plenty of other ways to do that without (pardon me) going nuclear. Many death threats go so far as to include someone's family, friends, and other acquaintances. If it's mere dissatisfaction being expressed, why go that far if not to put someone in fear?

For the same reason different populations might complain by calling the customer support hotline on the back of the box or by submitting a pull request. That's how this group has learned is "the way" to do this.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#128

Post by Houshalter »

jklowden wrote: post #88
nsxwolf wrote: post #63

I think this whole thing could be seen as a blessing in disguise, but I don't hear anyone talking about it. We seem totally unprepared for this kind of event. The message said take shelter, so why were people running around screaming and crying in the streets? People were throwing their kids into storm drains. Clever, but what happens to them after that? Where do we go? How long do we have to stay there? Who is going…

No one stopped caring. What we stopped doing was pretending the civilian population could be protected against nuclear holocaust. The bomb that obliterated Hiroshima was a toy next to a thermonuclear bomb, which is 1000 times as powerful. If one lands on Oahu, there won't be anyone to pass out iodine pills in Hawaii, or anyone to pass them out to. Hawaii is just stupid to spend a nickel on an early warning system. Th…

North Korea has H-Bombs now? With accurate missiles?

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#129

Post by slowhands »

antonkm wrote: post #102
dhruvmittal wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The screenshots are so bad, not even the juniors I work with would consider deploying this. It's mind boggling. Not defending the UI too much but I'm imagining this is something built and deployed on government contract in the late 90s or early 2000s (when it was considered high technology that they could do this from a web page in the first place?), occasionally migrated to whatever marginally newer system is requi…

I think you're a bit off with the time frame. The system sends push notifications to citizens in a specific area, or am I mistaken? Are these texts?

The Wireless Emergency Alerts system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts) dates back to 2006, but it is quite plausible that the backend this interface controls predates that if it was originally a desktop interface for the Emergency Broadcast/Emergency Alert System.

Re: It Was Bad UX, not a “Wrong Button” in Hawaii

#130

Post by Doxin »

HarrietJones wrote: post #3

I've been "arguing" with people here as to what a better interface would look like, and it's interesting at how much disagreement there is. A lot (like too many) seem to think adding a yes/no dialog box would make things better, but it's well known users don't read dialog boxes. My preference would be a mcDonald's menu style UI, showing the text that will be sent in a 6x5 grid of buttons. Easy to press; easy to see w…

Personally I'd go for a radiobutton list, with a submit button. That way there's time to double-check your selection. Furthermore the real alert should probably pop up a bright red page with flashing warning lights and siren sounds indicating that the user is entering a serious situation.

This all is assuming that falsely sending a test alert is no big deal.

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