101–107 of 107 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also, "Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities" seems like a very poorly constructed sentence. It means you'll be banned if you write anything negative about the dear leader and his eternal administration.
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From the site: > All researchers must apply and present a researcher card, which may be obtained in Room 1000. This ensures that proper identification is on file for all individuals accessing the building to establish a legitimate business purpose. Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities.…
> Also, "Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities" seems like a very poorly constructed sentence. It means you'll be banned if you write anything negative about the dear leader and his eternal administration.
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So you think that ChatGPT is a substitute for primary source research?
no, but you have two avenues - you have a business purpose and for what you were building, a video game, could probably be best approximated through chatgpt. If you're a historian writing a non-fiction book, then visit the fucking archives. the point I'm making is that everyone is making this a thing, when it is not. This is classic TDS. Everyone is attributing everything wrong with anything to Trump, his administrat…
That level of detail is impossible to get without these primary sources- and the only people who would be interested in a game like this would be the ones for whom that accuracy is a selling point.
This is just one of my side projects, but it is one that shows the wide variety of projects that NARA II supported, beyond just historians.
I don't strictly need this archive anymore, but I recall when the federal layoffs were first being announced that staff were down about it.
As a first-time archives user, this is a major loss to the research community. I met people who flew in from around the country for various projects, working on their graduate degrees and consulting here.
When I used the facilities, I saw signs in multiple areas about people who were caught stealing records and warnings that the consequences are significant (federal crime). But this action is senseless. Their security is very tight with scanning before entering, restrictions on materials and bags that can be brought upstairs, and people monitoring to ensure that special procedures are followed. These places are understaffed and underappreciated. Funding should increase for these national treasures.
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Why surprised? Didn't US taxpayers pay for the collection of all this information? Now only those with "legitimate" interest can get access? I would very much like to know what the reasoning behind this move is. Although I suspect that as per usual, a reason will not be forthcoming. But who knows, perhaps the Epstein files are now being kept there, LOL?
I dislike the fact that people are so hostile to the idea of public goods/services/places. It's really sad that free access to information is something anyone would find crazy or objectionable.
I am pretty skeptical of "let random people touch difficult to replace things when you don't know who they are".
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Until some random crazy person exercises the same right and destroys an irreplaceable rare book. You have to get a library card for the library. I don’t see why there is so much outrage over this, and I think the timing is more about budget cuts than about Trump [caveat- firing the archivist might have been personal]. I find the arguments that “he just wants to sow distrust” etc. are completely unbelievable; he has b…
> Until some random crazy person exercises the same right and destroys an irreplaceable rare book. In considering the LOC's multi-century existence, this parade of horribles never manifested as a meaningful risk. It remains limited to select imaginations.
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This is how Russia works. This is why the Russian government does what it does and why the people let it happen. Because obviously nothing can ever change, so don't even try. How silly of of you citizen, to imagine even trying to fix corruption.
That's not what I'm talking about. It's the notion that if you get the corrupt to justify their actions that you'll somehow avoid corruption. Fixing corruption involves people refusing to put up with corruption.
The entire reason with we have say, double-entry book-keeping, is because it makes it substantially more difficult to engage in corrupt activities without producing a record which can be used to hold people to account for their actions.
People declare "I think it's corruption" on the internet all the time with absolutely no evidence, which itself is indistinguishable to corruption in the first place (since the favorite tool of dictators and autocrats is to "discover" corruption in their political opponents when it is convenient to do so).