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Number of people on government websites now

analytics.usa.gov

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Re: Number of people on government websites now

#131

Post by EricE »

shadowgovt wrote: post #114
eminence32 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the US government has lots of useful websites that I've never even heard of. But every now and again I randomly stumble across one (like the one from your comment), and it makes me wonder if there is a "discovery problem" here. What other useful govt sites are out there, but are unknown to me.

The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko ), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantag…

All the information in his book is freely available too: https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php

He makes it easier to find since he actively advertised on TV, but still probably isn't worth the fee for that convenience.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#132

Post by dfxm12 »

shadowgovt wrote: post #114
eminence32 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the US government has lots of useful websites that I've never even heard of. But every now and again I randomly stumble across one (like the one from your comment), and it makes me wonder if there is a "discovery problem" here. What other useful govt sites are out there, but are unknown to me.

The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko ), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantag…

There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget.

It's intentional. In addition to the lack of advertising, making people fill out needless/confusing forms, etc. also filters out people who are legitimately entitled to government benefits. It's a special type of cruelty to dangle a benefit behind so much red tape in front of people who don't have the time or know-how to deal with it!

The US COVID test program, seems good at first blush. On the one hand, it was a breath of fresh air that all you have to do is go to one website and fill out one very short form. On the other, the parameters of the program were 4 tests per address. USPS already knows every address, so why did I even have to bother filling out the form? Why aren't they just sending out the tests?! There are going to be people who want/need the tests but won't get them because of the bureaucracy.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#133

Post by EricE »

jwithington wrote: post #112
plasma_beam wrote: post #85

This site went live in 2015 and hasn't changed too much since then. Participating agencies have their google analytics data collected by GSA, which is hosting this webpage. It's very useful, and I've referred to this site many times over the years (probably bc a couple sites I've worked on are in the top 50!). For those people wanting other awesome and informative govt sites, take a look at https://www.usaspending.go…

Thanks for sharing that link to USA Spending! Seems like a lot of interesting information is buried there…and they have an API!

USA Spending is a summary data set - if you really want to drill down into the details you need SAM/FPDS: https://sam.gov/reports/awards/standard

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#134

Post by deeg »

jrwr wrote: post #128
kibwen wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one I stumbled upon recently: the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has an interactive sea level rise map where you can see whether a given location in the US will suffer flooding/inundation from sea level rise based on the value the user selects: https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#

Interesting thing with that tool, it doesn't show any rise in the great lakes, I wonder if they would rise at all.

All else being the same I would expect the great lakes to rise. My guess is that the lake levels are so strongly tied to rainfall patterns that it's pointless to predict their future levels right now.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#135

Post by EricE »

patcon wrote: post #121

Ack. I've used PubMed for over a decade (since it was taught as the de facto way to search the science literature in my Canadian university) and it never occurred to me that it was a US federal government website :facepalm:

Any home page with FOIA in the footer is probably a US Government website :) Same if they also have usa.gov as a link.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#136

Post by hooande »

dfxm12 wrote: post #132
shadowgovt wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko ), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantag…

There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. It's intentional. In addition to the lack of advertising, making people fill out needless/confusing forms, etc. also filters out people who are legitimately entitled to government benefits. It's a special type of cruelty to dangle a benefit…

They aren't sending the tests out, in part, because 1/3 of Americans would performatively destroy them on social media. Not to mention that the tests cost money and sending them to people who didn't ask for them isn't good practice.

The government generally has a responsibility to avoid waste, fraud and abuse. If they send something to everyone who qualifies then sooner or later it will be abused or inefficient, and those will be the stories that make the news.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#137

Post by shadowgovt »

EricE wrote: post #131
shadowgovt wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The discovery problem is not only known, it's writ large. There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. If you've ever seen the "question mark vest guy" (Matthew Lesko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lesko ), who offers book on federal programs available and how to take advantag…

All the information in his book is freely available too: https://pueblo.gpo.gov/Publications/PuebloPubs.php He makes it easier to find since he actively advertised on TV, but still probably isn't worth the fee for that convenience.

Probably not worth it to you and me. For the target audience, the fact that the linked site doesn't have "tangible dimensions" (i.e. I don't know where I am "in" the site) and can't just be read front to back is already daunting.

I have relatives who have Lesko's book and just browse through it in the bathroom. It's comforting to them not only how comprehensive it is, but that in some sense it has a beginning and an end; when they finish the book, they have some kind of confidence that the percentage of programs they're aware of is now large. That might be a false confidence, but the sense it's possible keeps them reading. Hard to do that with a searchable index.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#138

Post by jedberg »

hollerith wrote: post #14

Chromebooks have high (unit) sales (some say) but I've yet to see any signs that they are used a lot. Here only 1.4% of visits are from ChromeOS.

Every Chromebook I've seen in the wild is being used by a student or teacher. I suspect students don't have many reasons to visit government websites.

Re: Number of people on government websites now

#139

Post by dfxm12 »

hooande wrote: post #136
dfxm12 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a vast bureaucracy of benefits available to Americans that most Americans don't know about because the creation of the programs rarely includes advertising in the budget. It's intentional. In addition to the lack of advertising, making people fill out needless/confusing forms, etc. also filters out people who are legitimately entitled to government benefits. It's a special type of cruelty to dangle a benefit…

They aren't sending the tests out, in part, because 1/3 of Americans would performatively destroy them on social media. Not to mention that the tests cost money and sending them to people who didn't ask for them isn't good practice. The government generally has a responsibility to avoid waste, fraud and abuse. If they send something to everyone who qualifies then sooner or later it will be abused or inefficient, and…

The covid test program is a universal benefit. If someone wants to burn them, that's their prerogative. I don't care. What's good practice is giving people the benefits they're entitled to. I don't understand why sending them to people who didn't explicitly ask for them isn't good practice. If there's an explicit opt out, OK, that's different. Benefits really shouldn't have to be opt-in though. Requiring opt-in costs money ands slows down, maybe even prevents, some receiving their benefit.

That's the problem, when you make it so hard for people who need benefits to get them, when you trap them in a constant web of confusing paperwork and means testing (and don't forget, all this bureaucracy, developing and reviewing paperwork, ain't cheap, either), it's easy to find fraud based on technicality, by filling out a form incorrectly, even if you're really entitled to something. It's also easy to make someone give up because they don't have the time or access to resources required to sign up.

In addition, with a lot of overhead, it makes it easier for states to abuse the system [0] as well. I get that this is a big mental block to overcome, but saying the government has to avoid waste and fraud in this way is a bit of a cop out.

0 - https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2021/07/14/florida-to-pay-...

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