Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

watoday.com.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 111 posts

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#71

Post by sailfast »

jamestimmins wrote: post #10

This is the appropriate response to an error: "nobody died". I can't help but wonder what would have been the response if this happened in the US? I assume a full news cycle would be taken up with opportunistic politicians trying to score points by ascribing blame to their enemies.

I tend to think it would be about the same reaction in the United States. "Oh those dumb printers hahaha [cue one day of local news stations across the country having an easy story to take up their air time that night]" and then it'd be over.

Though I won't rule out that someone would probably suggest that the mistyped word was actually a valid spelling, and anyone that said otherwise was fake news.

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#72

Post by was_boring »

SilasX wrote: post #66
was_boring wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did it though? It's been in circulation for years.

I thought the version with the typo was recent?

Years is probably an over statement on my part. A second read indicates probably a year and half.

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#75

Post by microcolonel »

jamestimmins wrote: post #10

This is the appropriate response to an error: "nobody died". I can't help but wonder what would have been the response if this happened in the US? I assume a full news cycle would be taken up with opportunistic politicians trying to score points by ascribing blame to their enemies.

After the two-scoops debacle, I suspect that'll be the case until at least 2024. ;o )

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#76

Post by chipperyman573 »

kartan wrote: post #64
sorenn111 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree somewhat. US news might laugh about it on morning news coverage. But is it that trivial and a laughing matter? I get it, typos are funny and no one dies. But "nobody died" isn't a valid excuse for mistakes on filing for taxes or legal contracts. Errors do matter, even if no one dies. not to overblow the issue, but governmental trust may require error avoidance for many people.

> But "nobody died" isn't a valid excuse for mistakes on filing for taxes or legal contracts. I have had a lot of mistakes filing my taxes (Spain) when I was working as a contractor. You pay a small fine (100€ for a yearly report) and move on. You will be prosecuted if you lied in your taxes. But, mistakes happen all the time and its not big deal.

Do you have to pay backtaxes or is it just $100 and move on?

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#77

Post by underwater »

nkrisc wrote: post #68

Best method I've ever used for spotting misspellings in what I write: read the words you've written from last to first. Reading in this order breaks the prediction your brain does on what it expects to read next and stops you from filling in the words yourself or simply recognizing them by "shape" instead of reading each letter. Of course this does nothing for grammar or general flow nor does it help you if you've sp…

I have text to speech read back what I've wrote. You'll immediately notice incorrectly spelled words and doubled up words.

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#78

Post by caymanjim »

Someone1234 wrote: post #17
caymanjim wrote: post #16

Apparently they also lacked human editors with grade-school educations.

Can you cite something linking education level with an improved ability to spot typographical errors? According to the psychologist quoted in this article[0]/study our inability to spot typos might be an innate limitation of how our brains process information, rather than a lack of intelligence/education. [0] https://www.wired.com/2014/08/wuwt-typos/

This wasn't a typo. One person makes a typo. When creating a high-profile physical thing with text on it, there are authors, editors, typesetters (or the digital equivalent), copy editors, and proofreaders involved. If this wasn't reviewed by at least four people prior to printing, and if there weren't then test printings reviewed by additional people, then the entire process is flawed. But it still wasn't a typo. It was a failure in quality control.

My dig about education level was too subtle, so I'll be more blunt: too many stupid people were involved. People who don't know how to spell (barring special circumstances like dyslexia or communicating in a non-native language) are stupid. Everyone makes mistakes, but when multiple people whose job it is to produce something like this fail, it's no longer a mistake. It's because they were unable to review it and notice the problem.

All it takes is five minutes of reviewing Facebook posts or comment forums to see just how pervasive this stupidity is. Hacker News is one of the few forums I participate in, because most of the people participating are intelligent, and reading comments here doesn't make my eyes bleed.

As the sibling commenter stated, no one died, and this isn't a big deal. It's still an embarrassment.

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#79

Post by fooblitzky »

inflatableDodo wrote: post #7
voltagex_ wrote: post #2

"The graphical software package used by [Note Printing Australia] has no copy-paste mechanism and no spelling or grammar check. The text was manually typed in and misspelt at this point," according to a report into the error from the printing agency, dated January 11 this year."

Specialist software for industry can be absurdly shit sometimes. There are seemingly tons of niche software packages used in business that cost thousands per copy and lack even the most rudimentary features normally found in most software.

For a 3-D modelling course at university we were forced to use software that had no undo mechanism (and only ran on Windows). We very quickly learned to create save files after every single modification, because it was so easy to lose hours of work with a single mistake.

In retrospect I wish I had looked for a way to import files from Blender-3D.

Re: RBA not fazed by Australian $50 note typo

#80

Post by fooblitzky »

jen729w wrote: post #59
tewarbit wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps if Australian bills have a similar lifespan to US currency. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2014/09/12/how-ma...

Our wonderful polymer notes last much, much longer than paper/linen money. Lots of detailed lifespan graphs here: https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/sep/7.html

So the banknote lasts about 20 years, then the plastic takes another 1000 or so to break down?
Post reply on HN