[clug] Re: Linux Systems Administrator Canberra

Andrew Boyd facibus at gmail.com
Wed Feb 14 00:07:06 GMT 2007


On 2/14/07, Jim Watson <jim at amarooas.com.au> wrote:
> I vaguely remember "hyperlink" made the internet "what it is today"[TM]
>
> But govt agencies generally dislike the idea, they prefer to have
> control...
>
> so we see things like
> "now you are leaving our site - click here to continue.."
> "disclaimer - you may see someething we didnt put it there..."
> ...and pages that cannot be linked into.
>
> These would be considered "best practice" for govt sites so from that
> perspective it is a "Good idea"

Hi Jim,

generally speaking, best practices aren't :)

The reason, right or wrong, that government sites do follow the
inhumane practice of "you are now leaving our site" popups/jump pages
is that they have the CYA imperative - their legal advisors want a
clear boundary between "stuff we can be held accountable for" and
"stuff beyond our control". That this is implemented inhumanely by
some is probably beyond question.

Apologies for the off-topic posting, mea culpa, this is one of my
relatively constant battles working within the government web space.

Cheers, Andrew


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