Well that didn't take long. Just this morning, we took note of the many bizarre design and content features of the new GOP.com. And now the site is down--maybe because the list of its failures has been so long that the admins needed some breathing room. In fact, Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic's crackjack political reporter, has just posted a list of the "Top Ten Reasons Why the GOP.com Relaunch is Fizzlin." Among them:
10. In a section devoted to "future leaders," there were none.
9. In the subsequent rush to get up a "future leaders" page, they choose "you."
8. The last GOP accomplishment cited on the accomplishment page was from 2004.
7. The what's up page--hip! starts with this sentence: ""the Internet has been around for a while now"
6. Administrator passwords were accidentally posted.
5. When the RNC hosted a kick-off conference call, the Web site was down.
4. The website cites Jackie Robinson as a GOP hero. Robinson wasn't a GOPer, and he criticized the GOP on race. Robinson left the party because of its views on race. He had been, as a reader points out, a Republican for many years.
3. The first question on the conference call was from an Hispanic Republican who asked why the GOP site didn't have a Spanish-language page and noted that the White House had one.
And so on.
Let's just wait and see what changes when the site finally comes back up. Should be fun.
Related Stories: | Topics:Design, GOP.com, Michael Steele, web design, politics, Innovation, Technology, U.S. Republican Party, Jackie Robinson, Marc Ambinder, Politics, The White House |
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Recent Comments | 3 Total
October 13, 2009 at 7:07pm by lisa wilkins
hmmm....#2 and #1 seem to be missing. FAIL.
The link to the article on the Atlantic is pulling a 404. FAIL.
Sourcing a *blog* on #4 AND the link pulls a 404. FAIL.
Must be embarrassing to be you.
October 13, 2009 at 7:32pm by Cliff Kuang
Hey Lisa--You were right on one of those links, but the rest look like they're fine. Um, fail?
October 14, 2009 at 3:59am by Mark Sanchez
I find it disturbing that this publication would take such a partisan and narrow view of a political website. As an independent, I applaud both sides for attempting to utilize technology to their advantage. Keeping balance with a two party system is good for the country.
However, pot shots at one another such as this are appropriate for grade-school playground taunts and high school antics to be posted on bathroom walls.
I am disappointed in FastCompany for allowing such an immature article to be published, especially one that fails to be complete and accurate in it's analysis.
In today's shifting economy, small business owners have more important things to concern themselves with than a political website internal problems. I wonder why the powers-that-be in this publication found it expedient to make public such a journalistic debacle.
If the article were analyzing the potential code problems, then perhaps there would be objectivity, yet the syntax and slang used imply that the author is attempting to be 'hip', not professional.
The comments of the author towards those with whom he takes offense indeed seals the impression of imbalance bordering on possible personal agenda.
I sincerely hope to find more balanced articles in the future.