I noticed something funny on the bus tonight. It was a poster advertising the Ngauranga to Airport consultation. It looked pretty good: a bus in a bus lane, a cyclist not getting run down and an overhead picture of a mass of cars funnelling into Wellington. But one thing in particular caught my attention:
www.gw.govt.nz.n2a
I’m pretty sure that n2a is not a root server, even after ICAAN has opened up the field. I also happen to know the URL that is being used for the process. It’s a simple error; the last period should be a slash.
How did this not make it through proof-reading? It would have been designed and sent to the printers – two sets of eyes, at least. When it was received, didn’t it get looked at? Or when it was being put up in the buses1? That’s got to be nearing a half-dozen people in the chain.
The conspiracy theory: people who take buses would likely complain about problems with public transport and demand improvements. This is not what the councils seem to want, having seen the evolution of the corridor plans. Instead of listening to these people, just send them to the wrong place and hope they are sufficiently deterred to bother making an actual submission.
I hope I’m wrong, but you do have to wonder what the odds are that so many people would have been involved who just didn’t think to check the address the poster advertises.
1 I’ve only seen the one. Maybe it’s unique.
