Frontiers of value subtraction. White House e-mail system becomes less user-friendly is a front page story (left side, above the fold) by John Markoff in yesterday's New York Times. The gist:
Under a system deployed on the White House Web site for the first time last week, those who want to send a message to President Bush must now navigate as many as nine Web pages and fill out a detailed form that starts by asking whether the message sender supports White House policy or differs with it.
The White House says the new e-mail system, at www.whitehouse.gov/webmail, is an effort to be more responsive to the public and offer the administration "real time" access to citizen comments.
Completing a message to the president also requires choosing a subject from the provided list, then entering a full name, organization, address and e-mail address. Once the message is sent, the writer must wait for an automated response to the e-mail address listed, asking whether the addressee intended to send the message. The message is delivered to the White House only after the person using that e-mail address confirms it.
Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesman, described the system as an "enhancement" intended to improve communications. He called it a "work in progress," and advised members of the public who had sensitive or personal matters to bring up with President Bush to use traditional methods of communications, like a letter on paper, a fax or a phone call.
Later, the story adds,
It is still possible to send a traditional e-mail message, he said, but the sender will receive the automated reply, and there is no guarantee it will be read or responded to.
So, a test.
Here's an email I just sent to president@whitehouse.gov:
Dear Mr. President,
I'm wondering if you'd ever consider writing a weblog, or adding a "blog" to the White House site.
(If you're intrerested, Weblogs are explained here: .)
Best wishes,
Doc Searls
Santa Barbara, CA
Now I'll try to do something similar through the "enhanced" service.
Okay, first the URL above redirects to https://sawho14.eop.gov/PERSdata/intro.htm. The page explains,
Thank you for your interest in contacting President George W. Bush by Web Mail. President Bush welcomes your views, suggestions, and concerns.
White House Web Mail is designed to provide an additional means by which individuals can communicate with the White House and receive automated, timely, and substantive responses on a wide variety of issues. This system provides U.S. citizens and residents with the opportunity to submit a written message and allows the President and his staff real-time access to their comments. However, due to the large volume of e-mail submissions, we cannot assure that each message will be personally reviewed.
When I hit the Continue button I get this:
"White House Mail Maze 2"
I'm thinking that the White House site itself would probably fall under "Science/Technology," but the only item in that category is Energy. So I click on that and get this:
"White House Mail Maze 3"
That gets me back to the last page. Another click on the Continue button gets me to a page where I fill out my name and address. Feels creepy, but I do it.
So then I get this mail form already partly filled out. I complete it:
"White House Mail Maze 4"
(Disclaimer: I used a graphics tool to cut out a huge hunk of white space there.)
Next I'm told "Thank you for your submission. A confirmation message will be sent to your e-mail address. You must reply to this message within 72 hours for your request to be processed."
We'll see what happens.
[The Doc Searls Weblog]
