Emergency statewide phone alert seeking the Joker's purple and green car was a mistake

[pesco]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2022/01/19/emergency-statewide-phone-alert-seeking-the-jokers-car-was-a-mistake.html

…

[jstnmbrwn]

People don’t realize that Gotham is St. Louis

[Shuck]

Well shoot, now the Joker’s going to get away with it.

[Papasan]

It was a bad joke.

[Mister44]

I was bummed that I did NOT get this alert, but some of the people in the local comics group did.

[p96]

[Slide]

I presume the first step of the testing process is declare “This is not a test”?

[FGD135]

[Karyudo]

@jstnmbrwn

People don’t realize that Gotham is St. Louis

In 1989, it moved to Vancouver.

[Karyudo]

[People in Hawaii chuckle wryly…]

[Amstrad]

Whereas in the comics it’s usually been New Jersey, with Metropolis just across the bay in Delaware.

[micah]

[prh99]

and with that more people turned off alerts.

[smulder]

@jstnmbrwn

Gotham is St. Louis

or maybe Detroit

General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne: Wayne County and Batman namesake

[fnordius]

I kinda get how this happens, as you build systems, need to test them, need to make the test look like the real thing, and somehow not actually perform the deed. I see this all the time with the projects I work on. Ordering something, adding a customer, deleting a test customer. Each time I sweat bullets that I may be ruining live data.

I find the use of the Joker’s car as test data actually a clever safety net that worked, as the minor embarrassment is a good way to let the ones responsible not to let it happen again without being too embarrassing. And it lets people know that the system actually exists. And unlike @prh99, I suspect the number of subscribers will remain the same or even rise, as people love a good pratfall.

[MrShiv]

I got one. I noticed “Gotham City” but the rest didn’t register.

There could very well be a Gotham City in Missouri – if there is, it’s probably a town of 1000 or fewer.

ETA there isn’t.

[jimp]

Once again the level of stupidity involved in the design and execution of these “vital” systems reduces the trustworthiness to the point where many (including me) just shut them off.

If you need to test a building’s fire alarms, you let everyone know ahead of time, during and after. You don’t just pull the big red lever and later go “Oopsies!”.

There is no rational reason “This is a test…” was not the first thing broadcast, preceded by announcements that a test was coming distributed to social and traditional media.

Imbeciles and idiots running the show.