Why does the Census Bureau require me to create an account in order to ask a question?

Welcome to Fluther JimmyG. I would just fill it in quickly and guess what you have to guess. Is the punishment for being wrong less than the punishment they inflict on you for asking the question?

@malevolentbutticklish Hi, malevolent. Not me, I just said to hell with it.

@JimmyG: I wish we could just put all the government paperwork we are required to do in the round file instead.

Without at least an email address, they can’t respond to your question.

jaytkay: Then why not just provide a support email address? You send them an e-mail, they respond. I hate the whole web-form based “e-mail”.

RE: the original question – a link would be helpful. I don’t find anywhere on census.gov where an account is required.

RE: email support – requires sifting through spam and other irrelevant stuff to try to find the legit questions.

Some advantages to forms:
—You can categorize questions and automatically route them to the appropriate department by giving menu choices.
—You can limit the length of questions so people get to the point instead of quoting the entire Constitution or some article from Tin Foil Hat Weekly.
—You don’t get viruses and porn attachments from forms.

@jaytkay I had already given them my email address when I started the question asking process. I did not see anything about an account either, until I tried to submit the question, then up pops a form for creating an account. Try asking a question, then you’ll get your link to the account required page:

Ask a question!!

@JimmyG lol, that’s pretty awful, you’re right, the first form is sufficient. I have no idea why they would require an account.

I would chalk it up to lousy web site design. It looks like they had a survey for schools and send everyone through that page, either an oversight or just laziness.

Here’s the 2nd form for anyone who’s curious:

* Email Address:
Alternate Email 1:
Alternate Email 2:
First Name:
How would you like to be addressed in our responses to you?
Product Update:
Product Update Yes No
Would you like to sign up for our free biweekly newsletter?
Home Country:
CIS Partner Level:
A-CIS Partner Level:
Teacher Brief:
Teacher Brief Yes No
A teacher will brief our faculty on ways to help our students understand the importance of participating in the census
A-Teacher Brief:
A-Teacher Brief Yes No

School Endorsement:
School Endorsement Yes No
Our school newsletter will include an endorsement of the census
A-School Endorsement:
A-School Endorsement Yes No

Census Week:
Census Week Yes No
Our school will participate in Census week activities
A-Census Week:
A-Census Week Yes No

PTA Poster Contest:
PTA Poster Contest Yes No
Our parent teacher association and/or school will sponsor a poster contest that promotes the census
A-PTA Poster Contest:
A-PTA Poster Contest Yes No

PTA Essay Contest:
PTA Essay Contest Yes No
Our parent teacher association and/or other school group will sponsor an essay contest on one of the designated census topics
A-PTA Essay Contest:
A-PTA Essay Contest Yes No

PTA Endorsement:
PTA Endorsement Yes No
Our parent teacher association will include a personal endorsement of the census by a community or school leader
A-PTA Endorsement:
A-PTA Endorsement Yes No

Home Materials:
Home Materials Yes No
Our school will send home materials prepared by the Census Bureau to enable our students to talk about the census with their parents.
A-Home Materials:
A-Home Materials Yes No

CIS Lesson:
CIS Lesson Yes No
At least xx % of our teachers will use at least one census lesson that the Census in Schools program has prepared
A-CIS Lesson:
A-CIS Lesson Yes No

Adopt A Track:
Adopt A Track Yes No
Our school will sponsor one or more ‘adopt a census tracts’
A-Adopt A Track:
A-Adopt A Track Yes No

A-Other:
CISP Notifications:
CISP Notifications Yes No

@jaytkay: “requires sifting through spam and other irrelevant stuff to try to find the legit questions.” <== If this is really that big a problem shouldn’t the government address it by providing its citizens law enforcement (protection from spammers) instead of by avoiding the use of e-mail? If the government can’t provide law enforcement what business do they have running health care?

“You can categorize questions and automatically route them to the appropriate department by giving menu choices.” <== Simple, each department at the IRS has its own e-mail address. The support information page lists them. (although superior customer support would also include a general-purpose support e-mail address)

“You can limit the length of questions so people get to the point instead of quoting the entire Constitution or some article from Tin Foil Hat Weekly.” <== This was never a problem when communication with the IRS was via snail-mail. Why not handle this issue using existing snail-mail procedures?

“You don’t get viruses and porn attachments from forms.” <== Does the IRS not virus-scan its e-mail as other businesses do? I am less concerned about protecting the IRS from porn. If JimmyG ever does get to fill out a question I suggest his signature include ascii art porn.