Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Why a Councillor won't use the Council email System
The other day I had cause to send Cllr. Alan Stanton an email. Since I didn't have his email address to hand, I opted for sending to his LB Haringey address by using the standard first-name-dot-second-name-dot-haringey.gov.uk form. I was surprised when it bounced back. So I resent the mail to his private address and pointed out that his mail was bouncing. He explained that he doesn't use Haringey's email and the reasons for that. Below is his interesting reply (published with his consent).
Here are my current and public reasons for not having a Haringey email address.
(1) My public email is on Haringey's website. I currently have two regularly used email addresses. I also get emails via Flickr and Harringay Online. That's more than enough!
(2) Initially the Council's systems were not always reliable and could sometimes be down for hours, or even a whole weekend. Although this problem has (largely) been solved, it didn't inspire my confidence.
(3) The Council has a filtering system which blocks a list of banned words. (Which I requested and got an one point.) So if a resident tells me the obscene language their neighbour shouted at them, or describes me in 'rude' words, I won't actually get the email. This is not only silly and prudish but dysfunctional.
There are software filters which block photos the software detects as 'offensive'. From time to time it has blocked some perfectly innocuous photos I sent out. I've no idea whether or not I've been prevented from getting a photo.
The filter seems to have particular problems with walls. Too much bare pinkish brickwork?
Highly paid IT staff then have to spend their time going through these blocked photos and emails, deciding whether or not to release them. It's as though the ghosts of Mary Whitehouse and the Lord Chamberlain were still wafting round Haringey.
(4) Should residents have a letter the send to a councillor opened by council officers? Of course not. Then why emails? The content of emails I get and send is no business of Haringey staff or anyone else not copied in.
Alan
Here are my current and public reasons for not having a Haringey email address.
(1) My public email is on Haringey's website. I currently have two regularly used email addresses. I also get emails via Flickr and Harringay Online. That's more than enough!
(2) Initially the Council's systems were not always reliable and could sometimes be down for hours, or even a whole weekend. Although this problem has (largely) been solved, it didn't inspire my confidence.
(3) The Council has a filtering system which blocks a list of banned words. (Which I requested and got an one point.) So if a resident tells me the obscene language their neighbour shouted at them, or describes me in 'rude' words, I won't actually get the email. This is not only silly and prudish but dysfunctional.
There are software filters which block photos the software detects as 'offensive'. From time to time it has blocked some perfectly innocuous photos I sent out. I've no idea whether or not I've been prevented from getting a photo.
The filter seems to have particular problems with walls. Too much bare pinkish brickwork?
Highly paid IT staff then have to spend their time going through these blocked photos and emails, deciding whether or not to release them. It's as though the ghosts of Mary Whitehouse and the Lord Chamberlain were still wafting round Haringey.
(4) Should residents have a letter the send to a councillor opened by council officers? Of course not. Then why emails? The content of emails I get and send is no business of Haringey staff or anyone else not copied in.
Alan
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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ALAN's reasons ring true. He might agree that they're not necessarily exhaustive.
We can think of another councillor who probably regrets trusting the Council Big Brother system in order to try to get out into the public domain, some information concerning highly questionable payments made by the council to an ex-employee, payment covered by Employee Compromise Agreement and subject to Confidentiality Clauses. The multi-hundred thousand pound emolument may not be isolated – but the public is kept in the dark.
AKA to the man (and woman) in the street as gagging clauses for massive hush-money pay-offs.
Our taxes. Our money. Omerta ...
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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So not only should the Labour party provide Alan with a PA, they should provide him with an inexpensive IT infrastructure that he could share with other Labour councillors in Haringey/London to be more productive. It would help them carry some of those technophobe luddites they have at the moment.
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Alan, try this.
I would trust Google with my personal information before I'd trust the government (just on a due care and attention basis).
john
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