The $4 million website ! [Archive]

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matauri

11-29-2003, 08:22 PM

Yes..you read it right....$4million !!

I loved Julians reaction to it, so thought I would let some of you know that your just not charging enough !!! LOL

This is what a $4 million website looks like !!
http://www.dcita.gov.au/Subject_Entry_Page/0,,0_1-2_1,00.html

Details on the absolute madness of it here:
http://whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm/1107

:-)

Cindy

Narasinha

11-29-2003, 09:05 PM

This is what a $4 million website looks like !!
http://www.dcita.gov.au/

Oh... My... Gods...

Ummmm... Maybe I could sell Senator Alston some swampland in Florida (that I happen not to own). If he'll buy that site for $4 million, I'm certain I could sell him anything.

The doctype says it's 4.01 transitional, but it isn't. It doesn't validate. But there are only 15 errors. This next one may be a problem of the server. There is a line of text before the doctype:

This means the doctype tag will be ignored by the browser. Ah yes, Vignette is the content management software. I wonder if they even care that their software breaks the doctype switch in most browsers. This software is probably where a good portion of the money was spent.

Senator Alston deserves to receive no end of grief over this. Heads should roll!

If I had someone working for me and they designed a site that ended up with code such as this one, I would promply {en-us}fire{/en-us} {en-uk}sack{/en-uk} them.

labrynth_of_fire

11-29-2003, 09:14 PM

Who would pay 4 million dollars for a website?

minstrel

11-29-2003, 10:01 PM

okay... I agree the price is a bit on the hefty side...

But, please people... before we all start making mental and poking fun at this website, remember..

Aussies are a primitive folk... they have diggereedoos and kangaroos and pets with big lungs and boomerangs and beer... (and by beer they mean anything fermented, aka "making fermental")...

...and that's pretty much it. They are a simple folk. They don't ask much from life (which considering that most life is about 3000 miles away, isn't a bad policy for them). And, evidently, they don't ask much from a website.

So instead of poking fun, let's all band together in emailing them compliments and making plans to set up Aussie subsidiaries for all our professional and commercial ventures...

(now I know why Cindy fled there from Kanata... there's gold in them thar... um... outbacks...)

(did anyone look at the "Disclaimer" page? yes, yes... I know it's homely... but it IS "printer-friendly"...)

matauri

11-30-2003, 12:14 AM

LOL...never even checked that one out myself! Even funnier is the amount of meta tags they have to go with it!

But....got to give em a little credit....they did specify a bgcolor ;-)

Its a HUGE joke hey!!

Wonder how many export contracts that bought us???????

Worse still...its meant to be for Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts...who are meant to promote local talent !! Can we spell RIPPED OFF????

So if anyone wants to email them & tell them what a joke they are...the design/development community down here will love you for it :-)

Cindy

minstrel

11-30-2003, 01:00 AM

Its a HUGE joke hey!!... So if anyone wants to email them & tell them what a joke they are...the design/development community down here will love you for it
Is it just me or did anyone else notice how adeptly Cindy sidestepped the issues about lungs, roos, and "making fermental"?

matauri

11-30-2003, 03:31 AM

Aussies are a primitive folk... they have diggereedoos and kangaroos and pets with big lungs and boomerangs and beer... (and by beer they mean anything fermented, aka "making fermental")...

Wellllll....we don't have diggereedoos, in fact....I'm not sure what one of those is ;-)
We have beer....how many varieties would you like? Oh...thats right...variety is a pretty strange word in relation to beer over there ;-)

...and that's pretty much it. They are a simple folk. They don't ask much from life (which considering that most life is about 3000 miles away, isn't a bad policy for them). And, evidently, they don't ask much from a website.
Pretty much true too, we're a pretty content mob most of the time :-)
The rest of the time we are wondering why our govt would spend $4mill in Japan on a website for a department that is meant to encourage growth in the IT sector ! But considering that it happened in April, and no one really did anything but complain to a spam filtered email addy, what can you expect? :-)

But the suns shining, who can complain ;-)

Cindy

Greyhawk

11-30-2003, 09:26 AM

Wellllll....we don't have diggereedoos, in fact....I'm not sure what one of those is ;-)
Cindy

Diggereedoo (Noun) Ancient Aboriginal instrument played only by male members of Austrailias' first peoples. (I was taught that females were prohibited from playing them due to ancient beliefs)

No for the website, WHile I may not own any swamp land in Florida (and by Florida I mean southern Canada) I do happen to own this very rare paint by numbers that was done by Piccasso that they can have for a meer 2 million dollars, because if they paid 4 million for that website then this should be a real bargin for them.

Grethawk

rocky1

11-30-2003, 09:41 AM

Nice to see North Dakota government isn't the only place where there's insanity in our world! Our infamous Highway Department up here reportedly spent $120,000 US on a site that encompassed all of about a dozen pages, to post updates on a project involving a major artery through one of our larger communities here.

Reportedly the firm that did the site received $20,000 US for the initial site, and $100,000 US for updating throughout the project. In that the updates read extremely similar to stories printed in the local paper (as in identical in most cases), they were obviously press releases derived from either the Highway Department itself, or the Project Engineering Firm, meaning a worst scenario of cut and paste to html page, job. Graphics throughout were poorly done, content was not by any means considered extensive, the Site was stamped W3C and Bobby compliant, did not validate in either, and life of the site was restricted to life of the project, which ran all of about 6 months total, so I can't even offer you a URL for review.

When asked what I thought the site was worth I suggested $250. Which is exactly what the other webmaster had felt it was worth as well.

DOT spokesman who shall remain nameless, when questioned about the waste of our tax dollars; after what was reported as considerable discussion on the issue, finally admitted he had not a clue what was involved in building a website and had felt it was a fair price.

It's all voodoo y'all! Charge accordingly!

matauri

11-30-2003, 09:43 AM

Diggereedoo (Noun) Ancient Aboriginal instrument played only by male members of Austrailias' first peoples. (I was taught that females were prohibited from playing them due to ancient beliefs)

The DIDGERIDOO is possibly the world's oldest musical instrument. Originally found in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia, it made from limbs and tree trunks hollowed out by termites (insects). Is cut to an average length of 1.3 metres and cleaned out with a stick. or hot coals. In some tribal groups only played by men but in most groups by men, women and children. If the earth had a voice it would be the sound of the Didgeridoo. :-)

I do happen to own this very rare paint by numbers that was done by Piccasso...

You cant have...coz I am sure that it is hanging above the $175k New Zealand rug on 'the hill' in Ottawa ;-)

Cindy

matauri

11-30-2003, 09:48 AM

Is there madness infesting our govts Rocky?? Or are we really allowing dickwad public servents to run our countries & send us broke???

Thats done it...after reading Rocky's post I am now wayyy upping my fees !!

I think $10000 (yes that 4 zeros) per hour sounds good dont you think? ;-)

Cindy

rocky1

11-30-2003, 10:04 AM

That's obviously what you've got to do! The Webmaster who brought that site too my attention likewise brought another, he stated was built for $175,000. Although that site was considerably more extensive in nature, more involved in content, incorporated much cleaner graphics, and was meant to stay up for more than 6 months.

The gentleman in question stated having seen the insanity on the other site when it was built, he had submitted a bid on the second, (after having raised much stink about the first)! And, that assuming the usual Government pain in the arse involvement, jacked his bid up a bit and submitted a proposal of $2,000 US for the site. His bid was rejected, reportedly on the basis that the government felt it was not a responsible bid at that amount!

mikmik

11-30-2003, 10:33 AM

matauri wrote:
Originally found in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia, it made from limbs and tree trunks hollowed out by termites (insects).
Thanks! Never heard of, how you say - TERm MITES? before! Weird place that australia.

Also, I see that your politicians are every bit as crafty as the ones up north, the minister in question tried to defend the expenditure by saying that - get this - The money wasn't spent on his pages of the department website, but on the official department site.

Hey bud, that's what they SAID!!

matauri

11-30-2003, 01:38 PM

But Mik....coz your elected officials are voted in by the majority of the minority...you get little say :-)

Ours are voted in by the majority of the total, so they have to listen to us to a greater extent. But... the IT'ers can be a bit of a wussy mob, and tend not to fight back much. So this will get ignored probably. They wouldn't have gotten away with this so easily with most other professions.

I would love to see IT'ers go on strike...would cripple them. IT people dont realise how much power they hold these days. ;-)

Cindy

minstrel

11-30-2003, 03:29 PM

I would love to see IT'ers go on strike...would cripple them. IT people dont realise how much power they hold these days.
...and by "IT'ers" Cindy, of course, means "blondes".

wenwilder

11-30-2003, 03:58 PM

I would love to see IT'ers go on strike...would cripple them. IT people dont realise how much power they hold these days. ;-)

Cindy

ITers have as much power as a cut phone line, and more. We had an incident(sp) locally with a cut phone line - the town might as well have locked up its doors and declared a holiday. Everyone was paid for sitting around doing nothing.

Shut down a server, cut a phone line, turn off the electricity and people are lost these days.

Unfortunately the government, while having a 'team' of people under their management, has never required that 'team' to do anything other than find new ways to phrase old bills that the people never understand, nor truly need. While the important issue's go by the wayside, because we 'just don't understand' what it is like being a government official. Ya, and I don't understand why tea is hot.

Maybe spending $4 million on a website was his way of 'balancing the budget'? Information is meant to be shared, but you can't share it with a closed mind or indifference.

vfaulkner

12-01-2003, 01:09 PM

What would you pay/take for a name? address?

Back in 2000, Vanity Fair Corp.( www.vfc.com ), parent company to the magazine,lingerie, and such companies as Gitano , Lee, and JanSport, offered me $50 to sell them my then current URL vfsolutions.cm for use in a new product line.

Due to some personal circumstances, was able to negotiate to a $5000 price tag.

Not to be greedy, but, They could afford it. Each umbrellaed company makes m-/b-illion $s revenues a year...

matauri

12-01-2003, 01:19 PM

A couple of years ago I was offered $8k for my activnet.org . I've had a couple of other offers in the low $k's, but dont think I would be interested in selling it tho because its associated with me so much in many fields.

Cindy

vfaulkner

12-01-2003, 01:34 PM

quoted:
tho because its associated with me so much...

At the time, I was not doing much with it. it has a few links and some awful graphics & code.
as they say, hindsight is 20/20!

cyanide

12-01-2003, 01:42 PM

rocky1

12-01-2003, 02:40 PM

Received notification the other day www.rtfi.com was up for sale, and thought it might make a nice addition to my www.rtfi.us. Turns out they want $1,950.00 for a used website URL, that sits #4 at Google, behind ME in the top 3! Figure I might offer them $50 and see if they'd go for it!