Talk:1946: Hawaii

OMG - so funny, so timely, so close to home. One of our modern fears, in a crisis what would happen if I forgot the password! Rtanenbaum (talk) 14:02, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

"Created by a TWITTER" Halo422 (talk) 14:28, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Based on the situation that xkcd is offering, it makes me look like I can't be any governor or an official, since I tend to forget my password very easily, especially my social media ones. RIP me.15:02, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

Most implausible explanation I've ever heard. Why not use something other than a Twitter account to notify people, apparently there's an entire system set up for delivering messages to people's phones, I'm not sure a tweet should be part of the official rollback process.

Implausible, yet true. It was all over the news. Twitter is currently perceived as an appropriate way to communicate with constituents by many elected officials. I agree that a reverse-911 probably would have been far more effective, but the news would give more coverage to what's on Twitter, regardless (reaches more people, if less directly or immediately, than reverse-911).

ProphetZarquon (talk) 18:09, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

The issue (as I understand it) was that the send-everyone-a-text-message system was only programmed with a specific set of messages, and "oops, that was an error, ignore that" wasn't one of them. Most of those 38 minutes were spent adding that new message to the system. In the meantime, people in authority who knew there had been a mistake would have been trying to use any means they could of getting this fact out to the public, such as the governor using his official Twitter account. -- Peregrine (talk) 03:32, 25 January 2018 (UTC)

As I am not a native Hawaiian or american, could somebody explain the nature of this warning system please? Does it work with a speaker / sirene system (as is common in Europe) or with text / CB messages? Why was it installed, what is the name of this system etc. That information might give the uninitiated some background information needed to fully understand this comic. 141.101.105.30 22:00, 24 January 2018 (UTC)

The Hawaii state Emergency Alert system is multilayered. This event started with a text message, sent (in error) to phones. The text message was picked up by broadcast media (radio, television). There is also a siren system, reportedly a separate authorization is required to activate it. In some places, Honolulu especially, the sirens were sounded, apparently without the appropriate authorization. In others, such as Hawaii Island where I live, the sirens did not go off. Official channels did not retract the error until 38 minutes after the initial text. Though Governor Ige did not get his tweet sent, other officials, such as US Rep Tulsi Gabbard, did do so, to little effect. It's therefore an open question whether Ige's message would have made much of a difference.--162.158.255.238 22:48, 24 January 2018 (UTC)