[LINK] When the children run the candy store -- ABS OOPS!

[Jan Whitaker]

[I don't know if the images will appear, but if not, go to the article (link at bottom) - there are a lot of tweets
[The crashes have begun!!
[Is it too crass to say 'told you so'?]


Census 2016: Error messages hinder completion of online census

Georgina Mitchell and Tom McIlroy 
Published: August 9, 2016 - 8:09PM 

People trying to complete the census online have been met with numerous error messages, told the system is "overloaded", and advised to call back in two days when they phone a hotline for information.

By 8pm on Tuesday evening, it appeared the website abs.gov.au had crashed entirely, as an estimated 16 million people were due to log on to complete the census.

The troubles began at around 5pm, when people trying to access the form were stopped by messages including a "code 31" error, which said the request "could not be completed because a problem was encountered".

Another error message said the server's DNS address could not be found.

Some people were able to get through, but the errors appeared to escalate through the evening until the website stopped responding.

Richard Macey from Pendle Hill tried to log on to complete his census just after 5pm and repeatedly received an "icon error".

"I'd logged on several times already just to see what it looks like, but tonight I got to the front page of the website, then it says 'icon error'," Mr Macey said.

"I gave up in frustration and rang the census number, got through the very first time, and the woman who answered said the system appeared to be overloaded.

"She said it could be everyone coming home from work trying to log in at once."

Mr Macey ordered a paper form via the hotline and was told if he eventually managed to log in on Tuesday night, he could put the paper form in the recycling.

"I just thought they were wanting us all to complete it tonight," Mr Macey said. "I'll wait for the paper one and see what happens."

Glenn, who also attempted to complete the census on Tuesday evening and did not wish to use his last name, was repeatedly served a DNS error from around 5.50pm.

He had also logged in successfully in the days prior to the census. "It definitely worked the other day," he said.

Others said they had tried to log in on multiple devices and still had no luck getting through, with one person claiming they had tried for two hours before they eventually gave up.

However, some people who managed to fill in their details still faced errors, with messages popping up around 7.30pm that the census could not be submitted as "a problem was encountered".

Earlier, the Bureau of Statistics advised anyone who had an error message to wait for around 20 minutes before logging back on.

On Tuesday evening, a Census spokesman said the online system was operating "as expected".

"We have currently received more than 1.3 million successful online submissions," the spokesman said.

"The system is operating smoothly and as expected. If anyone has experienced a local technical issue, they can try again on another device or contact the Census Inquiry Service on 1300 214 531 if they continue to have technical issues, or go to the <http://help.census.abs.gov.au/help/information/complete/troubleshooting#backtotop>Troubleshooting page of the Census website."

The Census Inquiry Service was deluged with calls on Tuesday evening, with Census advising anyone with issues to try calling back after August 10.

Earlier, 2016 census manager Duncan Young said census day was going "very well" and online forms would save more than $100 million for taxpayers.

"The online form is fast, it's very easy and it's completely secure and Australians are enjoying the experience of filling out their census online," Mr Young said.

"The form has the capacity it needs to scale up tonight for the large volumes of response that we are expecting." 

Do you know more? Email <mailto:gmitchell at fairfaxmedia.com.au?subject=Census%20online%20errors>gmitchell at fairfaxmedia.com.au

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/census-2016-error-messages-hinder-completion-of-online-census-20160809-gqop0g.html 


I write books. http://janwhitaker.com/?page_id=8

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Some psychopaths become serial killers, and other psychopaths become prosecutors. - Bob Ruff, Truth and Justice, June 2016

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