I rang the census hotline to report what I considered a bug in the multiple choice online census form. At first the helpful lady explained how to carefully order my keystrokes so the correct information would be entered. I replied, it's not my problem now. I've worked it out, it's yours. In the meantime she asked me to pass this information to all of my friends. Only 26 million to go!

The problem can occur when the mixing the mouse with up and down arrows, ( at least on a mac). It is most problematic where the unintended answer slips by unnoticed, that is in multiple choice questions, not at the bottom of the page, where there is not an
"other (please specify)" box to fill in.

For instance if I tick "year 12 or equivalent" on question 26 and scroll down to question 27 using the down arrow key, Question 26 disappears out the top of the screen with the answer having slipped to "Did not go to school" but now off screen. Question 27 is all set up for an answer.

Try it out. Do you consider this a serious bug?





There's going to be a lot of folks in Australia who "didn't go to school" next Wednesday.

Ah! question 48 is programmed correctly mistakes cannot be made! The answer is locked in and cannot be changed without deliberately deticking your initial answer.

When you say 'tick' you mean you have ticked a check-box? Or a drop-down list?

You can select a value in a drop-down list, using either the mouse or keyboard. It still has focus.
If you then select anything else, such as the page itself, by clicking on it, it then has focus.
Using the down arrow should then move only the page. It shouldn't or can't move both the page and the drop-down list/check box selection, as only one thing can have focus at once.

donthitsave.com/comic/2016/07/15/it-works-on-my-computer

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evlPanda said..
When you say 'tick' you mean you have ticked a check-box? Or a drop-down list?

You can select a value in a drop-down list, using either the mouse or keyboard. It still has focus.
If you then select anything else, such as the page itself, by clicking on it, it then has focus.
Using the down arrow should then move only the page. It shouldn't or can't move both the page and the drop-down list/check box selection, as only one thing can have focus at once.

Ticking a check box. Unless you move and click the mouse out of the large sensitive area, (the whole text rather than just the little circle). The down arrow will scroll both the page and your answer simultaneously. As I've just found, the bug is corrected in question 48. In question 48n you cannot scroll until you take the mouse out of your selected answer.

We completed the census last night, didn't notice anything like that, so probably both of us didn't go to school.

And this is better than filling out an actual form.

And they TESTED it on the most common platforms


Oh well the NBN will fix it.

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Ian K said..

The problem can occur ..............at least on a mac

found your problem!

stephen

For all the hoo-harr about everybody filling it in on one particular night, where those ouside their normal residence etc is concerned, and can be accounted for, how come it can be lodged before, or for that matter, after the night appointed?

As mentioned in another post, there is no mentioned of either compulsion, nor retribution for non compliance in the letter.

The concept that gathering data on population could have some merit, but the idea of individual identity being required, and penalties for non compliance, seems to be in conflict with rules of greater importance.

If I fill it out, it'll be accurate, but I'd be much more amenable if personal details weren't "required" (On pain of penalty).

I assume this has all been challenged legally in the past, but how would anyone know?

You can fill it in now and submit it if you know who' s going to be under the roof on Tuesday. You can start now and log off for finishing later on. Mine's all over the place with random answers at the moment. I'll get it straightened out before I submit it. Maybe it is just me and my mac.

Can't wait to hear about the system being hacked and everyone's details being stolen.

"The Australian Census hasn't had a security issue before, we'll be fine..." (paraphrasing)
Uh yeah, but you haven't had an online census previously, and the way you dingbats run things...

On the radio this morning, I heard that the census identity and address info is split off and quarantined so no-one can access it,

However, the same radio report told how the QLD education department used names and addresses supplied in the last census, to cross reference with NAPLAN results so they could track down individual students.


something doesnt sound kosher!!

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Ian K said..
You can fill it in now and submit it if you know who' s going to be under the roof on Tuesday.

On that basis, mine is submitted with me and triplet 18 yr old female pornstars.

Naturally we are all vegan Jedi's

Here's hoping. If I am wrong, sorry ABS.

That is a very common bug on any number of private and public sector sites. I always just thought I was a fuss pot for thinking it was stupid, thanx for pointing out its a mistake.

Was proudly showing a younger member of the family the bug I'd found in the census.
"Look here we go .."
"Why do you scroll with the up/down arrow? Only old people do that".
"How else do you scroll?".
"With the mouse".
"With the mouse!".
"Like this".
"How clever is that! "

But I've now had two confirmations that it's a bug. And that census night is going to be a hoot.

Q 48 is how it should be set up.

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decrepit said..
We completed the census last night, didn't notice anything like that, so probably both of us didn't go to school.

How!? I thought you could only do it once next Wed had passed?

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DanozDirect said..

decrepit said..
We completed the census last night, didn't notice anything like that, so probably both of us didn't go to school.

How!? I thought you could only do it once next Wed had passed?

Well that's what the letter sort of says. But apparently the letter and the real world diverge at some point.

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sn said..
On the radio this morning, I heard that the census identity and address info is split off and quarantined so no-one can access it,

However, the same radio report told how the QLD education department used names and addresses supplied in the last census, to cross reference with NAPLAN results so they could track down individual students.


something doesnt sound kosher!!

In one census database:

123456
John Smith
10 Somewhere St
Somewhereville

and in another census database:

123456
Porn Star
$110,000
10/06/1963
Jedi

...or something like that.

I'd hazard a guess that the 123456 unique identifier itself is scrambled/encrypted so it is different in both databases using one-way encryption. If you have the encryption key you can link the two.

No, it's not perfect. Nothing is.

The thing is your data is currently kept like this for 18 months anyway, more than enough time to get it if you were going to get it.

What they want to do is link your census information to information about you in other databases. This allows researches to look at things from all sorts of angles to find patterns. Often very interesting patterns that tell us a lot about society, how it has changed and possibly predict the future to better manage it.

If it's any reassurance your data is a drop in a vast ocean and researchers are studying tides and wave formations; you're not that important.

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evlPanda said...

sn said..
On the radio this morning, I heard that the census identity and address info is split off and quarantined so no-one can access it,

However, the same radio report told how the QLD education department used names and addresses supplied in the last census, to cross reference with NAPLAN results so they could track down individual students.


something doesnt sound kosher!!

In one census database:

123456
John Smith
10 Somewhere St
Somewhereville

and in another census database:

123456
Porn Star
$110,000
10/06/1963
Jedi

...or something like that.

I'd hazard a guess that the 123456 unique identifier itself is scrambled/encrypted so it is different in both databases using one-way encryption. If you have the encryption key you can link the two.

No, it's not perfect. Nothing is.

The thing is your data is currently kept like this for 18 months anyway, more than enough time to get it if you were going to get it.

What they want to do is link your census information to information about you in other databases. This allows researches to look at things from all sorts of angles to find patterns. Often very interesting patterns that tell us a lot about society, how it has changed and possibly predict the future to better manage it.

If it's any reassurance your data is a drop in a vast ocean and researchers are studying tides and wave formations; you're not that important.

Call me petermac, or Mr Conspiracy.

This is exactly the kinda thing that makes me worry, not necessarily the census but data gathering in general.

Had a workmates wife come up in the "people you may know" section on Facebook.she isn't friends with any of my Facebook friends, none of my other workmates are Facebook friends with her. My workmate (her husband) is not on Facebook.

The only way this could have come about is data gathering from a source that perhaps shouldn't be accessible. It's a harmless example. It's more the thought that someone has/is spending money and time to join the dots.

If someone bothers with this example, what else are they up to?