Japanese disaster prevention X account can’t post anymore after hitting API limit - The issue has arisen after major Tsunami warnings have been issued in areas of Japan following a strong earthquake::undefined

7 points

Have multiple accounts and rotate through them with each post. But then you have to make sure all of your followers are following all accounts. It’s a shitty workaround but it’s a shitty platform to begin with.

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14 points

One likely reason they’re still on X is so those that didn’t get the memo to use their app or otherwise can’t still can still get alerts. Switching to multiple accounts would require people who likely wouldn’t notice to follow the others, and those that would do that would hopefully have downloaded the app. And yes, if a person isn’t noticing they need to get the app they likely won’t notice a critical alert, but when you’re dealing with people’s lives everything counts.

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3 points

Right, because it’s not on the platform to remain how it was. It’s now the users’ responsibility to completely change how they interact with the service so they can have the same functionality.

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2 points
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Deleted by creator
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360 points

Why governments would ever use a private service for critical use baffles me.

Create your own emergency notification system!

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25 points

Cell phones already have the emergency alert system they could just use that.

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6 points

One thing I wish iOS/Android did was have the option for these emergency alerts to be multilingual, or provide some sort of auto translation. When i was in Japan in November, I received an emergency alert due to NK launching some missiles. It’s pretty scary to have your phone blow up with a loud alarm, and not being able to read the alert because it’s in Japanese. On iOS, you also can’t just copy the notification to translate it. I had to take a picture, and then have Google Translate translate it.

I was anticipating some big earthquake, but turned out to be a child playing with his rockets.

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2 points
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I’m able to take a screenshot and translate this comment in the photos app in iOS.

https://ibb.co/xJsZLzH

Edit: I have no idea how good the translation is, but I’ve done it this way for things that needed translation.

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38 points

Create your own emergency notification system!

Those never turn out well.

Running their own mastodon instance should be viable though.

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47 points
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I remember seeing that they did have a fediverse account? This seems related to that

Yup see here:

https://lemmy.ca/post/3167523

It’s also in the article linked above:

Luckily, the creators of the NERV App, Gehirn Inc, have created an app-based alternative for users to get information in real-time, as well as running a Mastodon account.

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2 points

Is Mastodon even viable for time sensitive information? You need to wait for your instance to propagate the post from their instance which can take time.

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17 points

As opposed to waiting until next month for your API call limit to reset?

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5 points
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Is Twitter/X viable for that? They can decide, and have, to randomly put information behind login walls.

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1 point

Just mass send SMSs in a given area

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17 points

The Los Angeles/ California earthquake alert system worked just fine today.

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9 points

Does that go through regular EAS? Wondering.

FWIW, Japan does have emergency alerts on iOS and Android, same thing as the Netherlands and the UK.

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1 point

It’s a secondary feature of a mysterious enterprise, unknown to americans, called “public media”

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11 points
*

Remember when just about every government employee was carrying around a BlackBerry device for official business?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

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1 point

I remember when they all loved the Nextel PTT phones.

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8 points

That’s different. They had signed contacts and were legally obligated to provide service. Twitter is a free service that can be turned off at any time, with no notice, and is run by a schizophrenic twat with a god complex. It’s just monumentally stupid to put lives on the line through a service like that.

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270 points

They have one, but you also want information to be where people are. Especially if where people are is full of misinformation and rumours.

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116 points

Japan has various earthquake notification systems. Tweets are just one more way to get the information to the people on a platform they use.

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2 points

NERV isnt owned by gov and:

Luckily, the creators of the NERV App, Gehirn Inc, have created an app-based alternative for users to get information in real-time, as well as running a Mastodon account.

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-1 points
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Because it’s often easier, cheaper, and more efficient in cases that mirror public needs. Alerting, SMS, cloud storage, all are solved and competitively priced. And don’t get me wrong, there ARE use cases for doing certain things custom or internally. There will need to be a mix of things.

The issue, is having an appropriate SLA and having the ability to hold companies accountable when it’s not met. You need stated provisions that won’t happen. Most commercial enterprises already operate under this model successfully, however many of the tools don’t have SLAs around an earth quake. Most companies are willing to provide those provisions but it totally will come with extra cost which is typically not budgeted or sales teams or contracting officers are not equipped to have these conversations.

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3 points

Hate to say it but I would commonly get alerts from Twitter in the before times about local issues before I would get notified by my local government. Sadly they switched to encrypted radios so I can’t even keep up that way either these days

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5 points

This same issue happened during wildfire season in BC, Canada if I recall. A small polite media outrage over it, then forgotten.

Best case scenario would be an independent, international system developed within and for the emergency services community worldwide. Judging by the way firefighters travel internationally to fight forest fires worldwide, the community could be strong enough to support a solution like that, in my opinion.

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4 points
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1 point

For reference, the article I’m referring to:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/twitter-policy-change-hampers-drivebc-1.6894793

“Social media’s reliability in emergencies questioned after Twitter limit blocks DriveBC posts” (Jul 12).

Whether a provincial traffic account posting emergency info counts as news links for these large companies or not, it’s a pretty ugly look for them to have been blocking emergency information, and it doesn’t look any better now 6 months later.

The whole thing is pretty typical (Canadian) government “not enough, and too late” -style regulation regardless, but these social media sites could think twice about playing the villain so readily in response.

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3 points

It makes a lot of sense to post where the people are. Roll your own and note the people need your app/etc. granted, everyone is reading X on their smartphone and I’m 100% positive that Japan has the same kind of emergency broadcast system that we have in North America, but again that’s not meant for lots of messages, where a social networking site is.

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65 points

Letting people senselessly get injured or die seems to be a common theme in Elon’s ventures, so I’m not all that surprised about this.

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10 points

I remember reading that Twitter was pretty famous on Japan so that’s why they are still there.

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0 points

The Evangelion app name is pure gold.

Fuck X and Musk.

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0 points

What Evangelion app?

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1 point
*

NERV is the name of the major organization in Evangelion. Gehirn Inc, the creator of this app, is the name of the predecessor to NERV in NGE. The font and red design are also the same.

Edit: Seems like the creator is a huge NGE fan and just went with it.

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