The internet is not a forgiving place, least of all for government websites that look like they were constructed during the GeoCities era. Unfortunately for Australia’s ScamWatch site, the users of Reddit have seized onto its outdated appearance, going so far as to accuse it of resembling the very sites it’s trying to educate about.
Currently the thread, entitled “Australia’s government scam watch website looks like a scam itself“, is sitting on the front page of the Technology subreddit and garnered such comments as:
Looks more like one of those Loose Change/Infowars/Conspiracy Nutter Blogs to me.
And:
That website just made me throw up in my mouth a little.
Though there are some less harsh words:
Aside from the black navigation area and those REALLY dated buttons along the right side, the site doesn’t seem all that bad to me.
It’s pretty typical criticism and not at all surprising, given the audience. The site is certainly functional and most of its design choices can be blamed on the fact that its appearance hasn’t changed since 2006.
Still, with online scams just as prevalent as they were eight years ago, if not more so, you’d think the government could find a few dollars to give the site a facelift.
I’m going to leave the verdict up to you guys.