Sharon: Knock knock.
IDOR: Who's there?
Sharon: Business owner.
IDOR: Business owner who?
Sharon: Business owner Sharon who wants to pay her company's June estimated taxes, please.
IDOR: Nice try. Sorry, not funny enough to let you in. [displays Error 404]
Sharon: Hey! You're not supposed to reject Line 5 of a knock-knock joke!
IDOR: Too bad, you already lost the joke, because you have the wrong site.
Sharon: But this was the first search result from Google!
IDOR: Well Google forgot to update.
Sharon: [mutters to herself] OK fine, let's see where I can get by smart-typing a URL into Chrome.
IN.GOV: [puts up fancy graphic] This is our official Indiana Government site, wasn't it worth the detour to see our beauty?
Sharon: Look at you, aren't you gorgeous. Let's try "Taxes and Finance".
IDOR: Oh. You found us. As you can see by the fancy graphic that is still on the screen, this is the new improved Indiana DOR site.
Sharon: Now what on earth was the estimated payment under... let's try "Individual Income Tax Return Filing Options".
IDOR: See, now the fancy graphic is gone, but you can tell you're still on our new site, because that URL which you actually had mostly right, now has a nifty random number tacked on the end.
Sharon: [ignoring IDOR] Humm... "I-File" -- nope, that's the annual shebang filing... "Federal/State Electronic Filing Program" -- nope, that's for tax professionals...
"How do Hoosiers feel about electronic filing?" -- well, I would say they despise the system right now...
"How do Hoosiers feel about electronic filing?" -- well, I would say they despise the system right now...
IDOR: You're pathetic. Can't even navigate our "fast, friendly and free online filing tool."
Sharon: Oh go away... maybe I'll go away... wait a minute, "Information for Business Taxpayers", obviously.
IDOR: Sure. Here are 20 options.
Sharon: Thanks, except none of them are right.
IDOR: That's OK. I've got all night for you to search me.
Sharon: You jerk. Fine. I'm just going to use the Search tool then. [types] "estimated taxes"
IDOR: Wait. No. That's too easy.
Sharon: Let's see, how about "ePay DOR" --> "Individual Tax" --> "Individual Estimated Payment".... I win.
IDOR: Not yet. I still have more dead-end options.
Sharon: Too late. I see it - "Begin using ePay". I win!
IDOR: Just wait till we finish remodeling our site and get the new doors on. Then we can have another Knock-Knock joke.
Sharon: I can't wait. At least I win till September.
5 comments:
Ah, but, you figured it out. So it doesn't need to be fixed, right?
Have some mercy on us webmasters, though. Reforming huge, sprawling sites into something usable isn't easy!
I will never remember how to get back there in 3 months so yes, it does need to be fixed.
But I'm not trying to pick on the people behind it... I know that is a complex task.
How did you find my blog by the way?
I see you at church often enough, and you're friends with Michael Brown on Facebook; I happened to see your face among his friends, was curious, was curious some more, and finally ended up at your blog.
Michael shares an office with me.
No intrusion or offense intended, or taken, I hope.
Oh okay. Nope, no intrusion or offence! I just didn't realize it was possible to get to my blog from a "non-friends" Facebook view. But that's ok. Thanks for commenting.
Knock! Knock!
Sharon: Who's there?
Your next post.
Sharon: My next post what?
Exactly...
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