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Thread ID: 66765	2006-03-06 22:27:00	Tonights Census	stu161204 (123)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
436052	2006-03-07 11:55:00	Meh, Havent touched mine, Cant say it excites me, And I dont think for a second the council are going to build a new park nearby due to an increase in youngsters in this area. In fact I would say the info is entirely useless to them, apart from comparing the incomes to the mortgages and increasing the rates. Nothing to hide, But have little motivation of filling out paperwork that is all about me, if they want to know they can look up the 500 million pieces of paper work they aready have that mentions my name, Or ask, In which case I would tell then to wake up and pi55 off. Anyhow, make sure you do your duty citizens, which is exactly what your told to do, Dont eat red meat, Dont admit to enjoying alcohol, eat 3 serving of fruit a day, adjust your buying habits to what the Government suggests, Fill out the form like your told, Your Government commands you. Paperwork, pfffttt, You could take this entire census crap, burn it and tommorow would be exactly the same as it was going to be, And at least the trees ould have been put to a more worthwhile use.	Metla (12)
436053	2006-03-07 20:02:00	We got the pin number for the online site when we got the papers, right after we were asked whether we would do it online. Dunno why they would post them out. Anyway, we did 5 individual forms and the household form last night about 8pm. No lag, no timeouts, it seemed to work real well. Was really quick too (especially the kids' ones) as any irrelevant questions go grey, so you don't even need to read them. Geez Metla, one day you will come across as a happy little bugger - go on, I know you have it in ya ... smile :D :D :D	Jester (13)
436054	2006-03-07 20:33:00	On line a couple of weeks ago, now just waiting for the census site fall over tonight :p I was at the Statistics NZ Conference for Users of Official Statistics in Wellington last October, and they mentioned they were using redundant servers (or something like that) in Auckland and Wellington in anticipation of high demand on census night. Census data would be sent to whichever server was closest, and if one fell over, the second would pick up the slack, and ensure people could still complete their forms. Of course, they didn't mention what would happen in the event of both servers crashing, or a massive power failure in either Auckland or Wellington. But then you can't plan for everything (even less without useful statistics!)	Lizard (2409)
436055	2006-03-07 20:40:00	Meh, Havent touched mine, Cant say it excites me, And I dont think for a second the council are going to build a new park nearby due to an increase in youngsters in this area. In fact I would say the info is entirely useless to them, apart from comparing the incomes to the mortgages and increasing the rates. I'm not going to speak for Wanganui DC, but working in local government, I can tell you that just about everyone involved in some form of planning (strategic, policy, civic, etc) is hanging out for up to date data. Particularly in areas around the Manawatu-Wanganui region, where some areas are experiencing significant increase/decrease in population, it is very helpful to know where the population is shifting. In one example, around three quarters of the TLAs are conducting reviews of their representation arrangements, and having to conduct such reviews either with 4 year old census data, or 2005 population estimates. Most people I know would have preferred to have the 2006 census data in 2005, so population figures would be remotely accurate. And with 85 TLAs having to put out their 2006 LTCCP, it's been difficult to put together a meaningful long term plan when most of the community profile data is 4 years old. A number of smaller TLAs rely on the nationally-collected data to prevent them spending your rates on repetitive community surveys to provide them with the information they need to meet the many burdensome requirements of central government. Census may be a 15-minute pain in the neck for some people, but it's a cost-effective (from the TLA point of view) means of making our jobs easier. /rant	Lizard (2409)
436056	2006-03-07 21:02:00	People like this ( . co . nz/news/0,,11964-5490116,00 . html" target="_blank">xtramsn . co . nz) really tick me off . What is wrong with supplying the government with a little info on what we do etc . As was said earlier in this thread, the government dont give a tinkers cuss about names and addresses all they want is info on the countries future growth and needs . Surely people can see how important the census is to the community? I am sure that the very same people who complain about having to fill a form out are the same people that will ***** and moan when they have a prison built in there back yard or have no access to schools or hospitals . :2cents: As far as I'm concerned it is a waste of money . Most of the stastistics could be collated from other sources . Births deaths and marriages, immigration IRD, electrol roll, Councils . Using this method it needn't be every 5 years and so would be more useful . Before the advent of computers this would not have been feasable . It would save a lot of trees and having to temporarily employ, I think it was 6000 and the pathetic TV adverts, which I saw none of on the actual night and almost forgot . Do you really think the building of a prison has anything to do with the census .	mikebartnz (21)
436057	2006-03-07 21:08:00	Government statistician Brian Pink says the census is New Zealand's most important survey. Mr Pink says no one should worry about their security as information is protected in the long term Right, Which is why last time the person who picked up my form returned it twice due to what I had written on it, Real private isn't it.	Metla (12)
436058	2006-03-07 21:11:00	Paperwork, pfffttt, You could take this entire census crap, burn it and tommorow would be exactly the same as it was going to be, And at least the trees ould have been put to a more worthwhile use. I agree. It hasn't done any good for the different roading problems around NZ or for all the schools that were closed so forced kids to spend up to 2 hrs a day travelling.	mikebartnz (21)
436059	2006-03-07 21:42:00	I think a lot of you are transposing your gripes about work, life, business, privacy, employment, rates, the cost of food and where you can't swin because of sewerage overflows mistakenly onto the census. I really beleive it is designed to help. I was going to fill it in online but by the time I had flicked through the paper copy I thought, "what's the point firing up the comp when I can do it all right here with a pen?" Getting people do do it online is saving them the data-entry costs, which is fine by me, don't have any objection to using IT to reduce costs, but not if i costs me more time.	mark c (247)
436060	2006-03-07 21:58:00	I think a lot of you are transposing your gripes about work, etc etc Do you have any idea how silly that sounds?, People having different views to your own doesn't mean they are supressing their anger at life....	Metla (12)
436061	2006-03-07 22:08:00	Having only just found this thread, I was surprised at the relatively low percentage of PF1ers who did their census forms online (just under a third at the time of reading) I'd guessed that this group would be at the cutting edge of trying out the new system. But reading the posts shows me there'd have been more except for the matter of needing a separate PIN, which some enumerators apparently didn't offer routinely. Mine didn't: it was only when I said I wanted to do it online that she added an envelope with the forms. (Guess I looked too trad to her...) Like ninja, I wondered how the system would cope. I was sneaky enough to leave it until 7.30 last night (peak time?) as a test. I found it a breeze. All done very quickly & smoothly, with less reading than the paper version because irrelevant questions became greyed out. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't done theirs yet. I was particularly interested as I'd worked for a previous census & wanted to compare both the current system & the questions with when I was involved. For those of you too young to remember, the discussions about the wording - ethnicity in particular - comes up every 5 years, no matter what changes are made. ("I'm just a New Zealander. Rah, rah" may satisfy some strange sense of pride, but is statistically useless in determining how our population is changing) It's a hoary old chestnut - just like the rebels who want to dodge the census. Anyone who's ever taken the forms door-to-door has heard all of the reasons/arguments/excuses ad infinitum well before the beat is finished. (That's why I didn't even read the "New Zealander" thread after the first few posts. I decided the rest would be a predictable mix of rants & sensible answers from people who do understand that the census is for. And life's too short...) For those waiting for a PIN, don't worry about being a little late. It's the details of the situation on the 7th that counts, not when the info arrives. My enumerator said she'll know that mine was done online, so won't need to call again - which should save us taxpayers some of the price of the computer system. And is it possible that a higher-than-expected census online percentage may help you broadband warriers in your battle..?	Laura (43)
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