Minneapolis 311

Glad this app exists, but there seems to be a serious issue with it. Looking through issues reported by other citizens in the app, so many of them are riddled with crazy typos. It wasn’t until I submitted my own stoplight issue that I realized the typos were caused by the app itself. The text I carefully reviewed and posted differed wildly from what was shown after submission. It seems to ignore certain modifications and autocomplete selections. For example, if I start typing “Xer” and choose the “Xerxes” autocomplete option, the text input box will correctly show “Xerxes”, but after publishing, it shows something like “Xerave”, mashing together the pre-autocomplete text with the next word I typed. I imagine this is very difficult for city staff to make sense of.

Running a city requires community involvement. This tool helps the citizens contribute

The app is basic, making anything you're reporting a chore. Couple that with a lazy, uninterested city and you've got yourself a near worthless app. Worse part: there is no way to delete your account. The company behind this app only “deactivates” and explicitly details on their website that they will “continue to make publicly available all user-provided content indefinitely to their partners and third parties.” So there’s that for you. Thanks Minneapolis for keep an eye on citizens once again.