How watch duty keeps up with California wildfires

Like, download watch duty and get results there. Otherwise, there it is, people. The internet has it and hope it makes you feel better. I feel bad for them, honestly, you know? I have been through this before. But the way I coped was by creating watch duties, not by shouting into the ether. We all have our coping mechanisms. Some are productive and some are not.

Screenshot: Courtesy of Watch Duty

Do you think that people being able to get more information about what’s happening on the ground will help them be smarter about what they’re saying online? Or is all the shitposting still going to happen?

I don’t know, man. I wish I had a better answer that I could play into your question, but I don’t really care about those people. It’s just so uninteresting. People are still fleeing the fire. And that’s what really matters. I don’t need an armchair reporter now. There are great reporters who aren’t on watch duty, like a bunch of people who are relaying information to the public at X, which is great. I’m glad they do. I wish they had a better platform for it. There are still great people on social media, but unfortunately you have to find bitcoin porn and other random stuff that is being overridden by Chinese bots right now.

So what’s next? Especially how the watch duty for the next few days comes after this fire and then the fire

This is a great time for Mike Tyson’s expression: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Right now, we’re getting punched in the face over and over again. When I’m in that mode, we don’t do strategic planning.

We are incredibly crafty. We focus on what’s in front of us, just like a firefighter does. That’s what we’re doing today, keeping our servers online, feeding the engineers, making sure they can keep this thing going because we’re experiencing three levels of explosive growth. And then reporters need sleep too, need pep talks, need help. And so it’s really just “get through this,” people. We are going to experience another wind event tonight. We are far away and tonight is going to be another bad night.

What about the long term? What is the future of how people use Watch Duty?

I can talk about long-term stuff because I’ve been thinking about it for ages. We’re really thinking a lot about what other disasters look like on watch duty. We are actively developing it now. We’re working to make sure we can do what we did in LA next Hurricane Helen. Because that flood was a disaster. People were not careful enough, did not understand. And there is good information that is not being brought to the public. We want to be the voice of reason in these difficult times. And so that’s what’s next for us as we get through this nonsense.

Beats sits down in frustration.

yes I have to be constructive, you know?