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Agreed, that isn't the type of thing I'd tell the NYT. Everyone's company/startup has technical issues, but this really could be fixed by a post on StackOverflow if they needed free advice.

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Exactly, it's a relatively minor technical issue that could be fixed fairly trivially. Yet rather than doing that it's worked around: "is not new, and had been a reality of the process for more than a decade." From my experience this is a fairly common approach in non-technical institutions. Issues are worked around and people are inconvenienced to a cost far in excess of what it would cost to fix the problem. (The opposite of what occasionally happens in tech startups...)

While it's just everyday paperwork for them, it's a life changing event for most applicants and the level of apathy with which they address it is maddening.

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