Like, download Watch Duty and get results there. If not, just do it, man. Look it up on the internet and hopefully it will make you feel better. Honestly, I feel sorry for them, you know? I've been through this before. But the way I cope is by building Watch Duty, not by screaming. We all have our coping mechanisms. Some are effective and some are not.
Screenshot: Courtesy of Watch Duty
Do you think that people being able to get more information about what's going on on the ground will make them smarter about what they say online? Or will all that bullshit still happen?
I don't know, man. I wish I had a good answer so I could understand your question, but I really don't care about those people. It's so uninteresting. People are still running away from the fire. And that's really what's important. Now I don't need armchair reporters anymore. There are good reporters outside of Watch Duty, like a bunch of people out there relaying information to the public on X, which is great. I'm glad they did that. I wish they had a better platform for it. There are still great people on social media, but unfortunately you have to sift through Bitcoin porn and other random content that is now being overwritten by Chinese bots.
So what's next? How does Watch Duty approach the next few days of this fire in particular and then the fires that follow?
This is a great time for Mike Tyson to say: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Right now, we are being punched in the face repeatedly. When I'm in that mode, we don't do strategic planning.
We have extraordinary tactics. We focus on what's in front of us, like firefighters. That's what we're doing today, keeping the servers running, feeding the engineers, making sure that they can keep this system running as we're going through three levels of strong explosive growth. And then reporters also need sleep, words of encouragement, and help. And really just “get over this,” man. We're about to experience another bout of wind tonight. We're far from done 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 things because I've been thinking about it for a long time. We're really thinking a lot about what other disasters will look like in Watch Duty. We're actively developing that right now. We're working to make sure we can do the same thing we did in LA moving forward Hurricane Helene. Because those floods were disastrous. People don't have enough warning, don't understand it. And there's good data out there that doesn't make it to the masses. We want to be a voice of reason during these really difficult times. And that's what's next for us once we get past this nonsense.
Beats sat there in despair.
Yes. I have to be constructive, you know?