Robin2go
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robin2go.bsky.social
Robin2go
@robin2go.bsky.social
renegade element. disruptive human. drinks coffee. laughs loudly. swears profusely. trying to remember how to have fun again on social.
OH: this chronic yak shaving is effing bullshit.
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 PM
So, so, SO many of my friends woke up yesterday to find themselves unemployed — simply because they were very good at their job and passionate about their work. They are also fearless. 18f.org
18F: We are dedicated to the American public and we're not done yet
For over 11 years, 18F has been proudly serving the American people to make government technology work better. We are non-partisan civil servants. 18F has worked on hundreds of projects, all designed ...
18f.org
March 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Robin2go
I once saved an agency around $2 million on a modernization project because of a bad contract they had, it took me several phone calls and less than a week.

You need alignment and air cover to pull stuff like this off, but the game changing is stuff we weren't even allowed to promote or talk about
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was just demolished by Musk’s team. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 million.

A thread about 18F:
18F is *precisely* what Musk and team claim should exist within government. But when his team found it, they destroyed it, because it is evidence that government works well (can’t have that!), and because like Zelensky, 18F didn’t bend the knee.
March 1, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Robin2go
“We’re still absorbing what has happened. We’re wrestling with what it will mean for ourselves and our families, as well as the impact on our partners and the American people.

“But we came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet.“ — @team18f.bsky.social, 18f.org
March 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Robin2go
Here are the key parts of a letter from US Digital Service employees who resigned
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/skilled-te...
March 2, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Reposted by Robin2go
Gutting 18F will make pave the way for private contractors, many aligned with Musk, to fill the gap that DOGE has created, but at a much inflated cost.
From Dan Tangherlini, former GSA Administrator who oversaw 18F.
March 2, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by Robin2go
18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Robin2go
The administration got rid of 18F under the cover of night. People who own skyscrapers are afraid of 100 people who make websites.

Not because of the latest tech fad, but because we proved the government can be fixed, the government can be made better and the government can work for the people.
March 2, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Robin2go
I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
18f.org
March 1, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I’ve got a lot of friends still at 18F, struggling with everything that’s happening outside their control to themselves and others. I’m afraid many of us may need to make our own lists soon. Thanks for sharing this, Ethan. Best of luck.
🦊

Friday was my last day working at 18F. It was a team of extraordinary people, but a few things happened that made me realize I had to leave.

Everything happens so much these days, so I thought I’d write down for myself what happened, and how I made my decision:

ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leavin...
Moving on from 18F. — ethanmarcotte.com
I had a wonderful job, until I didn’t. This is about what happened—and what is happening.
ethanmarcotte.com
February 21, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Robin2go
The FBI’s core values, including integrity, compassion, fairness, and allegiance to the Constitution - and oh, yeah, diversity, are being painted over at the FBI Academy. Source: NYT.
January 31, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Robin2go
The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...
End of Term Web Archive – Preserving the Transition of a Nation | Internet Archive Blogs
blog.archive.org
February 1, 2025 at 12:58 AM
This.
I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.
February 2, 2025 at 3:39 AM
OH: it’s just turtles all the way down. And by turtles, I mean nightmares.
February 2, 2025 at 3:01 AM
OH: I’m afraid Beverly’s pompon will get soggy.
January 24, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Going away for a four day birthday weekend and I packed no laptop, iPad or anything electronic other than my phone. I feel very naked right now. 😬
January 17, 2025 at 6:17 PM
OH: I’m posting all these selfies you took on my phone when I wasn’t looking.

How do you spell *miscreant*?
January 10, 2025 at 12:21 AM
What did I do on my first day of winter break? Cleaned my neglected home, did 4 loads of laundry, flipped my king mattress (alone), stripped and remade it with fresh new bedding, and then had a cup of tea and watched Dr Who. It was almost as if I remembered how to have a life again.
December 22, 2024 at 4:23 AM
Wow. Just… wow. A picture worth a 1,000 words. On all the signs.
Content won’t fix a broken product design
Who needs UX, just add a label so users will know what to do
December 15, 2024 at 7:38 PM
If you’ve ever seen my talks that mention Anne’s Alphabet of Accessibility, you know her approach to the world is something special. I highly recommend taking her up on project work.
December 15, 2024 at 7:32 PM
We call this “holiday Tetris”. Hope y’all are enjoying the extended holiday weekend.
November 30, 2024 at 1:40 PM
😂🥁
Where do mansplainers get their water?

From a well actually.
November 21, 2024 at 10:59 PM
OH: Was not expecting “How hard it was to keep the robots on track”
November 21, 2024 at 9:54 PM
I stopped interacting on Twitter several years ago because of <waves hands vaguely> reasons, but there wasn’t a comparably sized community to join elsewhere. Until now. Let me just say, this is lovely. 💙
November 21, 2024 at 2:22 PM