That tool helps with the parent's particular complaint, but I think the broader point is accurate. It is definitely too hard to find useful raw data, and it is even harder to find raw data that is already is a useful format. Specifically talking about the census data, their format is custom and complex [1]. They do have an API [2] which makes it easier, but I still have to write code to download a version of the census data that is in a useful format. Why can't I just have a download link to a SQL script, JSON file, or a tarball with a bunch of CSV files?

I have the same question for the United States project. Why YAML for congress-legislators? It is certainly better than creating their own custom format, but I still have to do work if I want to import the data into a database or Excel.

1. http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/

2. http://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/decennial-ce...

People are lazy. Anything that works to circumvent that fact should be applauded.

I do not understand your comment. OP lamented the lack of easy access to demographic data, commenting that "it would be really awesome to just click a few times to see make up of a politician's district" and I gave a link to exactly what OP was longing for. The only remaining laziness circumvention is an application that reads your mind. You think bothering to look before complaining is too much to ask of individuals who comment on HN posts?

My point is this: how many people are there as motivated as op? Motivated enough to comment on an obscure website in hopes of being pointed in the right direction?

Perhaps maybe the disconnect is in that I -- and maybe op as well -- are thinking in the context of people as a whole, and you are thinking in the context of people as members HN.

Lets talk about "people as a whole" who are interested in "a few clicks access to congressional district demographics." You think it is too much to ask to have them type "congressional district demographics" into a search box? If you put this search into google "My Congressional District" is the first result. I don't know how you make that any easier to find short of creating a mind reading application.

https://www.google.com/search?q=congressional+district+demog...

>You think it is too much to ask to have them type "congressional district demographics"..

For the majority of the (US at least) population? Absolutely yes. Hence the term "circumvention". No way this fight is won, at least at this point, over a battle of logic.

In this day and age, instigating change needs to be as simple as possible.

Maybe what I'm saying doesn't make sense. If so, apologies.