Gregory's ServerCorrections / additional:
- @alexhelvetica pointed out that I missed the carve out for Alpurrurulam NT (4825)
- @simon_w raised another fallacy that you can't treat postcodes as numbers (0872 would become 872)
- @Dangerous_beans mentioned that postcodes can't be mapped to other geographic coding schemes like LGAs
- @ChlorideCull / @devopscats points out that postcodes can move / change
- @whyrl fallacy: A postcode can be mapped to a geographical location (see e.g. defence force personnel codes)
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Top-level
 30 comments
 @scy @whyrl @scy Postcode 2890 is used for sending to Australian Defence Force personnel, who may be located on a ship overseas. https://auspost.com.au/sending/guidelines/mail-for-defence-personnel  @xssfox areas may also have several postcodes; e.g. ryde’s p.o. box postcode is 1680, but regular addresses in ryde use 2112 @jacqueline @xssfox My PO box can be referenced as: Same box, and the post office is physically in 10001 but they invented 10116 just for PO boxes in this one post office. @artemist I mean it's also a fallacy that a building will be within the same country @xssfox @artemist True. This is an example of a house in two countries. It really has two addresses, one in Belgium and one in The Netherlands. https://www.bhic.nl/ontdekken/verhalen/twee-huisnummers#:~:text=Op%20Loveren%20in%20Baarle%2DNassau,Belgisch%2C%20huisnummer%2019%20is%20Nederlands.  @xssfox you might want to add an flag to my one there that it might be wrong. or just really confusing @Dangerous_beans @xssfox @devopscats @whyrl @ChlorideCull @simon_w @alexhelvetica Plus: internationally, not all postcodes are 4 digit numbers. In Ireland postcodes are 7 digits, include letters and numbers, and represent individual buildings or even individual apartments. Singapore is a bit similar. There's a bunch of fun replies that I haven't been able to keep up with entirely, but here's another fun postcode : 4825 It's non contiguous and has all these little broke on sections. It also crosses sate borders @xssfox you’re SO close to being able to score post-codes on how cursed they are. I’ll just leave this here https://til.simonwillison.net/sqlite/sqlite-tg  @xssfox There's also a great article about fallacies concerning people's names https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ @xssfox The most common programmer's fallacies I encounter are: - Sentences start with a noun Both break down as soon as you ask people to translate your software to a language unlike English. Fuck the people who say we shouldn't care about the users in 0872 because there's so few of them (~18k) Many of these users are important and amazing. Many are vulnerable and need support. Entire communities of people.  @xssfox It would make more sense not to take care of US zip code 10118, since nobody lives there. @xssfox The previous post is a joke, 10118 is the Empire State Building in New York City, which indeed has zero pemanent residents, but about 300 businesses, 7000 employees, and more than a billion US dollars of payroll. @xssfox Another fallacy from this part of the world: Postcodes can be used as a way to show people’s semi-anonymised location. I remember signing up for a website and realising that the postcode I gave them was public on my profile, which was concerning to me since in Ireland, postcodes map to a single delivery point, so my postcode is just my apartment. @xssfox More fallacies: @xssfox @alexhelvetica @simon_w @Dangerous_beans @ChlorideCull @devopscats @whyrl in UK, postcodes contains letters, in France we have postcodes starting with 0 too. In France, companies can have personal postcode called CEDEX which is different from real postcode. |
@xssfox Another fallacy:
- A postcode can be mapped to a geographical location (see e.g. defence force personnel codes)