A Little Too Much Info?

I love the over abundance of information here. Granted, that's not always the case (maybe you could give us a bit more bus and tube arrival info TFL...) but sometimes they go overboard with info here. It's almost as though they put up signs to explain other signs. I remember right before the Royal Wedding there were signs up around Buckingham Palace and Green Park to explain what exactly was going on. Because no one would have known otherwise. No, there was NO advance notice of a wedding.

While walking Riley today I saw this:

I love that they had to put a notice on the display stating that a new panel is coming soon. It's as though they expect people to see the blank panel and freak out "Oh my god! Where is the informational panel? The words are missing! What aren't they telling us? We can't use the bikes now! RUN! Run away!" Never mind that all the info needed to rent the bikes is right there on the front of the machine.

It reminds of standardized tests and the pages "left intentionally blank." I always used to laugh (to myself, because anyone who laughs out loud during standardized tests is clearly not well) whenever I would come to one of those pages. I'd like to know the thinking behind it and what the testing companies assume - "we better put a notice in the test saying this page is blank. Because clearly anyone taking this test is too stupid to realize the page is blank on purpose." Isn't it enough to see that the test goes from say question #30 on page 9 to question #31 on page 11? Do test takers really sit there and think "oh my god! This page is blank! They need to put more questions. Two hundred questions isn't enough for me. I need more!" I know I never thought that. Do other people? Do people really need to know that the Barclays Bike display is awaiting a new panel but that they can and should proceed as normal? Do they get calls from people asking if a panel is missing and when it can be expected? Did they really need to expend so much time and man power and money to install that "new panel coming soon" panel? I have so many questions...