Amber alert ticker information - provide input here please

[Steve St.Laurent]

The concerns voice here are some of the exact concerns that Robin and I had in implementing this. This was first brought up back in June and we waited until now to gauge what the interest from users were. In the original thread there were only a couple members that voiced concerns. In looking at the site that is providing this feed it looks to me as if the only alerts put out on this list are ones of a nationwide significance as none of the alerts you guys mentioned above were listed (you can see all the previous alerts listed on this service here). The line will only show when there is an active alert going on as I said above. It looks like they show cancelled alerts for a short period of time as there was a cancelled alert from the 28th that is already gone.



As said above we are doing this on a 30 day trial basis to see what the response is from you. Thank you to everyone who has thus far provided input - it will all be taken into consideration as the original suggestions were.

 

[fkovalski]

I am against it.

If one child is saved its worth it

Then let's make the TDR all Amber all the time- no forums, just Amber! (sarcastic. ) If folks really feel this is important, then make a forum for it. Then members who wish to have it can view it at thier liesure.

... everytime I change pages in TDR seems to be slowing down My Dail up a little.

This is my main beef: I am noticing a slow down on my dial- up at home too since it was implemented

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The code for this added about 400 bytes to the page load. On a 28k connection that would take . 1 seconds to load. I doubt that any speed difference was caused by adding this.

 

[EBottema]

Anyway we can start a TDR petition against the amber alert ticker?? Maybe like a voting poll in another section. I would like to lead it if possible. Thanks... If the amber alert is important enough and i'm in the area, it will be on the radio, or the TV... otherwise, the only alert i want to see on TDR is Soot.

 

[sardoghauler]

Ebottema-

you've been heard - several times. Have a beer, relax man.

 

[EBottema]

sar-

no I have not been heard. After seeing others feel the same way as I do, i would like to start a poll that more will see...

 

[sardoghauler]

good idea

Erik



Knock yourself out. Actually i started a poll just a couple hours before steve announced he was going to do a 30 day beta of the alert and judge response through this thread to see if it continues. When he did that i asked that he delete the poll because I didn't think this one issue should take up space with multiple threads. As i learned yesterday a poll is easy to create - there are directions on the FAQ page.



I promise to only vote once.



Craig

 

[tp0d]

sardoghauler:



What was that about beating a dead horse... hmmm. . seems that 3 page post whacked him pretty durn good already.





I think it should have an option in the control panel to be turned off. I dont know yet if it will be an eyesore or not, so I would like the option of customizing it. I agree its a good idea, but if it detracts from the reason I come here, for diesel talk, the membership aint worth it. .



my 2c. .



-j

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

EBottema - you have been heard. The WHOLE point of this thread is to get users opinions. As I said above - "As said above we are doing this on a 30 day trial basis to see what the response is from you. Thank you to everyone who has thus far provided input - it will all be taken into consideration as the original suggestions were. " There is an announcement in every one of the forums pointing people to this thread to give their opinions. We will be taking them all into consideration as we already are with yours.

 

[rbattelle]

This is a very difficult issue, I think, because if you disagree, there's an implication that you somehow "don't like children" or "don't care about their welfare". So I think non-concurring people will be quite unlikely to voice any opinion for fear of being branded "evil".



Because of this, I think the only fair way to do it is by secret ballot (i. e. anonymous poll).



On edit: I'm not saying I necessarily disagree, I just think the only fair way to do it is secret ballot.

 

[HeavyHauler]

Sardoghauler posted a poll a day or two ago but it was removed. Last night it was 9-2 against the Amber Alert. We should have kept this poll active.



I agree that most people that are against it will not want to voice their opinions for fear of being flamed.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

So I think non-concurring people will be quite unlikely to voice any opinion for fear of being branded "evil".



Because of this, I think the only fair way to do it is by secret ballot (i. e. anonymous poll).

That's why we specifically mention in the original post how to contact us privately to voice your opinions if people don't want to do so in public. Getting peoples thoughts in words is much more productive for us steering this than a simple poll would allow. It may give us ideas of how we could do it differently to allay peoples concerns.



The poll wasn't deleted btw - it's still there - https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138315

 

[ndurbin]

I am for it.



Being the father of two children if they went missing I would want anyone and everyone to know just on the off chance they might have seen or know something to get them back. And the Amber Alert program has worked very well in our area.



But one problem I see with it in this setup is it may affect to broad of an area. Like the ones I saw the other day for North Carolina. That doesn't affect me here in Kansas and I can't help. If there were some way to make it more localized to the members area that might be better.



Nathan

 

[GFritsch]

One thing that might be interesting is to count how many times/hours the alert went off in this 30 day trial period. When it was first started there was an alert, but I havn't seen one since. How many alerts have there been historically? If it is resonably rare then it seems to be less of an issue as far as being an irritant to some?



One other thought would be to have the alert only on the home page where it wouldn't be a bother once you are in looking at the threads.

 

[fkovalski]

One other thought would be to have the alert only on the home page where it wouldn't be a bother once you are in looking at the threads.

I'd vote for this idea! ( I was originally against the Amber, but this seems reasonable!)

 

[67guzzler]

One other thought would be to have the alert only on the home page where it wouldn't be a bother once you are in looking at the threads.

I agree 100000% This is the best idea yet.



Just thinking out loud -- I wonder how effective the system is? I mean, how can I be on the lookout for a lost child from the confines of my home office and not the road?



Regardless, if it makes the majority feel like we're doing some good, that's fine -- but limit it to the main page...

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

FYI - I've had to modify this so that it now only appears on the front page of the site and on the forum home page (the listing of forums). It caused a bug with the new post/reply page where some of the buttons wouldn't work for some users.

 

[R-N-R]

Absolutely amazing... . incredibly selfish..... and unbelieveably dissappointing :{

I just don't don't see how potentially helping locate a missing child compares to anything I read so far.

 

[QWaller]

Absolutely amazing... . incredibly selfish..... and unbelieveably dissappointing :{

I just don't don't see how potentially helping locate a missing child compares to anything I read so far.

I am right ther with this post. If any one looks around the country as whole there is nobody looking out for children. The apathy incredible. People can say what they will about me, but reading these responses makes it likely that I don't renew next year. Most everything I need can be pulled from other sites anyway. I don't want to be conversing with so many that are so bothered by possibly helping a family/child out. Not the kind of company I want to keep.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

I am right ther with this post. If any one looks around the country as whole there is nobody looking out for children. The apathy incredible. People can say what they will about me, but reading these responses makes it likely that I don't renew next year. Most everything I need can be pulled from other sites anyway. I don't want to be conversing with so many that are so bothered by possibly helping a family/child out. Not the kind of company I want to keep.

EXACTLY!!!