We had a rant not too long ago about the use of “TWEET” and “BANG” as means from the mods to draw attention to their interventions when they were not issuing formal warnings. I didn’t much care for the rant then or the ranter and talked the matter with a couple of people through private channels. Since the rant sank without any form of support from even the most hardcore administration objectors, and since I had never seen it in action, I forgot the matter. Until today when I saw it in a thread I was following (not directed at me, btw).
Here is the summary of my position on the matter of using “TWEET” or “BANG” as a tool to draw attention to a mod’s intervention:
I do agree that there is need to somehow draw attention to a mod talking in official manner but not issuing official warnings. It is easy for those to get lost in the heat of an argument.
I do like the idea of using a neutral thing to draw attention to these. I specially liked the idea of a whistle since it is normally associated with sports where referees enforce rules to keep a cordial battle of sorts under an agreed order. The judge hammer thingy is also appropriate, although I personally like the whistle better.
I think that both “TWEET” and “BANG” fail to conjure the image they are supposed to. “TWEET” sounds more like a British Bobby than a sports referee, plus all the associations to large eyed yellow birds with annoying voices. “BANG” is kind of tied already to firearms. “BAM” or “BLAM” would be marginally better were it not for Mr Lagasse who appropriated them.
My only idea on how to improve on these would be to have a smilie that only mods would use. I would say a whistle or a hammer better than a face doing something that would be unintelligible at that size, but the reality is that even if you chose a robot sombrero just by virtue of it being “the smilie only mods use” it should be enough for people to know what the post that follows is all about.
I realize that there might be no way in the software to prevent people from using it, but then again there is nothing to prevent people from starting their posts with “Official Mod Warning” and we don’t seem to be having a problem with that.
Anyways, that it took over a month for me to see one of those “BANG” things in the wild tells me that this is a matter of only minimal urgency but maybe that is what makes this the best time to discuss this, now that it is not burning on anyone’s mind and we can talk it coolly and calmly.
Having been one of the people at whom the recent use of whistle/gavel was directed, I have to say that I find it effective, and not annoying in the least.
<sigh> I’m once again going to disappoint Stink Fish Pot.
A moderator only smiley graphic might be an interesting concept, though. I suspect, however, that someone would rail in here about the use of a “dumb smiley”.
I guess things really are pretty much back to normal, if mod sound effects have made it to the top of the list of things that are pissing people off. Or one person, anyway.
Please show me one line in Sapo’s well written OP where he seems even the slightest bit pissed off.
Of course, you can’t. He even ended his OP with the phrase ‘coolly and calmly’. At this point the only snark in this thread seems to be coming from a mod. Your posts are a good example of the dismissive tone of the SDMB administration.
Your post completely misses the point of my post, and is an example of the staff at SDMB routinely dismissing the concerns and questions of both members and guests, no matter how carefully and respectfully written. I honestly don’t care that you were attempting to make a joke. I think it speaks volumes about this board that after 12 hours, there are only two posts in this thread from a mod or admin; one a literary quote that doesn’t attempt to address the main topic of the OP, and the other a self-described ‘joke’ at the OP’s expense.
“this is a matter of only minimal urgency” - from the OP
I’m shocked that it hasn’t been dealt with yet - it’s now at least 14 hours since it was posted!! And to respond with jokes and obscure literary allusions - on **Cecil’s **message boards???
I was the OP of the original thread about “TWEEET!!!” I also was not “pissed off” about it – I simply thought it was “retarded” to use such phrases when addressing adults on a message board. Some mods objected to my language and shut down the thread(s) pretty quickly. I admit that I was somewhat inflammatory in my language but also think TPTB really don’t want to hear any of this kind of dissension.
I still think it’s a pretty juvenile way to deal with SDMB customers, but I also know that some mods here need to be “tough guys” for whatever reasons so it will not likely stop. So I would suggest simply ignoring the more silly aspects of it.
FTR, I am not pissed off about this. I don’t find it juvenile, retarded, insulting, demeaning, aggrieving, spurious or conjunctational. I just think that it is ineffective.
A single word in ALLCAPS is not eye catching enough. People use ALLCAPS all the time. It is a tool already in use and thus part of the background noise above which the mods are hoping to take their notice.
That the two words chosen (TWEET and BANG) are in themselves not good representations of what the mods hope to convey with them is an added layer of inadequacy to them.
Again, I really like the idea of a whistle. It brings that image of refereeing that is what I think mods should do. I just don’t think that TWEET works as a MB version of a referee’s whistle.
I gather you were trying to make a joke, and I do agree that the fact that the complain-du-jour is about mods’ sound effects is a sign that all is well in SDMBland. I was takng advantage of the lull in complains to address something that would have gotten lost under the hooves of any other issue.
Still, your post, even if unadvertently, both tries to paint me as pissed off and as a fish against the current. The fact that it came from a mod (even if you weren’t posting as such) can only fuel the antis. You should know better than that.
Mods should be defusers of situations. That sometimes means you have to let a good joke untold. Or even a bad one.
Sapo, sorry for sort of side-stepping the issue. I will repeat what I thought I said in the earlier thread:
The purpose of TWEET, BANG, HARRUMPH or whatever is to attract attention. I tend to use them in long threads (or threads with lots of very long posts), because I make some moderating statement (such as “CUT IT OUT”) and I want to be sure it’s seen. There’s a tendency (I am guilty as well) for people to read a thread, see some comment, want to respond, and then scroll quickly through the rest of the thread without reading all the entries. A moderator ruling easily gets missed, so I want to do something that helps distinguish that post for someone scrolling past. And it’s not just the sound, it’s the action surrounded by ::: that also acts as some sort graphic pointer. Or, so I hope.
I agree, it’s not 100% effective. In fact, there’s a thread today where, two or three posts after I made a moderator ruling of what the thread topic was, there was an off-topic hijack attempt. I’m quite happy if it’s 80% effective; that’s still better than just some sort of tag like [Moderating] that’s probably only 40 or 50% effective.
I don’t care if some of you think ill of it. It serves a purpose that I think is useful.
However, I have no particular love for whistles or gavels or whips (I’ve used CRACK! as well), but I thought it was a somewhat cute approach that has some chance of being noticed. I am certainly open to reasonable alternative suggestions that accomplish the same goal. (And no, using 28-point font size or red and yellow alternating letters are NOT reasonable suggestions.)
CKDH, I agree with most of your post. I do think that there is the need to draw attention to mod interventions. I also agree that a funky sized and colored text would be silly (we have seen it elsewhere with poor results). I also agree that the [moderating] tag is even less effective than BANG.
Don’t take this as criticism of the idea but more like unsolicited advice in fine tuning it.
Maybe just Official Moderator Intervention in bold just as you do for Official Mod Warning. **Bold **text really draws the eye a lot more than ALLCAPS (or you can go crazy and do BOLD ALLCAPS).
Also, never underestimate the power of white space. A blank line or two before and after your chosen line would help it a lot.
I have found that when I ramble too long on a post, stating my main point or question in bold in its own paragraph greatly increases my chance of it being noticed and addressed.
Also, if whatever it is, you all agreed to use it consistently, it would help to train us to spot them more readily than each one trying his own thing.
Just my two cents.
ETA: Take a quick look at my post and tell me how many instances of bolding and how many instances of allcaps there are. See my point? or maybe it is just the way my computer, browser combo renders it.
And that’s a good thing actually, for I’d hate to see what kind of damage a crackhead could inflict with any of the three prior instruments you mention.
BTW, thanks for the public confession – is that one of the required steps in N.A.?
Good on Sapo and Twickster for being total adults and neatly defusing a potential situation through reasoned posting.
I don’t have a dog in the TWEET fight, but I agree with Sapo that if you’re looking for something to arrest the eye as it skims down a page of text, you can’t do much better than bold.
(And I have to ask, is CRACK! a more potent version than the just plain old crack? Because it sure sounds like it’s better than the stuff I’ve been using.)
Count me as someone who has found the “TWEET!” a welcome relief from the old “Knock it off!” that we used to get so much of the time.
Dex, can’t you see that that is the very kind of statement that fosters such ill will and resentment. There is no reason to talk to us like you just don’t give a damn. If you are to the point where you really don’t give a damn what regular dopers think, WTF?
Whatever happened to “Sorry that some of you don’t like it, but this is the option I’ve chosen.”? (Or something similar to that.)
We could use a convention similar to that of the use of marked police cars - color code the ex moderata bits by use of reserved colors. If you wish, use reserved colors in some sort of order of severity.
Barring that, use a modified box or frame that unambiguously displays moderator imperatives.