Appending incident threads with family warning

[billvon 2,380]

>Moderators, could you please put Andy's comment or something similar to the header
>information about this this forum?

It is there. See "what will happen when you read this forum" - it's the very first thread on the forum.

[riggerpaul 1]

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>Moderators, could you please put Andy's comment or something similar to the header
>information about this this forum?

It is there. See "what will happen when you read this forum" - it's the very first thread on the forum.

Maybe it would be too much, but I wonder if it maybe should automatically be posted at the top of each incident THREAD, and not just at the top of the FORUM.

I rather doubt that the families of jumpers who visit this site and read the incident threads do a whole lot of background gathering before they delve into the thread about their loved one.

So, would it be impossible to prepend that post to the beginning of every new thread when it is created?

(I suppose this post should maybe be in the "Suggestions" forum, but I think I'd like to see it read more widely. Thanks!)

-paul

[danornan 64]

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>Moderators, could you please put Andy's comment or something similar to the header
>information about this this forum?

It is there. See "what will happen when you read this forum" - it's the very first thread on the forum.

Maybe it would be too much, but I wonder if it maybe should automatically be posted at the top of each incident THREAD, and not just at the top of the FORUM.

I rather doubt that the families of jumpers who visit this site and read the incident threads do a whole lot of background gathering before they delve into the thread about their loved one.

So, would it be impossible to prepend that post to the beginning of every new thread when it is created?

(I suppose this post should maybe be in the "Suggestions" forum, but I think I'd like to see it read more widely. Thanks!)

-paul

Thanks Paul -

I suggested that and I agree! I don't think that the families of an incident victim will be reading all of the intro threads, but they do read the first thread and all following. No reason to not do this.

Dano

[Bolas 5]

While I like the idea of the content added to the first post, nothing is stopping people from using their first post as a warning either:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=640861

The person in this post made a full recovery and has thousands of jumps and is an amazing videographer.

[riggerpaul 1]

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>Moderators, could you please put Andy's comment or something similar to the header
>information about this this forum?

It is there. See "what will happen when you read this forum" - it's the very first thread on the forum.

Maybe it would be too much, but I wonder if it maybe should automatically be posted at the top of each incident THREAD, and not just at the top of the FORUM.

I rather doubt that the families of jumpers who visit this site and read the incident threads do a whole lot of background gathering before they delve into the thread about their loved one.

So, would it be impossible to prepend that post to the beginning of every new thread when it is created?

(I suppose this post should maybe be in the "Suggestions" forum, but I think I'd like to see it read more widely. Thanks!)

-paul

Thanks Paul -

I suggested that and I agree! I don't think that the families of an incident victim will be reading all of the intro threads, but they do read the first thread and all following. No reason to not do this.

I apologize - I missed that you wanted it added to each thread.

The only difference between our suggestions is that I think it should be the very first post, posted automatically, in each thread, even before the first "human" post. That way, it would be even tougher to miss.

But, as I said, I apologize for misinterpreting your post.

[JohnRich 4]

Well shucks, as long as we're going this route, then I insist that every post that is mere speculation, begin with the large capital letters "SPECULATION", in bold, at the top of the message. That way the bereaved loved ones won't get confused between facts and fiction.

[Divalent 89]

Agree with adding the warning language in the first post.

And a marginally somewhat related suggestion: could people's automatic "signature" be turned off in that forum? It appears that a poster's current signature line is displayed under every message they ever posted. Sometimes those signature quotes are jarringly inappropriate for the message and topic they commented on.

[Bolas 5]

One can turn off their signature for a post if they so choose.
I pretty much always do in the incidents forum.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[Andy9o8 0]

You can set your view preferences to not display any signature lines at all.

[Divalent 89]

@Bolas and Andy9o8:

Yeah, except most people don't think to do that when posting, even those that know it's an option. Thus my suggestion to make "no sig" the default for that particular forum.

Sig lines run the gamut: from "good advice", mocking a friend, funny references to skydiving risks or dangerous situations, political statements, goofy/silly phrases or quotes, etc. In almost all cases they really aren't appropriate in a thread about a particular fatality or serious injury, and in some cases they end up making a point (about the incident, the victim, or the poster) that was not intended.

The issue is that most people set their sig and then don't really think about it (until they later decide to change it). It appears that whatever your current sig is, that is what will be displayed below all of your posts when viewed in the future, even ones posted before you set that particular version of the sig. Thus, even in those rare situations where your current sig complements your message, that will be lost when you later change your sig. (Or worse, make you seem like a callous jerk when you later change your sig to something that seems to fit the incident.)

[JohnRich 4]

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One can turn off their signature for a post if they so choose.
I pretty much always do in the incidents forum.

Yes, but we're talking about family members coming in here as new users to find out what happened to their loved ones. The default is that you DO see the signatures, and new users like that won't know enough about how the forum operates to know to turn that option off so they DON'T see it.

So what we need is to have the default be Signatures OFF for the Incidents forum. Then if you want them back on, you have to check a box in your Settings list.

Oops. Now that I've responded, I see that Divalent has already posted the same thing. Well, brilliant minds think alike.

[Andy9o8 0]

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@Bolas and Andy9o8:

Yeah, except most people don't think to do that when posting, even those that know it's an option. Thus my suggestion to make "no sig" the default for that particular forum.

Yeah, I was just being technical. Anyhow, I think it's a fine idea.

[Divalent 89]

There are several example in the "Fatality - Snohomish WA - 18 AUG 2011" thread.

For example, user "freeflysteve" has the sig:
"Swooping, huh? I love that stuff ... all the flashing lights and wailing sirens ... it's very exciting!"

Nothing at all wrong with the sig except (IMO) in a fatality thread. (that particular incident wasn't a swooping fatality, but if he ever posted in one of those threads, there it will be, right now).