Amber Alert

[rbh]

here is a little script to add the national amber alert to your site. it runs as a ticker and changes colors when an alert is signaled and the information runs across the block with a link directly to the story with all the details. i had this on an old proboards forum i once used and just remembered it when kansas had an alert today so i found the code and tried it out on my smf forum. it works great in a center block but i havent seen what it looks like in side blocks yet. you can change the colors and such within the script to whatever you want.

Code Select Expand

</script>
<font size="1"><table width="1" align="center" class="bordercolor" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="catbg" align="center"><font color=#000000>AMBER ALERT</font></td></tr>
<tr><td class="windowbg"><table align="center"><tr><td><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.2" src="http://www.codeamber.org/js/codea.js">
</script></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></font>

[TwinsX2Dad]

No offense intended, but most people find the national alerts so irritating.

If I am in Arizona, what good does it do me to see an alert for a child in Vermont? All it does is depress me. The same goes for the poor soul in the UK being forced to see missing children alerts from Iowa.

Now I might actually be a bit more sold on the Amber Alert feel-good bandaid if folks actually got up from their computers and went out to look when a child turned up missing. Until that happens, I will continue to view it as nothing more than an attempt to make people feel good by thinking they might be doing something, even though they're not.

As it is, you go to the store and find kids running amok - any one of them could be a missing child. In reality, it is the parents who are missing. They won't parent their own children, create disposable families, then expect "the village" to look out for them.

I am sorry - in the future, I'll consider sounding more like Hillary....... NO!   

[rbh]

    the reason it is national is due to the fact that it is for the internet, and not everybody from the internet is located in arizona. now, if you have a forum that only has members from arizona, then no, you wouldn't be interested in this script and i suggest not using it. 

     as for people who see the alert and get from the computers to go find them isn't any different then hearing the alert on the radio, or seeing it on tv and dropping everything to go search. it's intention isn't for creating super heros to fly out of nowhere and find missing children, what it does do is put the information there, and when people run down to the store, head out to go to grandmas, or do whatever, they will be a little more alert to their surroundings and betters the odds of possibly finding the child. if someone goes to leave work, sees the amber alert as they log off, there is a billion to one odds they will see the child and the abductor, BUT, thats better then a billion to none odds by not having the information.

[TwinsX2Dad]

Regardless, Web surveys show that having non-localized Amber Alerts on your site not only slows down your site and further bogs the Internet, it repels viewers.

Logistically, the Amber Alert system has been an overall failure, since the public's involvement has pretty much only turned up children who were not in danger. Its value has only been within increased notification within the law enforcement community (where Orange county officials received notification from Los Angeles quicker), as well as making some people feel like they're doing something. In reality, they aren't doing anything except adding to a cluttered and overwhelming information delivery.

A proof of this is in the fact that Amber Alert banner usage is off over 90% from peak levels, with no statistical difference in effectiveness. The effectiveness has been almost exclusively in the mandates for law enforcement agencies to share information - and they aren't known to share it via banners on the WWW.

A partial solution would be to use a technology, like ASP or XML, which localizes banner output - if you're in the Detroit area, you get to see Michigan ads for White Castle and not ads for In-N-Out in California & Arizona. Apply that to your Amber Alert banners and only offer Kansas surfers Alert info for Kansas and you're eliminate a large part of the objection.

As it is, you only cause people to automatically ignore the Alert, since they get deluged with those not pertinent to them.

[rbh]

    well deserved custom title you have. if you don't like the script and don't want to use the script then don't. if you insist on thread crapping to show off your superior intelect and in depth knowledge on all things related to the www and the amber alert system, then please create your own thread and stay out of this one. it is a small script that some people might want and might like, so it is posted for them, and only the ones who do want it will copy it and apply it to their website, and those that do not like it, nor want it on their site will simply hit the back button and browse other scripts.

    your ideas that information isn't relayed via the banner is incorrect. information is passed through the banner via the amber alert website automatically. when i had it on my other site, the banner reacted in less then a minute from the time the alert was posted on the tv. when new information was released, i actullay saw it on the banner before it came on the tv.

    since you are so keen, and obviously sensitive on this topic, why don't you take the wasted time blithering about a little script and spend it creating a better system that works the way you feel it should with all your asp and xml.

    mods, you can lock this topic, PLEASE.

[TwinsX2Dad]

None of what you say is true, relevant or even reasonable. This site, as well as the SMF site (or IPB or phpBB or insert your favorite interactive script here) caters to a lot of new, inexperienced administrators. They come here looking for knowledge, experience and advice.

A newbie may be tempted to look at these little script tidbits and add them, just because they think it might be cool. The opposing view is also needed in something of a pro & con format. It is the reason message boards exist.

Pro: That Hummer H2 is sure a cool vehicle and it is extremely capable offroad!

Con: It gets abysmal fuel economy and only seats four comfortably.

If you cannot take the cons, maybe you need to write a book instead, then not read the critics' reviews.

If the newbies don't get the cons along with the toys, they are doomed to make the same mistakes many others have made. In this case (granted, my opinion), putting Amber Alerts on your site does nothing positive. The cons outweigh the pros. My intent here was to put forth some of the cons for the newbies to consider, as well as a suggested solution, before blindly throwing up some code.

By the way, the code you posted is readily available at Amber Alert sites and has no real tweaks for TP or SMF optimization - therefore your reasons for posting it here are questionable, at best.

[rbh]

    uuuhhmmm 99% of all the snippets posted here are found at several of the popular javascipt and html code sites, copied code for code, so you might start thread crapping them now so you can have the weekend off.

[TwinsX2Dad]

You'll pull anything out of context just to make yourself feel better, won't you? You might consider how you look and how you influence, instead of how you feel.

Honesty, integrity and acceptance of reality are far more important.

[borgBOB]

TwÃÆ'Ã,­nsX2DÃÆ'Ã,Â¥Ã,,‘ÂÃ,³ ; While you have made it your personal mission to provide the 'cons' point of view; many people see your posts as closer to 'thread crapping' than a valuable service. And it is you who should just 'turn the page' when you see something you do not like or see any 'value' in.

rbh is correct in starting this thread, in this board. This is a support site for TP and any topic which expands the functionality is welcome. Even if TwÃÆ'Ã,­nsX2DÃÆ'Ã,Â¥Ã,,‘ÂÃ,³ thinks it is a bad idea.

[nite0859]

*considers making an "Ad hominem" rule on my forum*