Caps lock

[geo]

i answered yesterday to an admin call and tried to get a player's attention using caps. well, after we had the chat we needed, he told me that he thinks that only admins should use caps, because that was the thing that caught his attention the best...
well, opinions about this?

[YorVeX]

i think we should do this. it should be added to the rules (detailed rules only would be enough) but more importantly enforced by a plug-in. the logics would be something like "check whether more than 90% of the text are written in uppercase" - should only be applied to a certain minimum length (e.g. 6 characters) so that it's not triggered when someone just writes "LOL". such short shouts are not disturbing that much. admins should be excluded from that check.
first time a player shouts he should get a warning in chat, second time a kick.

now let's see what opinions others have on that

[ST2]

the ideia is good and I agree with only consider sentences above 6 characters with 90% of the text written in uppercase. good solution to moderate the CAPS usage to shout or by mistake and as geo said... sometimes a good solution to get players attention;
but I would propose 3 steps on the plug-in when 90% uppercase and more then 6 characters:
1 - Light warning, something like: Please check your CAPS Lock state. (1/3)
2 - Severe warning: Please don't SHOUT again or you'll be KICKED. (2/3)
3 - Kick

well, not necessary to place the (3/3) because the player got kicked

[alex879ro]

I think kicking is a bit too harsh as a solution for using caps lock , or SHIFT. Beside, another problem is that admins enter with different names and they only change to normal names when they have to make an action (kick; empty company...etc) This could well lead to discussion on which players warn everytime : Don`t shout! ; Hey, are you admin?, why are u shouting.

If planning to introducing such a rule, might as well be with 2 helping steps.

1: introduce it in the rule-book
2: all admins should wear and ADMIN expression (for ex: alex879ro(ADMIN) ; geo.ro-ADMIN) so we don`t get useless discussions on which they are asked everytime if they are admins.

[Kadar]

I like the idea about an admin tag.

[alex879ro]

I like the idea about an admin tag.

Well, we could also use it for prevention. For most people is enough to see police cars patroling around them to fear if they break the rules.

[geo]

I like the idea about an admin tag.

Well, we could also use it for prevention. For most people is enough to see police cars patroling around them to fear if they break the rules.

geo.ro(admin)<<- SOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUTEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Geert]

who is cute??? 

[ZeroIncome]

I don't agree what if a normal players wants to get another normal players attention? Then I have to call an admin to come and use caps for me?

[geo]

who is cute??? 

it was about how cute it sounded geo.ro(admin), but, it won't be a tag of geo.ro anymore...
bunny(admin)<<-lovely

[YorVeX]

I don't agree what if a normal players wants to get another normal players attention? Then I have to call an admin to come and use caps for me?

the rule could be phrased so it only forbids caps on public chat. then you could send it as private message to the player (or if you need the attention of any player from a company send it as team chat).

[vitalikk2005]

The reason this thread was started was my joke after seeing 'bunny(admin)' shouting at players (I don't log the chat to prove, but admins can have it). Nor did I suppose it would be taken that seriously.

My opinion: absolutely no reason to write down rules regulating caps lock usage. Such rules don't add fun or anything to the game. To continue with the joke, let's specify also how many consecutive exclamation marks can be used by non-admins.

Further, caps lock usually associates not with authority, but with childish hot temper. Hence, if I may give an advice to admins, you should better use admin tags in names, and/or (if technically feasible) make admin's chat color-highlighted, instead of shouting with caps.

[alex879ro]

Hmm...Vitalikk kinda has a point. Making admins use colourful chat(if possible) would be even better. About the admin tag...since suggesting it...i agree with it:)
Thank You vitalikk for the idea:)

[ZeroIncome]

100% agree with vitalikk2005

[YorVeX]

unfortunately it's not technically possible to colorize the chat without server patching (which we don't do). OpenTTD internally has support for it but external applications cannot use it.
if it was possible it would have been used for many other things already 

i agree with vitalikk2005 about the "childish hot temper" view, that's the same how i see it too. but still it's something that unnecessarily draws my attention and that of players. on IRC and also other game servers people have been running bots/plugins/scripts to kick players using too much caps long before your joke brought up this idea here, so joke or not, i think it's still valid to consider blocking it (at least in public chat).

whether admins should really make use of the exception they will get is another question, maybe an [ADMIN] tag would work better here (BTPro uses it too, i will ask their admins whether they made good or bad experience with it so far).