Many times when I'm doing a keep where there is a lot of spam in blue text, I often miss when people ask if I'm on the keep I'm currently doing in /region. This causes frustration for both parties, and I believe I am not the only one who has been on both sides of this unfortunate case. Since you can't change keep lord spam to a different color from region, I propose we use /advice from now on when asking if someone is on a keep. The advice is in a distinctively different color, and is difficult to be spammed out of someone's view.

Please vote and feel free to comment

 

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Why not just set your region color to something very eye catching. It's what I do

 

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Because changing your /region color changes it to the same color as the keep lord spam.

 

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I think what you meant to say is 'Because Keep Lord spam is in the /region channel'.

I was under the impression that the keep lords and other encounters used /broadcast which is always blue. A change to your region color should make a difference, except when old school people like me use /b.

This new custom that people have recently developed of asking "anybody on ..." is a bad way to coordinate keeps. I recently had an unpleasant interaction with a bunch of people because of this new custom.

The problem is that the question is not directed to anybody in particular. Therefore, if nobody answers, you can't tell whether that means "no" or it means "yes but we didn't see the question."

Changing the color and channel doesn't solve the problem. You still won't be able to distinguish "no" from "yes but we didn't see the question."

We used to have a better way on Gaheris. During most of the nine years that Gaheris has existed, most people did things differently.

People usually directed their questions to particular people and groups. They didn't broadcast them to nobody in particular. When you ask particular people a question, they answer yes or no, and you can tell whether they saw the question.

Another advantage of the old way is that it's friendlier because it makes people more conscious of what other people are doing. It leads to friendly comments like, "Hey you want glen? I'll take beno."

Here's an example of the traditional method. First, before people went to a keep, they used to type /who <zone> to see who was in the same zone as the keep that they wanted to do.

Then, if people were in the zone, they would ask those people if they were on that keep. Sometimes they asked in /region and sometimes in /tells. If they asked in /region and didn't receive a quick answer, they would ask again in /tells.

The advantage of the traditional way is that you can keep asking until you get an answer, or until you're convinced the people are /afk.

In other words, with the traditional way, you know whether your question was seen or not. If the people fail to see the question, you know it.

Let me give an example. Suppose I want to do Glenlock. I type /who jamt and see four toons. Let's say they happen to be your (Saxona's) toons. They are all in Grace and their names start with Electro.

I would say in /region, "hiya grace, are you on glen?"

If there was no answer I would send tells: /send electrospasm hi are you on glen?

If still no answer, I would assume you're afk. But almost certainly you would have answered by now.

Of course there are variations. For example, "/region hi ian, which keep are you on?" and so forth.

The essential point is that questions are directed to particular people or groups. They aren't broadcast to nobody in particular.

 

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I think the issue is less if they see it or not. After all, we have done it this way for years and for the most part it has been a smooth friendly ride. However there a new crop of players who don't understand, or don't want to understand the established etiquette on Gaheris, and they have been known to steal keep lords, refuse to answer the 'anyone on keep x' question, or even worse, answer ambiguously so you assume it is a no. It isn't the color of the text as much as it is the new rude crop of players that is the issue in my opinion.

 

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That's not how I remember things. My recollection is that asking "anybody on..." is a relatively recently change. During most of Gaheris's nine years, most people did it differently. The old method was smooth and friendly, but the new one causes problems. I had an unpleasant experience a few days ago because of "anybody on..."

 

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Every time I have been out (until recently) asking "who is on keep x" got you an answer or no answer and off you would go. In the cases where someone missed the question it would be obvious they were doing the keep when you get there. The newer players who are doing keeps either don't ask, get there, and steal the lord out from under you if they can, or they give deliberate vague answers because "they think it is funny". This wasn't happening like this even 6 months ago. So I am forced to blame the newest crop as it is always the same couple of new people involved in the problems.

I get less annoyed that a question gets missed than I do when someone asks "anyone on x keep" and gets the reply "it's down". Wait what, I just saw it up? When you point this out to them though they say, "I was making a joke, I am on it, get a sense of humor" to which I say, "get a brain, we ask questions to get an answer, not to play Abbot to your unfunny version of Costello".

I won't get annoyed when I ask if someone is on keep x and (for example) it is Saxona and he just misses it in the confusion of a tough fight. I get there, see he is on it, say 'ah i see you are on it already, carry on'. And move on myself. Those kinds of mistakes happen, they aren't done deliberately. It's the lord thieves and vague answers that stick in my craw

 

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First of all, it's not obvious to everyone. The other day, while I was on the glen lord, a group of people (not new players) came up on the roof and complained that I hadn't answered when they asked, "Anyone on glen."

They had walked past the hole in the wall, past the empty courtyard, past the broken inner door, past the empty interior, all the way to the roof. Then they complained that I hadn't answered their question. I replied to their complaint in region and received a lecture from some third party in region about how I don't know Gaheris customs. It's very annoying to get dragged into an argument like this while you're on a lord.

But my point is this. There was no reason for them to walk to Glen in the first place. If they had simply typed /who jamt before they started, they would have seen my keep group in Jamtland. If they had any doubts about whether the group was on glen they could have sent one or more tells. I missed their one question in /region, but I'm not going to miss several tells. I would have answered the tells and the whole nasty interaction would have been avoided.




I agree with this and everything else you said about malicious people. But this thread isn't about malicious people. It's about etiquette, i.e., about how well-meaning people can best cooperate.

 

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