Moderator Action Text Color

This is just a quick announcement to let you all know that we have changed the color of Moderator action text to blue.

Mod talk will now look like this. When you see it, pay attention! :D

We hope that the blue will be a little less intimidating than the red we've been using thus far. The forum rules have been changed to reflect this fabulous new color choice. Please remember that you shouldn't use colorful text in your messages, as it could make moderating confusing.

Thank you!

Really? I don't understand, I thought that mod talk was supposed to look intimidating. Red was a good color that was easily noticed, conveyed a point, and made people pay attention and follow instructions. This blue isn't as easily noticed and shows a type of leniency that should not be used when conveying an important message. In simpler terms, red shows that you mean business but blue show passiveness. I think you should switch back to red. But, if there is an important reason you switched to blue, then I suppose it's not THAT big of a deal. Whatever.

Mods aren't here to be intimidating—just the opposite: mods should be approachable. They are here to help keep the forums clean and friendly. :D

My problem with the red wasn't with the color itself but with the frequency it was used; I always felt that "mod voice" was useful for informing members of things like harsh infractions or when a thread needs to be closed, but that it was a bit too aggressive for passive warning for things such as doubleposting. Hopefully with this change, we can find a pleasant middle ground that will make the moderators seem friendlier to new members.

I'll admit, I'll probably still use red for when batshit stuff is going down.

This is mostly to help with things that aren't really people doing anything wrong as much as not being acclimated to the way we run things. We don't want, for instance, a new member to feel intimidated if he double posts. I mean, its a good idea to read the rules, but its hardly a malicious act, and a lot of communities allow double posts, so its understandable that someone might make the mistake.

(Seriously, I reserve the right to use the red mod voice for when people actually need to be told to back off because they are for instance, attacking a member or such.)

I saw a neat mod a few years back for the old IPB, it let moderators and admin alike add notes to the persons post, the coolest feature was the inability for the end user at alter that note in any way... be kewl if I could find that mod again, it was incompatible with the new text box that IPB did awhile back.

I think that uh...this is ridiculous? If you wanna use red use red, if you want to use blue use blue. its whatever. i dont see how it would matter. unless some kids feelings get hurt over a big bad mod.

EDIT: that actually happens never mind

Found it! It's a great mod... sent it to Nathan and fuzzy. :)

Also I didn't mind the red, but it did appear that I did something horribly wrong. LOL

I didn't mind the red, but I see how that could appear about as intimidating as an ominous red F on a school paper. :lol: Sweet.

I'm honestly not that fond of putting notes on peoples posts. The only time I do it is when I want people to know instantly when they read the post that its been dealt with so I don't get reports about it later.

***cough, cough***

I think this is a kind decision, since many ACE users may be new to RPG making and forum life in general.

And when you gotta go red, well, why not be epic-ly red, eh? =D

I feel it's kinder to use blue in some situations, such as a new member. New members can be easily intimidated by the size and scale of the forum, and may feel small, and if they make a mistake, big fat ugly red is kind of intimidating too. I agree with blue, but red for serious matters.

I just wanted to clarify ... We made the decision to switch to blue because we've received feedback that red was too intimidating for most of the things we use it for. Mod voice is supposed to be used whenever we're performing a moderating action - whether it's gently reminding someone of the rules or telling someone they're banned. It's meant to be a way to get your attention and make it easy to find within a thread. It's not always supposed to be intimidating.

We may still occasionally use red for very serious offenses, but you shouldn't be seeing it all over the place anymore (such as when support threads are closed, for example).

We made an announcement because it was a change in the forum rules and because we didn't want anyone to be confused. It's not a huge change and it probably won't affect anyone greatly, but it was important to let you know about it. :)

I was going to suggest this actually. I thought of saying "change to blue" a few hours before it happened. I think it's a good change.

One reason is that you always see the red text, as though there has been an issue in the thread, where the mods are just closing a support thread.

OK, now I understand why you switched to blue. But still, when your'e doing something that should be seen as a bit intimidating, such as for a serious offense, like art theft, you should still use the red. But, I see how the blue would be better for less serious offenses, like a conversation getting off topic in a request post, double posting, or mini-modding.

Mm...it's a good idea I suppose. I thought red suited you guys though 3:

I think that's pretty much the idea.