We had some issues over at CTA Alerts this evening with a non-alert post that turned into a flame war. Here’s what I did based on that & a couple other instances over the last few months:
- Booted the users cubsfan14 and CTA_CONTROL for posting baloney. Also booted brown_line– just joined today and seemed a smite fishy, based on messages I received from the user after the booting. All others from the flame war remain– just cool it
- Changed the group from Public (anyone can join) to Private (new members require approval). The group has remained a static size (346 members) for some time now, and it’s gotten a lot of publicity, so I’m guessing the people who really want to be in it are already there. We’ll probably open it up again in a while– we’ll see
- Changed the group to "Broadcast Only" for a tiny bit just so I could do the booting and compose this reiteration. Anyone can post now
Some have asked for clarity in the rules for posting. I prefer not to spill forth about rules and guidelines and etiquette. As I’ve seen from doing this nearly 2 years, the vast majority of people "get it". Instead, I’ll reiterate three things we’ve had since day one:
The group description, found right on the group homepage:
Rider-to-rider communication in the event of service disruption or emergency on the Chicago Transit Authority.
The welcome message everyone gets when they sign up:
This group allows CTA riders to share critical real-time information about service outages and other emergency info in times of need. The group is built on trust. That means you should post sparingly and accurately. If you want to send a message to my group, you can do it from the web site, email or your wireless phone. Please do not send a test message– believe us, it works.
The ground rules that Kevin posted on the day he first posted about the CTA Alerts:
- Don’t send spam.
- Make sure they are truly alerts, like a train lines is out of service, or there’s a delay because of a medical emergency.
- Be specific with info but brief. Your message can be just 120 characters/spaces in length. That’s just 15-20 short words.
That’s about it. Last thing, though– if you’re really itching to get wordy and chit-chatty about the CTA, considering joining the UPOC group called CTA Chat.