Emote For Party

Jul 22 06:01 UTC 1996

A couple of months ago, I added a noise called "n" upon multiple requests for
a noise that could be used for anything.  It took the form of "<$0 $1>", where
$0 was the person making the noise, and $1 was what the person wanted to say.
On M-net, this is called emote.  

Last week, I noticed that the other partyadm had changed the noise from 
"<$0 $1>" to "<$0 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>".  He
cited past discussion in Co-op saying that there should not be an "emote"
noise for a reason as to why he changed it.  

Well, I don't know *who* made *that* decision, but according to the party log
for last week, there sure are a *lot* of people upset that we no longer have
an "emote" noise.  I think that the will of the people who *use* party should
be honored in this, and that an "emote" noise should be added back to party.

This is what I got when I grepped last week's party log for instances of the
string "emote":

grex% grep emote party.log.old |more
<maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<annon really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<annon really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<squirrel really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<sonnet really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
sentine1:  hey sonnet .... is there an emote command for gres
<sentine1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
sentine1:  what is the /emote noise
lagmnstr:  /n is emote >%*)
<thorin really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<sentine1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
sentine1:  <---- still wonders what the /emote command is for grex
squirrel: /n is the /emote command for grex
turgon:    no /emote here, last i checked
thetick:   /emote *was* /n, then they changed it...I don't think that they have
on e now munkey:   sentinel, grex doesn't really have an aemote command.. you
can do /is wh atever or /has whatever  or /does whatever <squirrel really
wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <munkey really wishes that Grex
had a working /emote noise> <lagmnstr really wishes that Grex had a working
/emote noise> lagmnstr:  right now im looking for the emote noise pfv:     
yes, it was me - I cursed the Borg and they trashed it under my remote, pyschic
influence ;-) <sentine1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
risa:     why DOESN'T party have a working emote noise? mpayne:   I know that
risa.  I just want a good old emote. risa:     i mean like this  /emote does a
backflip:) risa:     does anyone know if we can get a working emote noise in
herre? <kdc really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <kdc really
wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <kdc really wishes that Grex had a
working /emote noise> kdc:      risa:  the noise I'm using worked like an
/emote command a few days ago <risa wants an emote noise NOW!!!!> risa:     why
can't someone add a new /emote noise? <squirrel really wishes that Grex had a
working /emote noise> <torjerla really wishes that Grex had a working /emote
noise> <sekari really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> jimypage: I
really wish that people would stop wishing for a working /emote noise cause its
not gonna happen <ryan1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
mook:     I saw SCG today, he said the /emote noise should be working <maus
really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> pfv:      yeah... an /emote
is more useful than 90% of these vanity noises <blancanu really wishes that
Grex had a working /emote noise> <maus really wishes that Grex had a working
/emote noise> <maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <void
really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <ogjohn really wishes that
Grex had a working /emote noise> butter:   actually i'm glad it doesn't have
the /emote ;) <rh really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<sentine1:sentine1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<sentine1:sentine1 is a pathetic excuse for /emote> sonnet:   damn, is there a
emote3 comand like at mnet? ryan1:    nope, no emotes on grexs hannibal:  grex
is emote-less <ryan1:ryan1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
sonnet:   Not emote, but an equivalent... is /n working yet? <hannibal:hannibal
really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <z0mbie:z0mbie really
wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> <z0mbie:z0mbie really wishes that
Grex had a working /emote noise> <z0mbie:z0mbie really wishes that Grex had a
working /emote noise> hannibal:  there's different levels...you start as a
"Peasant"..the more you use i t, talk with people, etc...eventually you get
promoted to "Courtier"..but if yer a n ass you get demoted to "Jester" in which
you can do like nothing <giry:giry really wishes that Grex had a working /emote
noise> jiffer:    well rob.... i must say that taking 20 minutes to an hour to
get on gre x can be a pain in the ass... why last night i took a bath, washed
my sogs and bom bed three remote villages while i was waiting donkey:  
scrwtape ! I think U need to be a member to run ftp at grex but with the
 other systems it must be OK isn'tit? You can try login on to ur server once
 again from the remote machine
<jamie:jamie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<creative:creative really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<jbrennan:jbrennan really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<risa:risa wants an /emote noise!!!>
blaire:   wheres my remote?
<chamberl:chamberl really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<ogjohn:ogjohn really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<maus:maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<fubar:fubar really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<z0mbie:z0mbie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<z0mbie:z0mbie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<sentine1:sentine1 really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
freekman:  /emote wishes grex had an emote
<maus:maus really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<z0mbie:z0mbie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
scg:      Actually, if I'm sitting down at the NT server at work, I can
generally do what I want to do (although it takes a large amount of mousing
around to do wha t I do with a single Unix command).  Doing sutff remotely ,
OTOH, is an incredible
 pain.
greene:   \emote watching
precious: how come the emote thing didn't work for me jason
<thetick:thetick really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<freekman:freekman really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<pfv:pfv really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<bunnie:bunnie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
<kornnut:kornnut is playing with the is emote>
<bunnie:bunnie really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
butter:   why won't they give us /emote???
<ogjohn:ogjohn really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
jimj:     because emote is evil
<fubar:fubar really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
squirrel: i hate not having /emote...i want to do cool stuff...and i can't do
it h ere <pfv:pfv really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> jadesexy:
 ... & this remote control. <it:it really wishes that Grex had a working /emote
noise> <orion:orion really wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise>
kornnut:  yep... on after the floor? heheheh fooking emotes ;> glitter:   yeah
i really wish grex had a working /emote <laugh> <freekman:freekman really
wishes that Grex had a working /emote noise> ahenders: Andy wishes he knew what
a working /emote was .. razor:     is there an emote effect here?  i've never
spent much time on Grex. <senna:senna really wishes that Grex had a working
/emote noise> sonnet:   I want emotes! or n's! phenix:   you talk to me all the
time udaywig...you hit on everything remotely fem ale that steps thorugh the
party door and i'm sick of it! <razor:razor is wondering whether he would be
considered "remotely female"> grex%

response 2 of 104:

Jul 22 07:04 UTC 1996

so why don't we just give them an emote noise?
unless you people are afraid of freedom.
it's not like the offensive people could be anymore offensive
than they already are.
just dn't give tham an any noise. those are awful (<$1>)

response 4 of 104:

Jul 22 11:02 UTC 1996

Well, *I* am the rogue partyadm who removed that emote noise (for the record,
it was /n).  I hadn't known about it, until I heard about it at GNO.  True,
I had recalled that Coop discussion had basically decided not to add one, so
that I was wondering what it was doing in party.  However, this goes back a
couple weeks beyond to the /easteregg and /eggeretsae noises, which were the
two successive names for <$1>... the ultimate "emote" noise.  At the time I
discovered eggeretsae, it was because it was being abused as an anonymous
noise (not just anonymous, but one you can stick somebody else's name into).
I didn't know about it, so I blew a number of minutes looking for various
security holes in party I'd vaguely heard about.  Needless to say, I wasn't
happy about finding a *noise* that created a security hole.

So this emote change that I made came up as a result.  To some extent, I did
it to make a point about informing other staffers about serious party
changes... a bit of a cheap trick, I admit, and I apologize if I
inconvenienced anybody.  I'm also somebody who isn't especially fond of such
an "easy" noise, although I don't use party very much either.

response 6 of 104:

Jul 22 15:42 UTC 1996

I personally do feel that some form of an emote noise should be included in
party. I do you use party very often, and for one, the list of noises Grex
already has is too long to memorize! I would like the option of creating my
own intresting noises that flow with a conversation.
Sudden changes to party without notes to the users do tend to cause a little
unwanted chaos and unhappy people. So thank you now for the chance to be a
part of a decisions, and to get it out in the open.

response 8 of 104:

Jul 22 15:48 UTC 1996

        I'm all for a working emote noise.  I even would think it should 
be called /emote because that is what everybody already calls it =)  What 
I meant to say was, perhaps it should be called "emote" in the noisetab.  
While we are on the topic of party noises, I think a noise <$1> would 
also be a neat idea.  Because of the recent changes to the party program, 
noises can't be anonymous anymore.  You can find out who is making a 
noise by typing ":set raw" which will give an output something like this:
<person:noise that the person made>

response 10 of 104:

Jul 22 17:07 UTC 1996

In theory, noises were supposed to somehow different from just typing in
messages.  I'm personally kind of puzzled why people would want to type
"/emote whatever" instead of just typing "whatever".  Only difference is that
one puts you text in angle brackets.  The original design intent was that
if you wanted to transmit a lot of information, you'd talk, not make a noise.
Noises were for simpler, more stereotyped things.  Gestures, expressions,
body language.

But practice blurs theory.  The list of noises has exploded to a rather
unmanagable length.  One way to solve the problem is to put in a /emote
noise.  Then you can ignore almost every other noise on the list.  People
want it.  If you put it in, you probably ought to delete all the other
noises which start with a $0, since they are all become redundant and just
clutter things up.  Probably that idea is unpopular too.  So put /emote in,
and leave all the rest in.  Makes no sense, but the idea, after all, is
to have fun, and most people who use party seem to think this is fun.

I (obviously) don't particularly like /emote.  It's kind of a degeneration
of the whole concept of noises.  However, it's popular and I don't party
much these days, so I don't think I care very much.

response 12 of 104:

Jul 22 18:01 UTC 1996

As a former mnetter i would LOVE to see an /emote!  It is too hard to remember
all of the noises in the noisetab, AND if you have something original and
creative to say, you can't do it unless its already in the noisetab!  PLEASE
PLEASE give us a "working /emote"!!!

response 14 of 104:

Jul 22 19:30 UTC 1996

Not having /emote can be a real roadblock for expression.  I don't
understand how /emote can be considered a "security hole"!

response 16 of 104:

Jul 22 20:13 UTC 1996

   I find this whole item bizarre.  I still don't see why people
would want them, or not.  To emote is to communicate feelings, isn't
it?  I thought that what party was for, in general.
   Well, this is one area where I will shut up.  I can't for the life
of me see the value of having it or not.

response 18 of 104:

Jul 22 21:24 UTC 1996

Re 16: The thing about /emote is that once upon a time it was used for
harrassing people.  The idea for not having it on Grex was to avoid that kind
of harrassment.  However, I don't think this is really an issue these days.

Re 11 part 3: Last time /emote was discussed in coop, the consensus was that
Grex was not going to have an /emote noise.  Then one appeared in the party
noise list anyway, despite what the decision had been.  *That's* why Scott
took it out, and why maybe it was OK that he did so.


At the moment, I have no particular opinion about whether or not Grex should
have an /emote noise.

response 20 of 104:

Jul 22 22:59 UTC 1996

we really need a /emote noise in party...without some of us with really 
slow modems or telnet connections would otherwise have to sit through all 
of the current noises and then memorize them....that would be a pain 
in the ass...so please do us a favor and give us the damn noise

response 22 of 104:

Jul 23 03:58 UTC 1996

Emote=freedom
No Emote= Censorship      -Ry

response 24 of 104:

Jul 23 06:24 UTC 1996

s'ok - just think of all the /is comments - in fact... Use only the 
current noises to express those ideas ;-)