Critical Amber Alert

[getbak]

Originally Posted by metallicat

Dude, it was one click. One link. Click it and view the details.

When that alarm starts going off, the first thing I want to do is to shut it up as quickly as possible. Clicking "OK" on the message does that.

I don't know how it works on other people's phones, but on mine, once you click the "OK" button on the message, it just disappears. It does get saved somewhere on the phone, but it's not easy to find.


I just looked it up. From the phone's home screen, I have to click: Settings > Apps & Notifications > (scroll down) > Advanced > (scroll down) > Emergency Alerts > Emergency Alert History


That's 7 clicks from the home screen to retrieve the message, and you have to remember all of those steps when you're still half-asleep at 5:00am. Are you going to bother to do that, or will you just hit whatever it takes to shut off the wailing klaxon and try to get back to sleep?


Perhaps clicking the link in the message will silence the alarm and also take you to the full alert message ... I don't know, I haven't tried that anytime it has happened. I see the "OK" link and click it. I'll try to remember to click the link instead the next time.



-----

On a side note, this time around, the alert didn't make a sound on my phone. I happened to be awake at 5:00am when it came in, so I saw the message pop up, but it was silent (I have do not disturb come on my phone between midnight and 8:00am). The last time there was an alert after midnight, it still set off the blaring alarm, so something has changed in the last couple of months. I don't know if it's something I did, or if one of my phone's updates changed its behaviour, or if they did tweak the way the system runs.

[powderjunkie]

^ Yup. I didn't get this most recent one, but on the one before, I had to pull the notification down from the top, click it [loading...] it launched a page that didn't include actual info, but a link I had to click [loading...] which then launched my iphone's browser.

Not the end of the world...but if it was the end of the world, it would have been nice if it was more straight forward.

Originally Posted by jayswin

It's just one click on the notification and it tells you all that. You'd probably have to click the notification open to see all the info anyways even if they did put it in the title because it would be too long.

Originally Posted by metallicat

Dude, it was one click. One link. Click it and view the details.

[jayswin]

That seems weird. On my phone either I one click on the notification at the time or if it's gone I have to swipe down and one click on the notification. Maybe you guys need to change your phone settings if you're seven clicking to read past notifications? That's crazy.

[jayswin]

I mean I saw getback claim he clicks okay and then has to go through a jungle of steps to find it. But really, if you just hit okay to get rid of it were going to read it anways? Especially if it was literally one click to open.

Opening notification = one click

Hitting okay to make it disappear = one click



I'm not trying to call anyone out and you're well within your rights to not be bothered by or look into amber alerts, but I get the feeling the responses about inefficiencies in the system boil down to "I don't want to be disturbed by emergency services that don't pertain to me having to evacuate" rather than actually being annoyed at how it operates.

[jayswin]

And if your beef is with what constitutes a an amber alert going out then it's not the emergency alert system that's your problem it's the criteria for an amber alert.

(Which I feel may be too light, but I know way better than to go by my uneducated opinion on what's too light in a complex life or death system).

[Fuzz]

Perhaps they should label the buttons "more info"and "dismiss". "OK" is not really an informative label. Does it mean "OK, tell me more" or OK, F off"?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Perhaps they should label the buttons "more info"and "dismiss". "OK" is not really an informative label. Does it mean "OK, tell me more" or OK, F off"?

Yeah, I don't even know what phone getback owns to get that option. I've owned iPhones and andriods and the common system seems to be to click the notification if you want to read or it stays and then you can hit "clear" to clear every left over notification.

I've never had a phone that says click "ok". What does that even mean? Like you're saying "Ok, I don't want to read that"? Or "Ok, you can go away now, notification"?

[Scroopy Noopers]

I find this all very fascinating because I can’t figure out how to make them WORK on my phone. I’ve never received one. Maybe I should auction it off.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

I find this all very fascinating because I can’t figure out how to make them WORK on my phone. I’ve never received one. Maybe I should auction it off.

Yeah, I don't get them either. I do get them through the Alberta Emergency Alert app which I added to my phone. I figured it was because my phone was too old.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Acey

I don't claim that it's easy on most devices. The bigger risk is people simply ignoring them, turning their phones off, DND, etc. The hilarity is this realization being equated to somehow not caring about abducted children.

I've disabled them and use the AEA app instead, which is far more informative and has much better control of notifications.

I mean kudos to you for disabling them as it's your right, but it needs repeating - If people don't like what cases are being sent out your beef is not with the emergency alert system it's with the criteria for an amber alert.

I appreciate that we can sit back after the fact and attempt to discredit the criteria in place for sending out an amber alert, but you know exactly what would happen the first time a child was killed or never returned after an abduction when it didn't meet the new loosened criteria desired by a public annoyed by being woken by alerts...

"This is an outrage, how could they value a child's life so little as to not see this as an amber alert??!!! If there's ANY indicatiom that foul play could be involved it should be an amber!!!!!!!!! This is pure incompetence."

[Wormius]

On the iPhone there is literally a clickable URL in the notification that appears. Maybe other phones have a different implementation.

http://www.albertaemergencyalert.ca

You touch it with your finger and you are taken the page with addition information.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by jayswin

I mean I saw getbak claim he clicks okay and then has to go through a jungle of steps to find it. But really, if you just hit okay to get rid of it were going to read it anways? Especially if it was literally one click to open.

Opening notification = one click

Hitting okay to make it disappear = one click

Literally the only reason I know how convoluted it is to find the message is because I went searching to try and find it to read it. So, yes, I was going to read it anyway.


Like I said, when that loud-ass alarm starts blaring, my first concern is to silence it. I'm not going to sit there and read the whole thing while that alarm is blasting in my ear. That's why it's annoying that it just disappears into some weird location in the Settings area of the phone after clicking OK.


Because the one that came yesterday wasn't accompanied by the noise, I actually read the alert before clicking OK.


This is what the alerts look like on my phone (Pixel 2). This isn't a screencap from my phone, but an image I found online showing the alert window...

Spoiler!

If you click OK, the message disappears. As far as I could find by doing a Google search, the steps I outlined earlier are the only way to actually retrieve the message once it has been dismissed.

If anyone knows some easier way to retrieve the message, please let me know.

[jayswin]

But even just hitting the home button or android equivalent should silence the alarm, no? That's a bizarre set up that you have to either send it into the abyss or keep hearing the alarm.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by jayswin

But even just hitting the home button or android equivalent should silence the alarm, no? That's a bizarre set up that you have to either send it into the abyss or keep hearing the alarm.

I have no idea. This hasn't been frequent enough for me to test all the different possible scenarios.

I saw "OK" and clicked it. Then, I assumed I'd be able to open my Messages and it would be there ready to read, but it wasn't.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by getbak

I have no idea. This hasn't been frequent enough for me to test all the different possible scenarios.

I saw "OK" and clicked it. Then, I assumed I'd be able to open my Messages and it would be there ready to read, but it wasn't.

That seems to be more of an oddity or anomaly in the grand scheme of the debate, imo. Most people just click on the notification and it a) stops ringing and b) shows you the notification.

And if they just stopped the ringer then they can just scroll down and click on it from there to read it. Yours seems really inefficient and complicated compared to most smart phones.

[PepsiFree]

Is there anything to suggest that the complaints about Alert Ready aren’t just the loud whiny minority?

Every poll i’ve seen has had a minimum of 70% approval on the amber alert system just the way it is. Some as high as 80-85. That seems like a very high rate of approval for something that, in the vast majority of cases, will never actually apply to you.

At what point do we not just let the complainers complain? They want it to respect DND modes, or be able to shut it off completely when they feel like it... and we’re to expect that these people will actually continue receiving the alert if you give them the option not to? Really? Right now the alert can not be disabled on iPhone, and cannot be disabled on Android unless you dig into boot mode (which is not something the majority is going to easily accomplish on their phone), and we’re expecting the effectiveness of the amber alerts is actually going to go up if you let people turn them off?

Logic doesn’t check out here.

These are the same types of people who are overtly dramatic about being woken, “I was jarred from my slumber! My heart palpitating!” and yet, when talking about the alert, it’s “yeah some kid and some mom yadda yadda doesn’t seem dangerous to me!”

I don’t buy it. In fact, revamp the system to push the alerts to these people even harder. Send an electric shock to these people. Or post their bank information on the internet and have them read the amber alert before they can get it taken down.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Is there anything to suggest that the complaints about Alert Ready aren’t just the loud whiny minority?

Every poll i’ve seen has had a minimum of 70% approval on the amber alert system just the way it is. Some as high as 80-85. That seems like a very high rate of approval for something that, in the vast majority of cases, will never actually apply to you.

At what point do we not just let the complainers complain? They want it to respect DND modes, or be able to shut it off completely when they feel like it... and we’re to expect that these people will actually continue receiving the alert if you give them the option not to? Really? Right now the alert can not be disabled on iPhone, and cannot be disabled on Android unless you dig into boot mode (which is not something the majority is going to easily accomplish on their phone), and we’re expecting the effectiveness of the amber alerts is actually going to go up if you let people turn them off?

Logic doesn’t check out here.

The only whiny complainers are posts like yours. Most people I see posting in this thread seem to want to improve the system to help save more children’s lives.

But whatever, if you don’t take child abduction seriously just continue your pointless holier than thou for internet brownie points.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Is there anything to suggest that the complaints about Alert Ready aren’t just the loud whiny minority?

It’s for sure a small minority. I haven’t heard a single person complain about them in real life. In fact, the only thing I've heard discussed is: “have you heard people actually call 9-1-1 to complain!?”

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

The only whiny complainers are posts like yours. Most people I see posting in this thread seem to want to improve the system to help save more children’s lives.

But whatever, if you don’t take child abduction seriously just continue your pointless holier than thou for internet brownie points.

Yeah, being able to turn it off when you don’t want to hear it saves so many lives. The lives, they’re so numerous. It’s the best saving, everybody says so.

“I want to improve how the system affects me” is not the same as “I want to improve how effective the system is.” But good effort, I guess?

How about we continue to measure how effective the system IS and then use all that data to look at how we can IMPROVE its EFFECTIVENESS. What you’re getting confused by is looking at what’s ANNOYING about the system and wanting to change that, because it’s ANNOYING. See how one matters and one doesn’t?

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

It’s for sure a small minority. I haven’t heard a single person complain about them in real life. In fact, the only thing I've heard discussed is: “have you heard people actually call 9-1-1 to complain!?”

You actually can complain your way into the $5000 fine for Misuse/Abuse of 911 for this. It takes some effort, but you can do it if you try.