Huh, I see it as the only legitimate use of the blink tag. Try it out for awhile, you can make it stop blinking by reading your mail/posts. :-)
You could do some cool stuff with an "alert system".
In preferences we would have the option to have the notice do something like:
A) Javascript confirm box (ok will take you to either the My Comments section or mail index, cancel will leave you there not give you an alert but will leave the "New Messages" or "New Mail" in red at the top.
B) Blinking "New Messages" or "New Mail"
C) Plain red "New Messages" or "New Mail"
What do you think? I love the confirm box idea because its quick and dirty.
There isn't a GUI that I am aware of that utilizes a blinking, bold, colored font to get a user's attention. Every mail reader program will, by default, bold the Inbox folder; that's pretty normal. "Tracking Items" in a document will be in a different color; that is useful and adds value. I can't think of any GUI that bolds, colors, and blinks when there is new or differentiated items..
I really like the bold, red; it definitely adds value to the page. That really jumps out, much better than the bold navy that used to be there.
And, I'm sorry, I think the blink adds no value at all. For instance, on the page that I am writing this post, the solid, bold, red "Loose lips sink ships" is very powerful. There is no need for it to blink. I think the same can be said for the home page.
Yeah... I have tried it out all day...and, um...it sucks. My $0.05.
(Always one more suggestion from the peanut gallery, right?)
Actually, I would LOVE to see whether the person to whom I am replying is banned and if so, when that happened.
But I love this place! Thanks JR for a spot of sanity in an insane world.
Another vote for removing blinking here. Blinking scares the jeebies out of me... all my alarms are visual flashing ones... how would you like it if you heard sirens every time you got a new post/mail? :o)
Two comments or questions:
First, I used to have some topics in the sidebar, so I could see right away if there was anything new in those topics. These extra sidebar blocks seem to be gone now, with no way to add them back. I'm probably just missing something.
Second, I agree with those people who asked you to remove the blinking text, or to make whether it blinks user-configurable. Maybe even the color could be user-configurable; the red is too gaudy for my taste.
I don't seem to be alone here. The reason I don't like these alerts to be so obtrusive is that sometimes I don't want to read new pings right away. I'm busy working on something else, but with an FR window open. Under those circumstances, the continuously blinking bright red is very distracting.