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April 26, 2007 12:03 AM
Broken: Clean sweep campaign sign
Jason Aller submits a picture of a sign taken in Davis, California:
I found this sign on campus at UC Davis. It reads:
NOTICE:
This item has been identified as abandoned.
Please remove in 14 days or it will be removed.
The problem with this clean sweep campaign sign is that they left off the frame of reference for when the 14 days begins.
If you see the sign do you have 14 days left, or 1 day left?
In addition to the lack of a date on the notice, to comply with the sign you have to remove the item IN 14 days, not WITHIN. :)
It starts on the date they left the sign. It's been sitting there for awhile or they wouldn't have assumed it was abandoned, and if it sits another 14 days they're hauling it away. If it's your property and you want it, you've got to move it. A date on the sign is pretty much irrelevant as it's hard to complain you only had "one day notice" if it's been sitting there for more than a couple of weeks.
Two weeks is also generous. If it were a car you'd get three days to move it; unregistered car, towed immediately.
As well, are you supposed to remove the item or the sign in 14 days?
"Please remove" doesn't give a great referent.
They can NEVER remove my stuff according to this sign, because they have to wait two weeks to remove it...and who knows when that two weeks actually begins! So, each time I see the sign, I have two more weeks to remove my stuff.
:)
Not broken if taken in context. This sign says that it is part of a campaign, and most campaigns have a start date. Ten seconds in google turns up a the details of this campaign, including the tagging dates and removal dates for each part of the campus. See http://r4.ucdavis.edu/programs/clean/index.html
flataffct is right...all you have to do is take out your computer, google uc davis clean sweep program, find a link that seems to make sense, scroll through the page to find the start and end dates of the campaign, and then know how much time you have. that's so much simpler than just putting a date in black sharpie on the tag: remove by august 15th. hehe.
There was probably an announcement made about Clean Sweep at the university, mmcwatters, and therefore the start and end dates would be common knowledge.
Still would be nice to have the dates on the sign, though.
Pondermatic, it doesn't really matter. Good usability dictates that you put the information where it is needed most. In this instance, it's needed on the sign so that you have a reference point. Anything else is just broken and indefensible.
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: American Express web transaction detail | Main | Next: Konriko wild pecan rice
It would be nice to write in the date this sign was posted... Otherwise you have perfect grounds to dispute the removal of the item considering a date was never given when the sign was posted!
Posted by: ashleyriot_vs at April 26, 2007 12:37 AM