Best damn thread in this newsgroup in a while, on topic, interesting
and no one being overly pugnacious. That said...

I think almost everyone can agree on a few basic facts:
-The turn into traffic idea, with appropriate spacing, is a good one
-If a controller suggests an "immediate" change in course... do it
-Traffic avoidence sooner rather than later is best

All that together makes it pretty clear, someone already mentioned
that once the pilot heard "traffic alert" they probably +started their
avoidence right away. without waiting the extra 4 or 5 sec to hear out
the controller... I have no doubt that is what I would do.
So I guess my suggestion to controllers in this situation is to spit
out the vector asap, something like "N123A traffic alert, right turn
to 180 immediately is suggested"... I know it sounds choppy, but I
wouldnt wait a second longer after hearing "traffic alert" to start
what I think is a logical turn. Having "right turn" being the next
words should start the process correctly.
Chip youre a good man, many controllers (well the ones I know here in
the northeast at least) tend to just say "f**king pilot" and move on,
youre actually trying to get a pilots point of view. I hope you got a
better sense of what we're thinking up there, I certainly learned
quite a bit from your posts... im just stoaked about this thread lol.