Posted on 01/28/2009 10:46:53 AM PST by PlainOleAmerican
Repeatedly, FR moderators have moved TOP postings related to current NEWS and calls for conservative ACTIVISM from the News and Activism section, over to "blogger's and personal" which has no traffic by comparison.
I fully understand Jim Robinson's original purpose in launching FR, to provide a community in which conservatives could get TRUTH not available in the MSM, information not available in the MSM and access to fellow conservatives so that we could work together towards a conservative agenda.
Yet time after time, FR moderators bury this information over in "blogger's and personal" and kill story after story, vital to the conservative movement.
Why?
Without a change in this policy, I am through posting to FR. The moderators on FR have less sense than the moderators on DU, where they at least work to bury the opposition, instead of themselves.
What gives? Anyone understand this self-defeating policy?
I just did a little test to check my last comment...
This article is news from a news source (Wall Street Journal) in the News forum. It was posted about 40 minutes ago... It initially got about 130 hits in the first 15 minutes then only ten hits after that (sitting at 150 now)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2173651/posts
That may just mean that everyone who was on line read it that where going to.. it wasn’t moved, but the hits dropped off quickly. Folks just weren’t interested in continuing to go back to the article..
Clearly, rather than answering this question, many Freepers needed an opportunity to scorch a fellow conservative today.
Your question has been answered many times in many ways.
If it's conservative writers writing an opinion piece, is it "news" or "activism"?
News normally has something in it about something "happening" or about to "happen", or did "happen".
Activism normally has a call to "action" of some type (See root word for "activism) or a gathering (See FReeping).
Why are you continuing to not see this?
Jim Robinson answered you...what more can he do. It was damned nice of him.
Jim,
I was hoping for a direct honest assessment of this silly practice of moving valuable conservative commentary where it will never be read.
Instead, I ignited a firestorm of childish anti-conservative invitations to move along and not waste anymore time here at FR.
You seem quite entertained by it all. I would have preferred a simple answer to the question.
Since I have a house payment and a car payment...I’m sad... but I can afford beer and maybe some Jack Daniels. My wife said we will all get drunk and celebrate if we make it until Friday...if we don’t we will all get drunk and forget about it for a while. Good luck...prayers and good wishes coming your way.
And do you see any reason for that in the title of your post?
Are you not willing to take ANY responsibility for starting this firestorm?
If all you wanted was a simple answer from the forums propietor you could have FReepmailed Jim and been private about it.
Hang in there FRiends.
Please, please not the mods...snivel-I’ll be good ...promise.
My point...
The patterns are indeed very clear and convincing. This thread is VERY telling. FR has become nothing but a scotched earth community of malcontents.
They don’t even care that their daily diet of information is being spoon fed to them by folks who think news only comes from the MSM...
I’ve been here 9 years and have ALWAYS just gone to Latest Posts so that I see everything. I care very little what category any post is in.
dltdhyotwo....
Thanks friend...day by day.
I really hate that.
The above is not posted as “news.”
Are you as foolish as you appear?
Look, I’ve been on your threads. Some good discussion too. Many of the posters myself including are just kidding you a bit...I know there is sense of humor buried in their somewhere.
The only thing worse than that is going to a party with a big ol’ piece of ricotta cheese in your moustache and not knowing it.
Why so rude to 1rudeboy?...he will eat your lunch.
I won’t argue the caliber bit...but to demean my namesake like that...That’s it - sledgehammers at 40 paces.
I stand here ready to defend Slim as he is to a rude idiot. Just ask anyone who knows him!
I don’t know Stilton might smell worse...
“OK, I’ll bite, what is/was the “news” in an editorial?”
Based on recent elections and current events in Washington DC, it is “news’ to most Americans, including many “conservatives” that the very people they just elected caused the problem in the first place...
At the end of the column is a call for “activism” as the government is about to dump a few trillion more down the crapper...
Maybe I don’t understand the FR definition of News or Activism?
..and you wonder why people are reacting to you the way they are. Many of us have been nice and tried to explain to you the best we saw it, a different perspective, even citing evidence as I have that posts do drop off, even in breaking news, and that news and bloggers are both a mix of sources from MSM and alternative media, not just relegating alternative media to bloggers and liberal media to news, but instead, you continue to insult the FReeper community and the people who work for the site. I recommend you have a drink, sleep on it, and come back to this thread and read it as though you didn't post it... look at it from the perspective of those who responded to you. Comparing FR to DU, insulting FReepers, calling to 'dump' the site, the response people give you is expected.
I work with a lot of Web 2.0 and 3.0 education sites and I can tell you, how these sites work largely depend on the community demand. Based on the fact that 99% of the responses here are disagreeing with you and all agree that these editorials you used as an example are not news, you may be better to (as another poster put it) sell the author as an authority that people respect and want to see as news instead of griping that no one sees it your way.
There is an old adage in writing, if your point doesn't come across the way you wanted it, don't blame the reader, look to yourself.
I too rise in defense of Slim...I have no idea who he might be, but I am sure he is a great American.
Oh Oh...now you’ve done it...hey thanks!
I told you how to change this around. Get out there and pimp JB Williams, or any other conservative writer you feel needs to be noticed. Run bios of these guys as a stand-alone post. Inform us. That's what Free Republic is about.
I always have to hit a Mark Steyn column, or a Walter Williams column, an Ann Coulter column, a Bob Parks column.
I know who these people are. I want to know who JB Williams is. Give me a reason to find out who JB Williams is. Capiche?
Understood (now...) However, I don’t need to know how to find it, I posted it. I posted it where the most people could find it, in News and Activism. I’m sure traffic counts would support this notion.
That is apparently the wrong thing to do, but I’m still not clear as to why?
My Momma still loves me.
I don't know of a single freeper who would commit alcohol abuse and an enviromental crime by scotching the earth. Why waste good Scotch?
Just start a ping list like everyone else does.
So instead of contacting Jim Robinson or one of the many moderators, you post a vanity.
Not very logical.
So I'm pinging them for you. You'd think that you'd be more informed after 3 years. guess not.
You are incorrect.
A very fair response, and informative. Thanks!
A perfect example of what An Amused Spectator is talking about is Zo @ Machosauce Productions videos on YouTube. His first couple of videos, people didn’t get him and there was a lot of complaints about what he was talking about on the thread. A few of us where big fans kept encouraging people to keep watching and we kept promoting Zo.. now he has a plethora of fans here always looking for his latest video and he has even gotten the attention of Andrew Breitbart. We didn’t just complain that people didn’t respect him as an authority, we sold him and promoted him (in chat by the way)..
Appreciate your civil effort to be helpful....
Ah...no wonder I didn’t know about the ‘slim’ part. I’ve mostly noticed the first part...I will definitely rise in support...for all that would be worth.
LOL....
More FR civility punk?
I am quite certain there is no ‘scotching the earth allowed on FR...now drinking it is fine of course.
Tsk tsk on that foul language. For shame.
In moderation, of course. PWD is frowned upon.
And my guns don't blow up.
Bwahahahahahahahaha, that's "news"?
The government has caused, almost, every major problem in the past 5 decades.
Sorry, that ain't "news".
And the call to "activism" was what?
Call your representative or senator?
Gather on the National Mall and call for heads to roll?
Don't pay your income taxes and take the government down by starving it to death?
Look, I really think that you do understand the reasoning.
I also think you're just peeved because so many told you to go, begone, and never darken the door again.
You got, almost, all that from the title of your thread and your first post on the thread and you should be intelligent enough to realize that.
You asked the forum population in general. Several answered you but you don't want the answer that has been given.
So be it.
Now the decision is up to you.
Either live by the owners decision, try to get the owner to change, or leave in a tiff.
I tried that once...I don’t remember what I said...but I was suspended for a couple of days...Posting while drunk is definitely not a good idea.
What the heck has an "itch" got to do with new socks?
Here I am, following the discussion with bated breath, waiting for a whisper about unspoiled hosiery, and all I get is "itch"?
I'm sorry, this JUST won't do! You'll find me in the Breaking News section, where the real new socks action is at.
Being handsome and owning guns which do not blow up...is definitely an advantage and could cause much unwarranted jealousy.
Thank you for the ping, Jim has already spoken so there isn’t much else to say. A lot of members here have pretty much summed it up, news is news, it is something new, such as an event, past, present, or future, that brings something new into the conversation. Just an opinion piece on something, unless it really is a new perspective or one by someone with a lot of authority (like a Supreme Court Justice or Rush Limbaugh), is generally considered a blogger piece.
The only time the source really comes up is if it is an obvious problem, such as a source that is banned due to copyright issues, very questionable, like African Press International or Pravda, or is an unknown blog. We don’t go around saying, gee, that is a Conservative source- bloggers for that. There aren’t enough hours in the day.
We need to go back and deal with real trolls now. The community seems to have this covered.
I chat with numerous conservative news outlets on a regular basis and there is a growing frustration with their worthy products being downgraded to personal message board status on FR.
I don't even remember how long I've been reading and posting here, but my memory says several years now.
Nobody here seems worried about any of that... So be it!
The MSM dumped the conservative message decades ago. Google, AOL, Yahoo and MSN all try to strip conservative news from search results under the heading of “hate speech.” Pelosi, Reid and Obama are hot on Limbaugh's trail.
Why shouldn't FR silence the conservative voice as well?
I think it makes sense. A lot of FReepers, such as myself, have our own blogs and we pimp our own blogs instead of linking to the original source.
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