Should FreeRepublic be closed to anyone w/o an account on election day/night?

11-5-12 | Arcy

[Arcy]

On ELECTION NIGHT, Free Republic could help it's members by preventing access to the site by anyone who does not have a valid log-in and password.

It would also be adventageous to prevent the creation of new accounts on FR (starting now) until after the election to keep out the liberals who will certainly come here to explode in anger as elction results come in.

I've noticed in elections past that DU does not allow access to even VIEW their site during elections unless you have an account. We should do the same!

[stuartcr]

Should it still be called free?

[clamper1797]

Better to have only members see it than no one see it ... like with the debates

[cripplecreek]

Like the DUmp?

[Doogle]

We should do the same!

...we're far from being anywhere near the same, the kitty vikings will be in attendance to take care of insurgents

[ReaganÜberAlles]

I’d go along with that for the 4-5 hours or so when poll closings begin across the country.

[dps.inspect]

let the inbreeding begin...

[Responsibility2nd]

It ain’t non-members who are the problem. It ain’t the members who are the problem either.

The problem has been cussed and discussed in detail in many threads recently.

Election night? Here at Free Republic?

(insert evil insane laugh)

[1rudeboy]

I'm looking on the bright side: I won't be forced to see four threads in Breaking News titled, "CNN calls Iowa for Romney," "CBS calls Iowa for Romney," "NBC calls Iowa for Romney," and "FOX calls Iowa for Romney"

Now multiply that by the 57 states, and DC.

[real saxophonist]

I think it should be closed to anyone who misuses apostrophes and can't spell.

8~)

[Doctor 2Brains]

I WANT!!!! to see them explode in anger! What could be better than that?

[nuconvert]

I actually thought they did this already.

Does anyone know why FR has been so messed up for the past 2-3wks in the evenings (especially)?
I thought about 6 months ago everything was upgraded?

[mmichaels1970]

Should it still be called free?

Sure....I think the idea is to prevent it from being called "504" which is most likely what it will be called for everybody on election night.

That said, I think it's probably too late to be able to pull off changes like that.

In past threads, Jim has provided links to the facebook site for live thread discussion on election night. I think that's going to have to do.

[patriotsblood]

Call me a conspiracy nut, but FR well could be one of the few places where we could get the truth. I see a Romney/Republican landslide up and down all tickets and the Marxists attempting to control all the media and pretend it didn’t happen.

[Graewoulf]

Restrict FREE Republic?

Nawwwww! Let’er rip!

We have all sorts of other electronic toys with which to communicate our opinions, including the personal enjoyment of watching the TV Liberal Agenda Media be “stunned” that the voters are voting as if the lives of our Military Service Men and Women depended upon it - - - .

[Arcy]

Okay, Doogle, then don’t let me see you complaining on the Free Republic Facebook page or Yahoo Group when Free Republic is unable to load for you because the servers are having to load pave views for liberals who are coming here to try and disrupt or simply see what’s happening over here.

[pollywog]

I think for the four hours of election returns, that would be a great idea.It will be when we are frantically trying to get the reports first hand.

Otherwise is there any suggestions of another conservative site we can access during that time?

[Doogle]

...take your shot, look back at my posts of the last few years about FR speed, you won’t find a complaint about speed from me

[onyx]

I don’t know that FR has the capability to do that, do you?

[mmichaels1970]

Does anyone know why FR has been so messed up for the past 2-3wks in the evenings (especially)? I thought about 6 months ago everything was upgraded?

You asked and answered in the same post....

lol. I'm an "IT" guy and in my line of work, usually your second question is the answer to your first.

[skeeter]

Let em come.

Win or lose we'll kick their ass.

[Admin Moderator]

It would also be adventageous to prevent the creation of new accounts on FR (starting now) until after the election to keep out the liberals who will certainly come here to explode in anger as elction results come in.

New users have their submissions reviewed by moderators prior to them being posted.

[Lazamataz]

To accomplish this, you would need to install a complete authentication layer, complete with session-id checking to prevent backdoor access.

So, let us see, we have approximately 36 hours.

Figure, 3 hours on design, 16 hours on coding, 4 hours testing, 4 hours corrections, 3 hours user acceptance testing, 3 hours implementation, 3 hours production testing.

WE HAVE *JUST* ENOUGH TIME! How's your Perl under Linux?

[OldMissileer]

I do not think it would be a good idea even though I am a monthly donor. Writing that, I think I probably will not be able to reach FR due to overload and have to get my updates elsewhere.

I really wish we could get the problems fixed. FR is most important during these times. I am quite addicted to FR and would like to see easy access, especially during these times.

[Eye of Unk]

I think FR should implement an emergency wartime footing stance, if nothing else it will be a trial runm to see if it keeps FR up and running.

Allow only a dozen or so threads al election themed, nothing else all day long, all election thtreeads will only last two hours our a set amount of replies, any multiple reply posters will immediately have to wait no less than 30 minutes before they can post again, if the continue to make duplicate posts the are zotted.

seriously this is important, we need to get serious because playing fair and nice doesn’t always win the game.

[nuconvert]

so, you’re saying that upgrading screwed things up?

[Arcy]

I’ve hosted websites before, both on my own servers and with hosting companys. The TEMPORARY election night changes I’m suggesting are VERY EASY to employ. It can be done in less than 5-minutes!

[Lazamataz]

Yeah, but see my message just below yours. I mean, it's PERFECTLY reasonable to install a complete and tested Authentication model in 36 hours, right?

And to do it a day before the election -- BRILLIANT!!!!

What could POSSIBLY go wrong??!?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Could it technically be done?

[nkronos]

“I’ve noticed in elections past that DU does not allow access to even VIEW their site during elections unless you have an account. We should do the same!”

Why? Why imitate the losers at DU?

I like the idea of keeping page-load times down, but otherwise, this seems like a bad idea. It indicates a lack of confidence. If Romney is winning—especially big—why would FR need the “protection”?

[Safrguns]

I like the idea

[Founding Father]

BRAVO! BRAVO!

[theDentist]

Well, we know it'll be a very busy day and evening, so for bandwadth and system sake, maybe so, and that'd be JimRob & Assoc call.

But it seems like censorship to me, which is more DU's province. I'd vote no.

[Arcy]

You need to understand that server resources responding to new account creation is taking bandwidth that could be used for current members!

[onyx]

Well, there’s your solution!

Start your own website!

[Arcy]

I’ve done it before on sites that I’ve hosted and it’s nowhere near the complicated process you’ve outlined. I can do it in 5-minutes flat!

[Lazamataz]

I’ve hosted websites before, both on my own servers and with hosting companys. The TEMPORARY election night changes I’m suggesting are VERY EASY to employ. It can be done in less than 5-minutes!

Alllllright sparky. You are on.

I design and maintain websites for a living. Federal ones. Done commercial for decades, as well.

Explain to me, in detail, just what you propose to do at the authentication level, that can be done 'in five minutes'....Let us assume no authorisation concerns. Admin Mod and JimRob will not be in issue as part of your model. I'm willing to cut that slack, just to hear this 'five minute fix'..... :)

(this I gotta hear)

[TomGuy]

Should FreeRepublic be closed to anyone w/o an account on election day/night?

That won't matter. FR will chug down to a crawl by tomorrow afternoon and stall out by 7pm ET.

FR has been sputtering since Hillary Clinton gave her concession speech in the 2008 Dem primary.

Two early telethons raised money for new equipment. That fund still has money, so 'equipment' doesn't seem to be the problem. That would seem to leave program software or Internet backbone.

FR has had serious stalling problems since the primary debates.

Best best -- bookmark some of the alternative sites.

[mmichaels1970]

so, you’re saying that upgrading screwed things up?

No. I'm just saying in the IT world that upgrading USUALLY screws things up. I have no idea about FR's software or backbone.

Post was more of a dig at myself..whenever I fix something, I tend break ten other things. I don't feel so bad though, Microsoft does the same thing with every OS release.

[JPG]

Right on’s! I agre.

[Lazamataz]

Details. Arm waving and grand statements are not details.

[Responsibility2nd]

People don’t understand. Even IF (big if) software could be written, developed and implemented to allow FReepers only to view...

I’ll go even further.... Even IF (big if) software could be written, developed and implemented to allow ONE THIRD OF ALL FReepers only to view...

This place will be a parking lot tomorrow night.

(IMHO)

[Rapscallion]

preventing access to the site by anyone who does not have a valid log-in and password.

I thought it always worked this way....and should to prevent posting of deceptive information.

If FR does not work this way it reduces my faith in the validity of posts.

Please announce the truth about Free Republic.

[Hardraade]

Well, there’s a few problems.

Even if the site is closed, it’s still possible to hammer on the doors, so heaps of web traffic may act as denial of service. You have to allow some access just to see if the incoming actually is logging in.

On the other hand, it might be possible to set the site recognition further out and deny access on IP, which is always difficult but sitemeter uses a mechanism like that for the user to sign up for treatment according to his own ip-number. Reject on basis of a non-known IP is light, processwise.

[PaForBush]

The real problem is that, with months of lead time before the election and $100’s of thousands of dollars donated, FR clearly still has major hardware and software structural problems. I’ve noticed that several experienced IT professionals have offered to help but their offers have been turned away. Just look at ping and traceroute times to see that there are network issues. The software seems to be less than efficient also.

I know that this is not going to be a popular comment but as with anything in the free market a fast, modern, and well designed competitor site will eventually emerge unless FR can quickly come to grips with the shortcomings of both the system and perhaps the keepers of the system.

[Arcy]

That’s an asinine question, Stuartcr, and is non-responsive to the the question. Perhaps a different thread non-consequnential thread written for the sophmore is more your area of expertise. If not, there’s always barber college.

[Responsibility2nd]

I like your ideas. They might work. If the mods started locking threads and deleting duplicate and non-essential threads, this place just might be open for business tomoroow night.

[mquinn]

Does this site experience server load issues when traffic increases, though? I’m no programmer, but the FR is pretty basic text with some static images here and there.

The DUmbos are an eyesore of multimedia insanity.

[Arcy]

It doesn’t require new software to be written. I write .net software applications and .aspx and the implentation of what this post was asking is does NOT require a major undertaking; in fact, it’s very easy to do.

[Mase]

I don’t think anyone will be able to log in tomorrow after 6 pm, so it isn’t going to matter anyway.