Vanity Post on Vanity Posts, Duplicate Posts, Trash Posts, Commie Propaganda, etc., Vol V, No. 1

Free Republic | Jan 25, 2002 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

Way too many vanity threads lately. And way too much trash being posted. Please try to stay on topic (politics). Also, please do a search on a significant word from the title of your article before posting. This will reduce the number of duplicates. And, along these same lines, please use the original titles on your article posts. Do NOT edit the titles. Do NOT use "My Title" titles. This will also help to reduce the number of duplicates.

And, whatever else you do, please DO NOT post from DEMOCRATS UNDERGROUND (or any other such trashy un-American socialist hangout). Free Republic was intended to be a socialist free zone. We've gone to a heck of a lot of trouble to make it that way. Why in the world would you think we would be interested in having their trash posted here?

And QUIT trashing each other. You know who you are. Knock it off! Way too many flamewars and feuds going on. And, while I'm thinking about it, QUIT trashing our conservative candidates. If you want to criticize someone's position on some policy, have at it. But do not trash or smear the man. That would include Browne, Buchanan, Bush, Keyes, et al, or whomever else may be your favorite trashee (examples listed in alphabetical sequence). The idea is to get more conservatives elected, not to trash the ones you don't like. If you want to trash someone, make it a Democrat. Thank you.

And QUIT dredging up old communist propaganda to smear our conservatives. Sheesh! Whatever else you may think about our guys, they did not hijack airliners full of people and crash them into buildings. No, my friends, not even the dreaded CIA. Anyone who would believe (or even suspect) that crap is no FReeper. I've been pulling this crap whenever I see it and several people have been banned for continuing to post it. I do not want it on Free Republic. Any current FR poster who believes this leftist propaganda, please logoff immediately, send me your resignation via email, and I will delete your account.

Thanks,

Jim

[Cinnamon Girl]

"I COULD be happy the rest of my life with a Cinnamon Girl."

[k2blader]

How did you get this on the Sidebar?

Sorry, not sure what you mean?

[Friend of thunder]

The drummer relaxes and waits between shows for his Cinnamon Girl

[elfman2]

"But do not trash or smear the man. That would include Browne, Buchanan, Bush,"

If Browne's signature is attacking/smearing people like Bush, his supporters will do the same. The best defense from claims that we (Bush supporters) have to Brown's attacks on us as "compromised" is a good offence painting calling them "naïve". How do you think this should be managed?

[pfflier]

I understand the need to keep the bandwidth in control.

Occasionally some issues are heard or said that have no source or URL yet have merit. For lack of a better topic vanity seems to be a catch all.

[Jim Robinson]

Well, I think Browne's opinions can be countered without trashing the man or his supporters. I think it's something we can all work on (the non-trashing part, that is).

[A Navy Vet]

There you go stomping on my 1st Amendment rights again. Aaarrgh, my head is going to explode.

Have a request...watch your Freepmail, please.

[Jim Robinson]

Well, the problem comes in when everyone wants to post his or her own breaking news vanity thread on each and every issue or event. There are some people who love to post a vanity rant on every thought that pops into their heads. Sorry, but we had to draw a line somewhere, else allow FR to become a vanity swampland. Most people come here to discuss the news and don't like wading through hundreds of vanity titles looking for it.

[Fractal Trader]

President Discusses the Future of Iraq in Speech at American Enterprise Institute (Transcript)

Three posts on the subject! Two duplicate transcripts!

Please be careful and search before you post! We may have a war coming up, and we need to excercise restraint in our postings.

[elfman2]

" Well, I think Browne's opinions can be countered without trashing the man or his supporters. I think it's something we can all work on (the non-trashing part, that is). "

Admittedly, I know little of Browne but the theme that I see behind libertarians here is one of an overwhelming need to promote radical constitutional reforms and an attack on the moderate "neocon" principles of giving the left 50% of what they promote in order to deny them an agenda and to stay in power. I don't follow Browne, but his supporters are very aggressive in their attacks of Bush supporters, and I presume he promotes it.

So if I'm correct, Browne is in a sense trashing Bush, or at least promoting the trashing of Bush. How do we respond to that without going on the offence?

[glock rocks]

on occasion, there are vanities of merit... i guess they'd be called vanities because they're unsourced...

however, if breaking news is an acceptable excuse, there have been several breaking stories where FR has scooped the big boys -- columbia -- r.i. nightclub fire -- just lately.

when there is a vanity posted to express somebody's opinion in the breaking forum... well maybe it's time to banish them to some new "vanity forum" akin to, oh, the smokey backroom. banished to the woodpile. hmmmm, might be a good name...

i know... more work for the mods. but hey, there is the daily marxist du jour signup to be zotted, maybe there's room for a new timeout room without banishment. um, really, the prob boils down to the decision of the poster to put the post in "news," "breaking news" (which should be the mod's first priority zot-wize) or just "yer opinion" ...

those selections by the poster are what's being abused. the choice is up to the poster. if they abuse that choice, they need a spankin.

.02

[cake_crumb]

"If you want to trash someone, make it a Democrat."

Amen to that, and there are plenty of Democrats to trash. I almost didn't open this thread because of the title and the fact that it's past my bedtime.

Thank you for posting it, and thank you for FR!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Will this warning apply equally to serial libertarian flamers like Dane and Cultural Jihad?

What??? We can't flame Serial Libertarians anymore???? ;0)

[Jim Robinson]

Well, if politeness is out of the question, at least try to remain civil. And try to remember that it's the person's ideas or policies that you are trying to counter (or defend) and any chance of success in that endeavor goes out the window once the fighting and name-calling starts.

Also, in most cases, it's better to let the other guy rant and rave and when he's through, blow him out of the water with reason and logic rather than emotion. Hah! Easy for me to say.

[Ethyl]

What about the night people, who haven't seen the posts from the day people and post it again so the night people can know what is going on. The day people get pissed and say "It has already been posted here". But the night people wouldn't know it has already been posted, the readers don't know, what they have missed, they don't know what to look for, to see if it has been posted. When I click on after 7:30 pm, I want to see what is going on right now, or what has happend today while I was unable to see the FreeRepublic. Recently I was going to post something, so in order to please the day posters, I bumped the previously posted post about 6 times, another poster helped with about 2 bumps and we couldn't even get near the top. Then I copied the post and posted as a new post, so the night readers could see it. They didn't even know it was the and wouldn't even know what to search for. They would have never seen it any other way. Some thanked me for posting. But the day people said "this has already been posted". In other words there is problem with the day people posting and the night people posting articles that they wouldn't have seen otherwise and wouldn't know what to look for in the first place. Please help.

[elfman2]

"Well, I think Browne's opinions can be countered without trashing the man or his supporters. I think it's something we can all work on (the non-trashing part, that is). "

I'm sorry, but I just don't see a way around this. Browne trashes Bush to promote his agenda. Browne supporters do the same. I've been as outspoken lately as anyone against libertarians for some of the wrong headed statements that they've promoted because I think that I really understand exactly where they are wrong, and I'm willing to take them on for it.

I don't want to see the Republicans make the same mistake with the libertarians as the Democrats made with the greens, refusing to take them on may have cost them the election, less than 600 votes in Florida.

[elfman2]

"And try to remember that it's the person's ideas or policies that you are trying to counter (or defend) and any chance of success in that endeavor goes out the window once the fighting and name-calling starts. "

Fair enough Jim. It's good speaking with you.
-Bill Carson

[Just another Joe]

Also, in most cases, it's better to let the other guy rant and rave and when he's through, blow him out of the water with reason and logic rather than emotion.

You been querying on my posts, Jim. ;^)
I try to do this every time I get into a debate.

[Captain Beyond]

Thanks for saying that. The points you stated were some of the reasons that I lurked for so long. The immaturity of the ubiquitous "Sign up date" post (says "I can't debate you but I sure as heck can flame you.") gets old.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/backroom/849912/posts

Libertarians Look for a State to Call Their Own. (Free State Project

If anyone wants an example of 9/10 of what Jim was mentioning please see the thread title above or the URL (top).

I wasn't ever attacked but a massive flame war started on a simple thread; at least 300 of 400 posts are flames.