One thing I will take issue with is using Free Republic’s search function.
How many times have we seen that fail? How many times have we seen a FReeper state that he did search? So what to do?
Ctrl-F.
When you are at the main screen - https://freerepublic.com/tag/*/index - use Ctrl -F (Find) and type in a specific word from the title of the article you are wanting to post.
Don’t use Biden for example, that’ll get you way too many finds. Maybe Delaware for instance as that has been a popular news story.
If you don’t see Delaware as a find - post it. If you do see it has been posted - then do not post a duplicate. Even if it is from a different news source.
Ctrl-F. It is easy, it works, and it is NOT tied to FR’s poor search functions.
Another helpful note in this How To thread....
If you do mess up the Title as Ransom has done in this very thread - you can always ping, private reply, or hit report abuse to alert a Moderator and ask them to correct it.
They can even delete part of the original post if necessary. Like bad words for instance. Sometimes a Breitbart article might contain F-bombs that the OP might not see.
Mods can fix mistakes.
Thank you for posting this! Great work, documenting such a complicated process... somebody should streamline the posting program 🤔
Honestly, it should be as simple as adding a link + comment, like the modern world these days, with dup check, etc. Categorization could happen afterwards.
I really don’t care for the “forum” aspect in practice. Originally, these were more autonomous groups by design, it’s why “fr” is synonymous with “news” in old URLs, that was Free Republic, the rest was supposed to be “different site.” E.g. there is ugly code to move threads between forums, it wasn’t a designed function. But now I’m rambling.
Thanks for the information on Copyright list while posting a new thread!
1. If you have to post an exceprt, don't just post the beginning. Often the first few paragraphs are boilerplate or items already well known about the story. Find the sentences which make this author's version unique. Too often the good stuff seems to start at about word 290 of the 300 word excerpt.
2. Comment in post #1. What can you add and what do you think about the story? Do you agree or disagree? I haven't posted a lot, but when I do I usually feel strongly enough about it to write a few paragraphs about it.
3. Don't excerpt your own blog. You're just using Free Republic for click bait.