Improvements to Freerepublic

“... use Ghostery ad blocker and have no pop ups and nothing to complain about.”

I go much farther than that. I use NoScript and RequestPolicy, in a dedicated browser as a dedicated user (on Linux, but works on Windows too, and probably MacOS).

NoScript allows you to control exactly what JavaScript can be run: I set it to disallow everything, which blocks popups and various funny-business, so I can visit random websites with much less danger. Also, sometimes blocking JS can bypass JS-implemented gate-keeping.

This works fine with current FR because FR doesn’t need any JS to read or post. (Or worse yet, JS not locally hosted, which so many sites use).

RequestPolicy gives you the capability to control which Web domains you can visit. But unlike add-ons like Ublock, RequestPolicy has you specify which domains are *allowed* rather than which are blocked. This means that unknown domains are blocked by default rather than allowed by default. (I think that Default Deny is now considered the proper principle for computer security as well as for physical security.)

I have my RequestPolicy set to allow only a few trusted domains such as DuckDuckGo, Google, ... and of course FR. (This means that linked images don’t necessarily automatically display, but even on FR, a surprisingly low percentage contribute much to the posting.

Unfortunately, RequestPolicy requires an old version of Firefox to run, since Firefox adopted much of the internal structure of Google’s Chromium some years ago. (This also has constrained what recent NoScript versions can do.)

Editing a post after it’s been submitted BECAUSE IT ISN’T RENDERING PROPERLY can be avoided if the edit and preview features actually work across all use cases.

If we were having this conversation in 1996, you’d have a point. Back then we were almost all using 1024x768 / 1280x1024 screen resolutions on PCs, so the “post” and “preview” screens were always the same width as the pages showing the discussion thread. What you saw in the preview is what you got after posting it.

But that config *doesn’t* translate properly to other use cases, because these days people can use phones in portrait or landscape. Hardly anybody uses 4:3 display ratios these days, but that’s what the original layout was set up for.

I’m visually impaired so use screen magnification - on a 35 inch ultrawide that could support a lot higher, mine’s set at 2560x1080. (I was looking at monitors that can go all the way up to 7680×4320).

The options for fixing it are hardly revolutionary.

1. A 15 minute grace period to make tweaks (with the post tagged as having been edited). Gives you a chance to fix it if it isn’t rendering properly.

2. A WYSIWYG “Your Reply” as a profile option. If you want to keep the current “Your Reply” box and a preview, that’s the default. If you’d rather have a WYSIWYG edit option, it uses that instead.

(Bear in mind, WYSIWYG negates the need for the preview box - because both the edit window and the preview window are rolled into one.)

3. Internet standard methods for recognising the device type and aspect ratio that the browser is using, have existed for over 20 years. There really ain’t anything complicated about it.

Why is this important? Us old duffers who’ve been around for 20 years are used to the way this site works. Anyone who’s new to the site is literally being presented with something that looks and feels like it’s been parachuted in from the Stone Age.

But then, as we get older, as I’ve found out personally, your eyesight starts to go and you need to compensate, and most good websites put in things like accessibility options. It’s not like they’ve got to design ‘em from scratch; accessibility is pretty much baked into every web standard going.

Freepathons are going to struggle in a few years’ time if the site cannot attract new blood. People doing a drive by here might like the content but find the UI way too clunky - there’s a reason why dozens of other “basic HTML” forums (and even many that used more modern message board formats) have died the death over the last decade - they appeal to the people who were around in the early days but they simply don’t have the same “ease of use” on all devices as the newer platforms.

You are much more technically astute than I.

But it sounds like you get it close to perfect.

At my house it is “close enough for government work... and no more.”

Lol

You are much more technically astute than I.

But it sounds like you get it close to perfect.

At my house it is “close enough for government work... and no more.”

Lol

Good. When the website’s gone because no improvements were made, one or two people will be happy.

It is difficult.

...they were called “books”...

Anyone who confuses Free Republic's posting facility with books is in serious intellectual trouble.

2 Things.

Get rid of the useless forums.

Screenshot 2026 09 28 10 03 00 AM

I've been here over 20 years and have never understood what a VetsCoR or RLC Liberty Caucus is. Get rid of the forums. Everyone always clicks Everything anyway.

Next. Control and moderate the Moderators. Their arbitrary, sneaky, controlling, vindictive, biased, unfair, authoritative and divisive ways are driving FReepers away. Do away with all the moderator titles and let those FReepers who do have the authority to moderate this forum do so under their own FReep name. Transparency!

my guess... money is short so they dropped a level or 2 in band width with their provider...

Back in the day delays and even FR crashing and going offline was a common occurence. A deliberate method used to coerce more donations to the FReepathon.

Are we seeing the same thing happenng these days? I don't know since the owners seem not to care whether Freepathon goals are met or not.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, it happens to everyone.

I got one!! A HUUUUGE one!!

Set the focus of the cursor into the text box on the reply page!! To This Day!! 27 years later, I STILL find myself typing a half a page only to realize I’m not typing at all!! the page is scrolled to the bottom! I have to scroll up and physically click into the text box to start typing all over again!!

That is a simple code to add...

P.S. Concerning NoScript

Modern Websites make heavy use of JavaScript. Some of it is hosted by domains other than the one being visited. Furthermore, the fact that HTTPS (i.e. encryption) has become pretty standard means that your computer is executing large amounts of code that can’t be analyzed for possible harmful effects each time it is received.

Didn’t they used to warn us not to download and run random software?

NoScript helps avoid such problems by allowing you to limit where JavaScript is allowed to come from.