About the State Boards ...

[John Robinson]

I have three forum models in mind (only two are currently implemented.)

1) Like News/Activism, General Interest, VetsCoR, Campaign2002, Religion: the forum is wide open, anybody can read, anybody can post.

2) Like the FAB and Moderator forums: restricted access, only members can read, and members are added by the Forum Administator.

3) Combination. Anybody can read the forum, but membership is required to post. Members are gained by joining and being approved, or having a Forum Administrator add you.

And while we're on the topic, each Forum has Forum Administrators, Forum Moderators, and then just Forum Members. Admins are responsible for the membership list, managing the moderators, adding groups and topics, forum homepage, etc. Moderators are responsible for keeping riff-raff out, handling flame wars, etc. And of course members are there to participate, to be the forum.

(This means that each forum has its own ban list.)

[Quietly]

Just because I'm here, John, I'll say I think that's grand, but not a substitute for the WI forum as it stands. If it's too expensive or difficult to maintain the state forums, I'm sure we'll all understand, but if we can, I think many of us would rather retain the State forums as they are. We in the WI forum are getting to know each other, and the forum lets us get "up close and personal" as well just keeping informed. The WI forum is much more than just reading articles and replying. We also initiate discussion and personally reply. So I think we want to continue this community forum, if we can. This is different than the general Free Republic form of posting articles and replying. In my experience, this is something relatively new but important to the spirit of Free Republic. The real movement has become local, and keeping the local forums, in whatever means, and as simple as can be, is as important as it can be. IOW, John, we don't just need articles. We need to *TALK.*

[mlmr]

Sounds good to me

[Miss Marple]

Will ALL posts go to the state boards, or only those on News/Activism? Sometimes something could be on General or Religion or Campaign 2000 that would also be more interesting to one particular state.

[steveegg]

I've been running both lately. The beta sidebars show the last 5 of whatever sidebars you subscribe to (all of the original categories and a bunch of others including the state forums).

While I usually like change, this one needs serious work :-)

[Quietly]

Wisconsin could literally become "Free Republic Wisconsin" by adding it as an independent forum. Which is something else to think about.. Each state could have its own forum, with its own set of topics, its own latest posts, etc.

That would be precisely wonderful! I think that's what we want. I already refer to our forum as "Free Republic Wisconsin."

[John Robinson]

The new sidebars are sorted by the time the last article was posted. So you always have the latest article on top, no matter which topic or forum it was posted in.

There will also be an "Overview" mode that will list in several columns all sidebars on one page.

The membership list will probably stay on the Profiles page, but each topic does have the facility to hold a membership list. I haven't thought much about how to publish such a list if at all.

BTW, I don't see any reason that an extra click to see the membership list should be a problem. In fact, I'm going to have to do that anyway as certain states have nearly a thousand members, and scrolling through the list is tedious. In other words, even if I keep the state message board, I am putting the member list on a separate page as a favor to Californians and Texans on dialup modems.

[John Robinson]

That is a bit of a problem I need to resolve. I have a few ideas on crossing the forum-boundry but nothing concrete just yet.

[John Robinson]

I am considering how to do that. I'd also like to be able to add keywords to the sidebar.

[clikker]

I also think that you're forgetting that much of what we post on our state boards are one-line questions, little reminders, and little bits of chat. Nothing that anyone would go all out and post a thread for...

Also, it's kind of nice how it is -- it's remarkably easy to post, so that brings in people who can't work the "post thread" function.

But, hey, it's a good idea, and I'm sure you'll think up something that makes the vast majority of us happy.

[mdittmar]

May have been suggested before,or already exists,an easy to use State ping list?

Please advise if it does.

[republicandiva]

With all due respect, John, you're STILL missing the point. You have to know that you'll have some interest in that topic. I may be lurking around and see the topic "Recall of Tom Ament"...if I don't know who he is, or have any idea of the issue, I'm not going to care and will simply move on.

The open State boards provide the opportunity to glance at ALL the info on ALL the issues and then the individual is able to decide if this is a topic for which they intend to become involved.

I can 100% guarantee that the recall effort in Milwaukee (from a FReeper's standpoint, an important standpoint to consider since some of the instigators were FReepers) would have been ignored by many Wisconsinites past earshot of the Milwaukee area had this open forum not existed. It is my understanding some of them became involved and donated money to help the recall.

I will repeat again...the majority of people will follow the path of least resistance...your forum will simply be stop signs in that path.

[republicandiva]

BTW, I am listed as a member of forums I have never subscribed to, and cannot, for the life of me, find the ones I would like to subscribe to. I realize some of this may be temporary "glitches", but I'm certain I'm not a Vet (either in the animal dotor sense, or having served my County) - or can someone sign my name to these forums without my permission? What gives?

[John Robinson]

Until there are more forums, and until there is a better interface to select forums, any forum you click on will get you an automatic membership. At the moment the membership is meaningless. When I implement "My Forums" and show in the sidebar only forums you've subscribed to, I will convert the membership lists to subscription lists, at which point you can unsubscribe to remove the forum from the sidebar.

Basically, I am collecting this list because when I do turn on the forum subscriptions, if you're not a subscriber to any, all forums would disappear from your sidebar. Which could be very upsetting if you weren't expecting it. :-)

After that is all implemented, only posters on the forum (or people who have explicitly joined a forum) will be listed as members. And in that case, membership will determine access to the forum-- that is, forums will have their own administration, moderators, and ban list.

Think Yahoo Clubs/Groups, or Delphi Forums, etc.

[John Robinson]

In other words, the attraction to the state boards is the fact that they're just one thread, upside down (reverse chronological order.)

I saved a piece of my article body that ended up on the cutting room floor. I knew it would come in handy, but didn't want to steer the discussion until I confirmed my suspicions.

The only particularly unique feature about the state message boards are, well, their lack of features. I mean, that they are not threaded... every message posted is easily accessible, no clicking necessary. It's as if they are one thread listed in reverse chronological order.

Is this the attraction?

If it is, I can embed a standard forum thread into the individual state page but show it in reverse order. That would allow for paging back through earlier comments as well as the ability to address specific comments (Post Reply) and to address comments in private (Private Reply) etc.

I'd still like to push for use of the state topics, however. And possibly state forums in the future. But if it is this upside-down thread that is all the rage, then by all means, let's have an upside-down thread! It'll be fun.

In earlier mock versions of the forum, I had topic "home pages." And recently I've been toying with the idea of having a topic "cork board" which is essentially the upside-down thread idea.

In other words, I'd really like to replace the state message boards with a topic, and yet retain __ALL__ the features that made the state message boards desirable.

[republicandiva]

Trust me, there are 3 forums I never clicked on that are showing up on my sidebar. Another Wisconsin FReeper has complained of the same thing, a rather objectionable forum at that. Yet the forums I would like to find, seem to now be non-existent. HOW DO I FIND POLITICAL HUMOR - nothing I've tried works.

And I do have to admit, I'm now convinced you're a democrat because you are creating an incredible monstrosity of a bureaucracy on this site.:^) I was under the impression Free Republic Network existed to fill the wants or needs of these specialized forums. Man, you're really trying to take the fun out of this, aren't you?

[John Robinson]

I like the idea of a state ping list that addresses all members of a state (unlike the bump-list register that one must search on)... I would like to implement one, with caution, but don't know exactly how to do it efficiently for general use.

I figure subscribing to state topics would be as good as it gets.

[John Robinson]

Politics. Poli = many; tics = bloodsuckers.

There's your political humor. Laugh it up now. :-)

Serious. At the moment all forums are listed on the left-hand sidebar. That will change, you will be able to add and remove forums from the left-hand sidebar at a later time. Free Republic will be more like an all-conservative Yahoo. It might be a little confusing at first, but we'll work this out soon enough.

[republicandiva]

The only particularly unique feature about the state message boards are, well, their lack of features. I mean, that they are not threaded... every message posted is easily accessible, no clicking necessary. It's as if they are one thread listed in reverse chronological order.

BINGO! I know, for someone who has devoted a great deal of time to this site (and it is appreciated, even if it doesn't sound that way) it may be difficult to understand that many people pop in and out of this site, only spending a few moments...and want a quick update without having to jump through too many hoops.

I've also noticed mention of a state "ping" list...that may work for some, but, to me, being "pinged" incessantly for every state topic would be only a step or two above receiving telemarketing calls. Why would I want to endure that, when I know that, if it's important, someone will have posted a link on the STATE BOARD with a brief explanation of the content...instant decision on whether or not to go there without reading through lengthy threads.