Posted on 10/26/2009 4:32:01 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
This is a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood Admin Moderators (Sidebar gave us some attitude so we shoved him in the closet for a while. He never recovered from the Yacht incident) For a while, we have noticed some things happening that we need your help with. The Free Republic community is strong; we are almost a family, albeit very dysfunctional at times. Like any community, we have new members joining us daily. Unfortunately, the air of suspicion and the desire to keep things “the way they are” has fostered a feeling of distrust with new members. Almost every day, we see new members join, then, because of comments of suspicion, they often don’t return. For any community to thrive, it must grow. Because of this, we are asking for your help. Here are some important things you should know:
The Internet has changed greatly since Free Republic first started. When we formed, few people had their own websites, now, everyone has their own blog. With this, there is an attitude change where someone who doesn’t understand how our community works may be more interested in self-promotion than we have been used to in the past. We don’t want to change the overall feel of this site- it is about our shared values, not about self promotion, however, we don’t want to drive people away simply because they link to their own blog. There are blog “pimps” who want nothing more than to promote their own sites, but for most people, it is simply how they start out sharing their thoughts on a matter. Encourage these members to take part in existing discussions.
Many new members may not communicate well what they believe and it gives the appearance they are not 100% kosher in their Conservative beliefs. This may have nothing to do with their Conservative credentials but simply how they are communicating their beliefs or how the media/pop culture has told them what to think. Be an example and discuss what you think is wrong. A liberal troll’s true colors will reveal themselves while a new member who is honest, but may not communicate well, may learn from the conversation.
Remember, how you respond to a topic not only reflects your thoughts, but also is a reflection of the community and Conservative values. We need to be an example of positive conservative values when responding to members, especially new ones. As mods, we make a strong attempt to screen all new members. Every new sign-up goes through a period where their posts are reviewed. This helps us eliminate most trolls, porn and commercial spammers, and those who don’t fit in with our Conservative values. This isn’t a perfect system, but it does help us make sure that by the time a new member reaches the community, there is a greater chance this person is the type we want around. Some slip through, yes, and you can always help us by hitting the abuse button. (of course, we do let some world class morons through every once in a while as “Live Chow”- after all, the kitties have to have toys.)
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With all that said, we need to grow. We need to be far more welcoming to new members and guide them into how to use our community best. With this said, we are issuing a challenge to our long time Freeper family. We would like to start up a ‘welcome wagon’ type of ping list or group whose job it is to welcome new members, show them the ropes, and guide them through our community. This could be as simply as giving new members a kind welcome, guiding them to how to post topics or replies, or just making the experience pleasant.
As this is your community, we would like your thoughts, ideas, and most importantly, for some of you to step up and help us with this.
We are passing the ball to you. What do you think?
It eludes me.
Like a ballerina ninja doing cartwheels around a roomba.
Big room.
“Take them to the Carnival, let them play the conga
Tonight the tempo feels so right, tomorrow may be wronga.”
Eeeeek.
Yup. I had to go online yesterday to submit my timesheets and was not happy to see how much e-mail came in. But it came to a sudden halt on the 23rd for some reason.
What a day! LoM got me up at 9 to go to Mass at 10 (Holy Innocents). Afterwards a friend and occasional visitor (an Anglican from SoCal), the Rector's family and our family went out for breakfast and a couple hours' chat.
I had lunch instead and was able to take in some meat (french dip sandwich) and keep it down. Was feeling and apparently looking a whole lot better than I have been, though I suddenly started crashing about 1 PM and had to head home. Next outing is tomorrow afternoon when I see my haircutter to have a more professional appearance restored.
I met an Admiral in Canada. The boat had some kind of fancy party to which most of the brass of the Canadian Army, Navy, and Mounted Police showed up. (Also several Parliament types and someone from ‘Media.’) The Admiral wanted to talk to me and SN Hovel about messcooking. The Mounties wanted to go on tours. Canadian beer is disgusting. Don’t try any.
LOL, yes. It crept up in stages over the years. I have forgotten New Zealand, Sydney, and Cairo though.
The first two of those are really difficult because, although they change daylight savings within a few weeks of when we do here, they go in the opposite direction.
Admirals, in my experience, are nice, sociable guys who like pretty young women.
I do not care for beer at all, as you know.
What brand?
Best wishes at the hairstylist. I’ve been putting off getting mine cut, but Frank has been grabbing it and pulling my earrings or glasses or whatever he’s after towards his mouth. Ow.
I liked the one I met. The Mounties were nice, too, even though we couldn’t show them most of the ship. The Canadianens were all drunk, as was the Captian and XO. XO spent most of the evening on the fantail with about 30 Canadians all in a group around him. I kept looking back there and he’d be leaning on the rail, smoking a cigar and drinking, and talking about something which the Canadians found highly amusing.
XO is a character.
Mabat Blue (bad), and another kind that was less bad but still nasty. I had some kind of hard apple cider instead, which I liked okay.
Thanks. She’s very good at it! A couple or more years ago she opened her own business, FarzyCuts (her name is Farzaneh), and despite zero advertising she is very, very busy.
Labatt blue(never tried it). Molson and Moosehead are pretty good tho.
“I arrived back to my place to after the party.
Mounds of the usual laundry greeted me, and my antediluvian headache.
Socks, shirts, briefs, pants, a jacket that I never wear, and a sequined thong.
I stopped to consider the thong.
The alien object sitting there, glittering a taunt at me.
“You don't wear these, so why am I here?!” it jabbered.
“I have no idea, but in with the rest of the clothes you go.” I said, as I hideously mixed lights with darks, gentle knits with permanent press.
My work of evil complete, I sat on my davenport and listened to the pained screech of the laundry convulse in its death throes.”
At least nobody fell off the fantail, right?
So, are you SN now, or still SA? It wasn’t clear in some mail we got. And did you get the box today?
I love it. A work of genius.
More like madness mixed with sleep deprivation.
Thanks for the warning, though!
Well, go to sleep! Would you like me to send Pat to discuss the operating system of “Star Wars: Battlefront II,” so you can sleep more quickly? Your brain will switch off just to eliminate his dweeby, yet piercing, voice.
2400
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