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?
I hadn’t thought of it that way ...
It’s kind of funny to be heading into 2010. Like something should have happened by now.
Ash, both catz, and Frank. It’s not safe to leave papers on the floor or the table or the sofa. I caught Shannon shredding a napkin this morning. She was embarassed.
I’m going to make coffee; it’s cold in here!
Good luck, may the pooka of the shears be kind to you this day.
Cats don’t shred papers.
I bought some. It’s not too bad for $2. Better than what I’d get on the boat..but that goes for most things.
Although the boat’s canned fruit salad was exceptional this morning/afternoon (or whenever it was that I got up.)
In my world it has. *\:^(
Ugh. Got myself into a mess with one of my blogs. Trying to create an analogy of a technical situation using a historical situation (because some of the audience are non-technical folks), but finding historical equivalents for one or two operations is proving to be really difficult.
That's not surprising!
Something bad has happened just as 2010 arrives? Not a dreadful haircut, I hope!
Learned it takes 3 days +/- a few hours to get to the East Coast by Greyhound (only a few buses have WiFi yet), but it can be rather less expensive than flying. Now if they only had sleeper berths... *\;-)
OTOH, I think I have my blog solution. Want to run it by LoM before I publish, however.
Big slug of rain coming, might be there already for you. A little further east it’s snow, as Bean Counter has already reported on the state board.
It just started spitting on us while we were out walking to dog. I can see it off in the distance.
Oh well, whatever happens I'm not scheduled to go anywhere until Hogmanay (January 1st Scottish celebrations).
Have you considered the train?
My solution is to stay home, but I guess that’s not an option for you.
Last rode it, oh, around Christmas 1980, I think. We took an overnight sleeper cabin from SF to Kansas for Christmas with my father. Memory says it was a little pricey, diner car service poor quality, and the cabin freakingly narrow.
LoM looked up rates last night. I have forgotten the cost, but it was high enough that I don't think it was worth it. If I lived on the East Coast (most of my meetings are east of the Mississippi) it might be a different matter. OTOH if they now offer WiFi so I could conduct business from my cabin that might be a different matter.
Gimmee a break. The Feds just need to butt out of commercial industry.
I agree. No wonder Amtrak keeps losing money.
And it's taxpayer money they're wasting. Another letter to my congressman... but... this is straying into areas verboten to the Undead Thread.
So hey -- how's the rain there? And the byos? *\;-)
No rain here, at the moment. Supposed to be in the 30s the next several days. They byos are all in bed, and I’m going there myself, now.
Try not to worry, things could get better!
Oddly the radar shows rain should be on us now but it's still dry. Machts nichts, I have no reason (other than fetching the daily copy of the ever-more-liberal WSJ) to venture forth before next year.
G'night!
You, and all the rest of us, need better trains, or better phones.
Since air travel does not seem to be capable of doing what the business traveler needs to have done, train travel in the United States either needs to mature or disappear.
How does the situation appear in Europe and the Orient? Can they organize business meetings around train travel?
Better phones means some kind of virtual meeting. NASA equipment allows one to feel that they are in a different space, seeing in three-D, and being able to track voices.
What’s missing from this technology is the face to face. That can be fixed, too.
Cameras today can track your eye position. For the virtual meeting, when you don your display visor, it should contain facial feature tracking devices. When you smile, your avatar should smile realistically.
If you frown or look puzzled, your avatar should display that expression as well. With proper technology, a table meeting of up to twelve should be relatively simple.
For larger groups, such as your committees, it would be necessary to concentrate on individual presenters, or serial speakers. But it should also be possible to keep multiple faces in view in order to gauge reactions.
Paperwork would also have to be coordinated. All references should be to pages approved and distributed in advance. They could even be virtual, appearing as a screen within a screen in your display visor. Pictures could work the same way, and laser pointers would have to be integrated into the display technology as well.
I don’t see anything prohibitively complex in this scenario, and it would be a great deal easier to bring about than modernizing all the train travel in America.
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