Oh yeah, navigating is reallllllly tough on FR.
Hint - just follow the pancake ...
Posted on 09/08/2011 6:05:28 AM PDT by SpinRabbit
Hello everyone. I recently found this site and I enjoy it, though I find it a little difficult to navigate. I would describe myself as a former liberal who outgrew his college education. I look forward to lively discussion, and I would appreciate any tips on using the forum. Thanks.
lol! All good advice!
Donate handsomely during Freepathons.
Oops, I sent it to the wrong one!
Why is there such disdain here for “newbies”, and the admonishment that they must wait a while before posting? Just because people have not been “FReepers” forever does not mean they are ignorant of politics or other topics.
They may be extremely more knowledgable than many of us, and may have posted on other sites for years! It’s just that they are new to THIS exact site.
Many existing FReepers (but not the site’s owners) are very snobbish in this respect, and I don’t know of another site that discourages short-term posters in this manner.
Why is there such disdain here for “newbies”, and the admonishment that they must wait a while before posting? Just because people have not been “FReepers” forever does not mean they are ignorant of politics or other topics.
They may be extremely more knowledgable than many of us, and may have posted on other sites for years! It’s just that they are new to THIS exact site.
Many existing FReepers (but not the site’s owners) are very snobbish in this respect, and I don’t know of another site that discourages short-term posters in this manner.
The site just takes a little getting used to.
Use a tabbed browser.
Open the Latest Article link in one tab, refresh periodically.
Open interesting Articles/Threads in subsequent tabs, refresh periodically.
Open ‘pings’ [your comments and comments to you] in another tab, refresh periodically.
Sometimes, on very active days, one might have half-a-dozen or more threads open and refreshing.
Welcome.
Trust but verify.
1. Don’t post a lot at first. Just read and learn.
2. When you do begin posting, try not to be too controversial until you’ve been around for awhile and gained a good reputation.
3. Have a thick skin.
4. Before you post, read the thread and see if someone else has already shared the same thought. (I post a LOT less than I used to because of this.)
5. No personal insults. If someone insults you - ignore them and don’t take it personally. There’s no point in arguing with a rude person.
6. Enjoy and LEARN! You’ll be surprised how enlightening the debates around here really are and you’ll get more out of reading than you will from posting. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. (Your first vanity is a good choice.) :-)
For the first year or so that I was around here I think I mostly asked questions. I was always careful to present my questions in such a way that the other posters could see that I was sincerely asking and not a troll. I’ve had many wonderful mentors step forward that way.
Every website gets “trolls”. People who feign interest in a website but have ulterior motives.
There is a high ratio of liberal trolls to genuine new members, so everyone is suspect at first. It has nothing to do with being snobbish.
Good luck. (Try to avoid the anti Mormons here, please.)
Welcome to Free Republic! A good sense of humor is essential here, because, ( I know that it is hard to believe ), every now and then one of us MAY express an emotional opinion.
It’s not disdain on my part. I just think it’s prudent. No different that being the new guy at a job. I advocate staying mum for a while and getting the lay of the land before you start mixing it up.
I disagree. Looking around a lot of the other typical forum engines on the web, they all display things like post counts and sign up dates right along with the user names. Even more, some sites integrate the voting of comments right into the threads. And these aren't necessarily political in nature. Woot.com, for example, contains a thing called "Quality Post" count that is awarded only at the behest of the site moderators.
It is probably easier to just use the Article tab setting instead of the Comments one. Then hit your browser refresh and the articles will update with the most recent on the top. You can page down until you find an article that interests you.
Welcome FRiend! My advice: try not to use the words “Helen” and “Thomas” too close to each other or in the same sentence.
Not too long ago we had regular trolls from DU hitting the site almost daily. There was a regular war going on.
It was so bad that every poster without a solid record was viewed with serious suspicion.
About six or seven years ago there was a SNAFU and a few of us old timers had our ‘since’ date reset. I didn’t realize it until I posted a perfectly reasonable and noncontroversial post and got slammed as a ‘troll’. I had JR fix it (I was still shorted by a few months), but those two days were hell. There were actually a few FReepers who had to come in a vouch for me.
It’s just bad experience that keeps FReepers defensive. now we only trust our own. Believe me, it used to be much worse.
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