Posted on 03/13/2005 8:44:32 PM PST by Frapster
I've been reading FR for years now and during that time I've always found that the format for FR is rather confusing and convoluted. While I keep coming back I repeatedly find myself asking 'why this format?'
I know that this was custom written by Jim Robinson and that's pretty cool. But having participated in a multitude of online communities I've seen many formats that work and many that don't. FR is unique in that it's need and user interest has overcome the usability issues that would normally drive off a user base but I still have to wonder - why don't we go to a more 'standard' format where we can review thread titles in such a way as to not see the same thread title 100 times on the same page (if I'm browsing posts) or have to peruse threads posted in the order in which they were posted.
It would seem that a more standard approach to this forum would make it more enjoyable than it already is. While I visit every day mutliple times a day I'd sure like to see a change.
Just my thoughts. Flame away.
The Free Republic search function is seriously damaged, compared to the way it used to be.
I searched "Islamic" in the Advanced search page, using the "quick," "match any word" and by "order by post time" settings It returned about 20 hits, from 3/01 to 3/13.
As I recall, a single page used to return a lot more hits than than -- I have my preferances set to 250 articles per page. Further, only 20 hits on the word "Islamic" for a two weeks worth of posting seems too few.
At the bottom of the page I think there used to be a link for "find additional results," which would bring up several new pages of recent hits. But that's been changed to "Click to search older articles ... " When you click on it, it returns the same amount of articles from the same time frame -- 3/01 - 3/13. In other words, the "archive" setting is the same as the "recent" setting.
I seem to recall that it returned many more hits and went much deeper into the archive.
Note to Mods: Is anyone working on this?
It seems that this format is rather unique (novice here so I don't have much to compare to). I like it and besides, it makes it easier to spot when featured on Fox! LOL
Yes, I have. That is slowly becoming my more favorite view but it's still not desireable. A useable view would allow me to sort posts by date posted and by most recent reply without feeling that I've had to 'go' somewhere else within the site to sort the content. I'm viewing the same content - why make the change in 'sorting' so dramatic in presentation? Plust - in that particular view I really am interested in the 'hot' topics but those may be buried far back in the site which causes me to view the other view. So I'm jumping in between. Why not bring those two views together so we can view articles where the most recent ones are bumped to the top. And if I want to peruse back through the history I can still do that.
a kindred spirit.
lol!
The search/archive could use a drastic overhall.
After a few days, a topic rolls off the planet. Just today, I tried to go back to find an article I saved to hard drive and inadvertantly deleted. It was an article about the USS Lincoln providing aid during the tsunami. The search (title by date) only allowed me to go back one page of listings, which listed articles only for about the last 2 weeks.
It is too bad that the historical content gets so easily lost after a few days. I have yet to see any search engine, however, including Google, that allows searches between specific dates or earlier than a specific date. Google does some indexing of FR and I usually rely on it to do any searching.
FR has allot of historical content, but unless someone has saved a link or just happens to know how to get to a particular article, trying to go back and find a specific article is next to impossible.
I have noticed that, too. I've not been here too long, but it seems to me that this is a fairly new issue, within the last 90 days or so.
My mom had five kids in seven years, and I am the youngest. I thought that was the answer to all "why" questions until I went to kindergarten.
I don't know what you do for a living but I build websites for a living. Usability in particular is a critical part of what I do and one thing I like about FR is weappreciate expertise in an area to lend credibility to what one is saying. I'm not tops in my field (not nationally known) but I'm good at what I do. That being said - I've looked at both your links and the first one at Freedominion.com is actually not bad once you get into the forum itself. Even still it lacks some features that make the forum itself more useable. Threaded views for example. It appears to only allow 'flattened' views. But their intial presentation is not fully intuitive but still - hardly horrible. However plenty of room for improvement. The second one was certainly more confusing and not implemented well. But the good news for them is their problem is solveable if they have the willingness and resources to do so.
Beyond that - there are solutions which already exist that can be customized or even used right out of box to support a site such as this. FR's largest problem is it's popularity - I would imagine that the biggest difficulty they face is providing sufficient bandwidth and server space/processing. So no need for me to go build something.
I do agree that people are making it work - I guess I'm just offering suggestions that might make it work better. No harm in that.
rofl! I have 4 kids and I'm certain I've resorted to using that for the youngest's 'why' queries. lol
I just did a search about 15 minutes ago and ran into the same problem. I've gotten a few more hits when I use the google advanced search and confine the results to the freerepublic site. I MISS the old search function. There are all these great articles that are inaccessible now (sigh).
I agree - there was on article on here some 2 years back that discussed the Crusades. It had some fascinating statistics and I referenced it numerous times in discussions. I haven't been able to find it in some time.
lol!
Folks over at DU don't like the FR format either. I suggest you stick to a website you like.
touchy touchy
Actually - I do have a question for you. What compells you to say something like that? It seems you're implying that I'm some DUer and that I should stay over there. Now I've been here a long time and while I'm a virtual nobody here I don't think I'm saying anything to slight FR or Jim - just making suggestions that I genuinely believe would help. So why the 'tude?
Me three.
My eyes have perfect vision but are aging and my brain can follow this format the best out of all.
My perfect vision and not so perfect brain gets frustrated on other forums hence I just stay put.
BTW I save your web cam page. Cool you have all on one page now.
The Yaquina Bridge Cam is at Embarcadero just up the road towards town about 3 miles from me so my view of the bridge is just as good but from a different angle. Thanks for the note.
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