Just an observation. The all (mostly) text version of Free Republic works and gets through when little else will. I can attest to getting 100% of my news for periods of time in Afghanistan and Iraq. The larger news organizations are so bloated with animaniacwhizbangisticalness that in a low bandwidth situation they are useless.
.02
YMMV
KYPD
Don’t change a thing.
It’s just fine the way it is.
It ain’t broke.
Don’t fix it.
Thank you
That is all.
My son and an associate wrote IOS and Android phone and tablet apps for Free Republic that present FR’s content with all the comments in a threaded view format, to make following a back and forth reply chain effortless.
We have not decided whether, or how, to release them for anyone else’s use yet.
The apps do not allow posting content. An FR user would have to log in to FR with a browser for that. These are just for quick, easy FR reading on the go.
The apps use a server that reads Free Republic content, caches it, figures out the comment threads and presents the posts to the app user with the comment and comment replies in a threaded viewing format.
We suspect that Jim and the FR community may not care enough about the functionality we’ve added by making these apps to justify the cost and maintenance for them.
I love the FR format.
I love the current format. I want to see advertising, with the advertising limited to firearm companies.
I vote no. I like the fact I can use FR through my proxy with lynx. Also the forums with the new whizbang javascript stuff are usually broken and/or slower. Javascript is crap, when FR does things on the server it is cleaner code, more reliable, and more secure. The only drawback is round trip server time but that’s rarely a problem.
Umm..
NO.
Just plain NO.
(For an example of what your suggestions would bring, visit the FR Facepagething page..)
Is it possible to have a function in the *To:* box that would *spellcheck* a name you type in?
E.g. I type Inge-Cay. Hit preview.
I get a message *Could not find anybody named ‘Inge-Cay’ *
It would be so nice, if I could get a *hint* for example:
*Did you mean, *Inge_Cav*?
Whachuthink?
It would save so much aggravation/stress to skirt around the chore that you have to go back and see if you typed the right spelling, etc. It’s great if you forget to capitalize, it goes through okay.
Is it Joe Six-Pack, Joesixpack, Joe 6-Pack, Joe6pack ...or any other permutation? {{{sigh}}}
For years, I’ve axed if we could please have a sixty second delay, where we would go back and edit a post; I *know* what the answer is. {{{sigh2}}}
I think most people would use that function to correct typos, grammar, and the like. If you have a disability like a TBI, vision...it would be so nice to have that option.
This thread is like a wish list to Santa. Thanks Yollo.
Merry Christmas to all my darling FReepers.
I do CMS Web building and having a quick 'Like' and a mobile app skin to make it easier to lurk and post, would be nice
The bottom actions links cannot be seen on my Note 5 without tagging and expanding it.
We sorta old timers are so used to it we’ll probably object to changes...
As you can see from the replies to your post, the average age of Freepers must be over 80. You have some good suggestions. But this crowd hates good suggestions.
I’m sure the current format must turn off many potential contributors to FR — that’s not good. It makes us look like neanderthals.
A LIKE button would be a big improvement. It would cut down on having to read through many useless posts to get a sense of how the community feels about a post.
I think this forum software is outstanding.
I don’t mean to be rude but you send a message like this at Christmas? Your timing is terrible, and honestly I’ll bet more than 65% of donors to FR don’t want ads, don’t want slow loading pages or 5 clicks to get to a story... but I can’t focus on this now because I’d much rather be wishing Jim a Very Merry Christmas full of friends and family and love! And thanking him for such an amazing 2016, and for the FReeper family we have all found here! And wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas as well, it’s time to jump into the holiday spirit with both feet :)
I just read all your posts. The assumption is that up to date forum software can’t be made to look and feel simple or fast loading or Android/phone friendly. This is not the case. Forum software is customizable. A user can have a choice between HTML and Java versions of the same site.
Comments that a learning curve to use FR means people are dedicated and committed to their principles is bogus. This is a digital medium in the Digital Age and if it ain’t at your fingertips, you won’t grow the site by attracting a younger demographic. Obsolescence is avoidable, but only at the cost of removing obsolete memes. FR will ultimately emulate the biology of its remaining users, do a MacArthur, grow old and fade away.
Secondary comments about ads and ad revenue assume that the admins wouldn’t be able to select ads based on how FR should look and feel. This is a reaction to past media uptake and not intrinsic to how ad content can be required to behave, ie., reactionary.
The only salient criticism is that any upgrade to FR would be expensive, would rely on outside tech support and possibly compromise security. The upgrade can be crowd sourced and the talent pool of trustworthy conservatives can’t be that impoverished.
Basically I see conservatives doing here with this thread what they do best, hunker down, grip what is familiar and let faster moving elements run circles around us like them goofy technophobe hippies did back in the 1960’s making us pull Trump’s victory off by the skin of our teeth 50 years later while them paradigm busting lefties gained near total hegemony over academia, the press, youth culture, entertainment, urban governments, etc.
If there is one thing we can learn from Donald Trump, it’s that we can bust the paradigm and win.
Sorry, but FRis the best discussion software anyplace. Nothing comes close. It’s possible to have near real-time conversations here. No place else.
In fact, if I were to pick a site best poised to be the conservative alternative to Facebook, I’d pick FR.
I like this system. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been using it for 20 years. But I do agree that it would be nice to add a few features, including some you mentioned. I’d just like to see them added to this software and not some other forum software used instead. No other forum software I’ve ever seen has been as clean and easy use as this.
good luck......will fall on deaf ears......
Seconded.