So, What Sort of Free Republic Should This Be?

[Lead Moderator]

"Pantless driver charged over kiddie porn"

Dr Who fans to mark anniversary (40 years!)

DRUDGE "THE 'LOVE' LETTERS TO 'RUBBA' THAT MAY DESTROY JACKSON"

Seeking Help for a Computer Problem (Vanity)

'Can YOU Be A Porn Star?'

Oklahoma U. Qualifies for College Football Title Game

Man tries to smuggle bologna in shape of car seat over border

Posner is a fraud........

Screenless TV's Picture Floats In Thin Air

Syphilis Cases Rising In Idaho - many of the victims are pregnant

Michael Jackson: Take me to South America! (Midair meltdown as he returned to CA)

Teenager narrowly escapes crocodile attack

Dixie Chicks Singer Still Speaking Mind

All of the above were originally posted to news. That means that for a person having their settings for 50 threads at a time, their latest posts page would have had all of these.

All have been moved to chat.

[Timesink]

Just a suggestion: Perhaps more people might use the chat forum if posts addressed to individuals there showed up in those individuals' notification windows. Out of sight is out of mind.

[Howlin]

There is a difference between posting an article for discussion and seeing who can post the most next day's Washington Times articles first.

That, of course, is YOUR opinion; most of us here appreciate the work they put in not only posting those articles, but FINDING them to post for us.

While we're at it, I'd like to nominate yet another category:

"People Who Carp About Threads They Could Just CLICK ON BY, But Would Rather Make The Rest of Us As Miserable As They Are By Admitting They Have No Will Power to the Entire Forum."

You could be the very first poster.

[lepton]

John hasn't made the 'stupid and idiotic' forum for mods yet, we're waiting with baited breath.

Ewwwww.

[Congressman Billybob]

You have a "keen eye for the obvious" as Robert Frost said. Of course there should be a "Topic" choice for all posts!

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Double Crossing at the Rio Grande," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[Admin Moderator]

Shhhh, you were incognito.

[DoctorMichael]

I agree that the news forum has become the catch all forum. The Campaign Threads need to move back to Campaign central (now that it's no longer campaign 2002). I'd like to nominate one more catagory and that is JohnHuang2 and Kattracks personal spam area. There is a difference between posting an article for discussion and seeing who can post the most next day's Washington Times articles first.

I'll second THAT! Nothing against these guys, since they do get all the news presented for people's personal edification.

Unfortuantely......................it's usually posted at 3:30 in the morning and they don't really reply to any of it, therefore are posting it for-the-sake-of-posting-it. I get the WashTimes most mornings and after reading it over coffee warm up the computer in my office and find some really important articles are already posted (at 3:30 AM) with 3 comments to them (all at 4:40 AM) and nobody gets 'the news'. I've taken to Bumping them at times just to make sure te rest of FReeperdom are aware of the them.

Hmmmmmmmmmm................How about a COMPLETE MORATORIUM on JohnHuang2 and Kattracks posting anything until 10 or 11 AM EST? If they post anything at some ungodly hour it then gets deleted or Zotted?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Ping

[Nick Danger]

My suggestion is that when the message pops up "This thread has been moved to chat" (Like just happened to the latest Michael Jackson thread) that there be a link labeled "Good Riddance" that takes us back to the Latest Posts page.

[folklore]

I spend my time and money to re-elect GW, if you all want to worry about Laci or Jackson go to I have no life.

[sweetliberty]

"It would be suitable for any kind of non-activism topic that could be discussed among professions on break at work."

I think having a title that reminds one of work is not a good idea. Would be much more attractive to have it called something pleasant, like, I don't know, the garden, the park, FReeper fun house (lol)....I don't know, but not something work-related.

[Moonmad27]

I, for one, was glad to see the Dr Who article when I clicked on "latest articles". The 40th anniversary is news (especially in England where the TV show is a national institution), but a general article on the show would not be news. Perhaps people wouldn't dislike the moving of articles so much if it was more often called a move to General Interest rather than Chat.

[maui_hawaii]

I spend my time and money to re-elect GW, if you all want to worry about Laci or Jackson go to I have no life.

Where did that "you all" part come from?

[sweetliberty]

"I'd like one big page where I can see what's moving on all the forums."

Same here.

[Stop Legal Plunder]

We have our ideas, although they are not firm. They depend on what has been going on lately. For example, I'll let a major sporting event go, if there hasn't been a ton of that in the main forum lately. So context matters-- for now. Should it? Should there be doctrinaire adherence to some rules? What should the rules be, if so? What should the guidelines be, if not?

One difficulty of the context standard is that people won't understand it, and many will think certain choices are unfair. This thread has already had several links posted to it with the question: why was this classified as it was?

You can reduce both the time required to reclassify and the sense of some of unfairness by converting "Latest Posts" into the latest posts for all forums combined. Those who want to see all kinds of stories will chose that, whereas those who want to focus on particular forums can choose to link directly to them.

This approach balances formal structure and organic prioritizing at the same time.

[maui_hawaii]

As for the "I have no life"...its saturday night and I am at home on the computer and not out with some hottie...

I'll try to reform myself next weekend.

[stlnative]

Honestly this should be priority on the list of things to fix as the issue keeps coming up. No matter what forum you are in, you should be able to hit Post at the top right hand corner and you should be able to find "chat" clearly in the posting catagories options. If you fixed it then maybe these tabloid non-political posts would end up where they belong. "Chat" for tabloid, gossip, hollywood, non-political posts like the Jackson, Peterson, Kobe cases, etc... Personally I would like to see another forum just for Worldwide War on Terror, since this is an issue that we will not being getting away from soon, if ever.

Make the change from General Interest to Chat and stop the confusion!

[sweetliberty]

"To hell with JFK - who killed Sidebar Moderator?"

ROTFL! He was demoted. Now he's the playground monitor.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Well said, and I hope this portends a more aggressive policy of moving threads having nothing to do with news or politics to more appropriate forums, at least until such time as posters "get it" and start posting in the appropriate places.

Take it to Chat! If more threads are moved, voluntarily or by force, to Chat (AKA General Interest), ultimately more people will go there. As it now stands, I suspect people post non-news items here because they (correctly) perceive that their thread won't get read or responded to "over there." If you implement, at least for a while, a zero tolerance crackdown, you'll build up a readership in General Interest, and leave this forum clear for hard news. Heck, I'd go over there from time to time. I'm not so sobersided that I won't discuss football or the Atkins diet or dogs or the weather. But separation of lightweight topics from hard news makes sense to me. Hell, why bother to have a General Interest forum if such topics are posted in the News/Activism forum?

There will be grey areas, of course, and the Moderators' decisions won't always be cut-and-dried. In sports, the World Series or the Super Bowl probably are legitimate news items (better to keep such subjects to one thread if possible, though); the Martinsville AC-Delco Mr. Goodwrench Miller Lite Jiffylube 400 stock car race isn't. In weather, an approaching hurricane may be news; a local thunderstorm isn't. All "News" or "Chat" calls won't be easy, but a lot will be, and the herd can be thinned.

I'll add a couple more often-seen subjects which should be posted, or moved, to Chat...

"FReep this Poll!" Oh my God, an on-line poll being run by Channel 62 in Peoria shows that a majority of respondants approve of same-sex marriages. We must do something. Everyone, go vote! Disable your cookies and vote multiple times! Oh, please. It's an on-line poll. It is meaningless. Take it to Chat, or far better, fuhgettaboutit.

"Please pray for my grandmother (or husband, or neighbor, or whomever)." I know, I know. That's cold-hearted. No doubt, I'll get a cyber-punch in the snoot:. Give it your best shot. I hope your relative or friend recovers from his/her ailment. I really do. But it's not news, and it's not politics. Take it to Chat.

Well, I've done my part to offend and annoy my fellow FReepers, so I'll end my rant now. [applause] But I do hope the Mods are able to get this situation under control; as noted, it has gotten noticably worse of late.

[eddie willers]

Drawing the "Latest Posts" from all of the forums provides a much more realistic picture of the whole FR community. It's also much more flexible for those who want to be able to flit back and forth among forums. Another advantage of this approach is that it would greatly lesson the temptation for vanity and chat posters to post improperly in News/Activism just to be sure Freepers will see their thread.

You and I wrote the same thing and I just want to pound this fine point again!

[maui_hawaii]

One suggestion :o)

Can we keep the Brittney Spears threads (complete with pictures)???

J/k