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.

[justshe]

Considering there are some 3,500 articles and some 22,000 individual post made each day I'm surprised they have time to do anything else but clean up the spills in the various aisles......

Congratulations on bringing reality to this discussion! I'm not sure everyone realizes the number of "aisles" and the number of "products" stocking those aisles!

[Fledermaus]

I'll be happy to comply, but yet again, for the UMPTEENTH TIME...where the hell is the "chat forum"? I can't find a button on the main page that says "chat forum".

Maybe most posters don't follow the guidelines because they, like me, don't know where the heck "chat forum" is!

I'm just asking. It might be me. But I can't find it.

[Fledermaus]

For example. This is what I see on the left side of the main page:

Forums
Campaign Central
General Interest
News/Activism
Religion
RLC Liberty Caucus
VetsCoR
Forum/Topics
Latest Posts
Latest Articles
Breaking News
Front Page News
Editorials/Opinions

By Title By Keyword By Poster
Topics
Activism/Chapters
Business/Economy
Conservatism/Constitution
Crime/Corruption
Culture/Society
Foreign Affairs
Government
News/Current Events
Philosophy
Politics/Elections
Political Humor/Cartoons
Sports
Your Opinion/Questions
Miscellaneous

Daily Forum Threads
America the Right Way
Astronomy Pic of the Day
Daily Prayer Thread
Day in the Life Pres Bush
Dimensional Doorway
A Few of FR's Finest
Freeoples Thread
Freeper Foxhole
The Guild
The Hobbit Hole
Poetry and Potpourri
Pray for President Bush
Prayer Requests
USO Canteen FR Style
Word for the Day

No where do I see the word "chat". Again, maybe it's just me. So I ask for guidance. Thank you.

[Cultural Jihad]

Are you joking? Look for the forum named "General Interest" and you've found the so-called "chat" forum.

[Fledermaus]

No, I'm not "joking". I hear them complain all the time but if someone like me that has been here for years doesn't know what "chat" means, then they should stop saying "chat" and say "General Interest"!

Is that so hard? Maybe they'd limit the problems by telling posters to post trivial stuff in "General Interest" rather than saying chat. You have to admit some will not know GI and chat are the same thing as I've just proven.

There is no need to demean me because I didn't now the code words. I've asked more than once and sent private mail to the the moderators and they never pointed that simple fact out.

Thank you for letting me know. See, was that so difficult?

[Cultural Jihad]

Well, there are probably a dozen references on this very thread to "[General Interest/Chat]" as well as about 2 dozens posts commenting on the very issue you had raised, so I wasn't sure if you were joking or not. Glad you found your answer, though, and I apologize if I came off as critical.

[Scenic Sounds]

Quando a nossa mãe acordar andaremos ao sol....

Sim, e "todos os filhos saberão e regozijarão." ;-)

[Servant of the 9]

To be perfectly blunt, if I were trying to think of the perfect way to disrupt a website from its objective, it wouldn't be to come in and post things that would get me banned. It wouldn't be to come in and talk off the wall. It would be to come in and just gently steer the site to irrelevance.

If I wanted to disrupt this website, I would get strict and throw out the occasional silly threads and make it as totally serious and boring as a meeting of the local Trotskiites.

There are a lot of painfully heavy issues dealt with here, and we need an occasional break.

Anything posted directly to 'Chat' vanishes without a trace, cause very few ever look there. Most of the posters to these articles I believe see it in News or breaking news and then follow the Admin Moderators link to its new location in chat. That gives the threads a start, yet keeps its follow up posts out of the 'latest posts' lists of everyone reading a more important topic.

So9

[TheSpottedOwl]

I don't know if those stories detract from the main focus of this website. To me it simply means that conservatives have a sense of humor. We need one these days ;-)

[honeygrl]

"I was poisoned by too much lead. "

You should sue the Lead Mod like I am because I accidently ate those paint chips in the corner. (i thought it was candy!) Lead Mod is supposed to moderate all that lead. He or she is slacking up. The lead poisoning made me sit on the computer for hours at a time reading threads that should've been in chat.


Hey Lead: Could we have a Bizarre News Forum added? We certainly get enough bizarre news posted to make it popular. Or maybe a forum specifically for court cases? That could keep it all out of the news section and leave no doubts when someone is posting as to which forum it belongs in. (or could could be a little devious about it and make a check box that said "court news" and "bizarre news" and if either of those boxes are checked, make it automatically go to chat.. makes your job easier) Not trying to tell you how to run things, just giving ideas to help your job become easier.

[honeygrl]

The site seems to me to be about as user friendly as a site could possibly be already. Users just need to pay attention to and think about whether the article they are posting relates to political news or not. If it doesn't relate to politics, then you know now to click general interest before you hit post. If you aren't sure, you can always post it to general interest and someone will hit abuse and have it moved to news if it really belongs there.

[k2blader]

Bumpity!

[nuffsenuff]

Call me a newbie, but where exactly is the "chat" forum you guys are talking about?

[Admin Moderator]

See #37.

General Interest = chat, check the URL. Thanks.

[WOSG]

They need a category called "Tabloid News"
for all the nonpolitical flotsam and jetsam...

Anyway, is this place sinking to the level of FoxNews and NBC's Dateline? :-)

[Cubs Fan]

This forum may have a problem with tabloidism, but it has a worse problem with censorship.

It seems to me at least some of the moderators are way too eager to move threads, toss threads, suspend and ban people.

Just as a government that governs least governs best, a site that governs least governs best.

[Lead Moderator]

Considering you have never had a post pulled or a comment removed, I find that to be a most curious opinion for you to hold so resolutely.

Regards

[Lead Moderator]

Agreed. Except when we end up having more than half of the articles showing up in the Latest Posts page being what could be classified as "fluff". Then we know that we have to tighten the reins a bit. Thanks, LM

[Lead Moderator]

Post #26 answered that question. Thanks

[Lead Moderator]

If you want complete consistency, then I doubt you are going to be happy. For example, major events such as the World Series or the Super Bowl are not going to be moved. Further, if the forum is not being overrun with fluff, then odds are we are going to take a hands off approach. It is when things are happening too frequently that we will act.