Replies

Thanks for asking! First, I confess to being an internet message board addict for many years. From that perspective, FreeRepublic is administered and moderated better than any message board I've seen. There isn't even a close second. Kudos to JimRob and all the mods, and I really have no complaint of consequence.

But, since you asked, here in order of importance to me:

I'd like to see closer moderating of breaking news threads. When there's a serious event taking place, and I log on and try to catch up with the most current info about it, it's an annoying distraction to have to scroll past dozens of attempts at one-liner humor interspersed among the updates. Breaking news is not the place for it. There can also be considerable thread drift in breaking news. When a couple of posters are engaging in an extended dialogue about their favorite restaurants (for example) woven into a thread where breaking news is developing I'd like to tell them to get a room instead of camping out on a breaking news thread.

I'd also like to see a 30-day probation period before new members can start a thread. It would eliminate a lot of DUH trolls.

It would be beneficial to see a weekly moderator thread advising of any members that have been banned or suspended. It might be instructive to include a brief summary about the nature of the infraction.

It would be beneficial to see a weekly moderator thread advising of any members that have been banned or suspended. It might be instructive to include a brief summary about the nature of the infraction.

I'll 2nd this one, tentatively. It could serve as a useful tool to let us know what constitutes crossing the line... You know, in hockey, when someone gets sent to the box, if becomes part of the record of the game. So and so, 2 minutes for hooking. Then, other folks know that we better not get caught hooking or we're going to have to sit for 2 minutes.

I can also see some of the problems as it's going to be subjective infractions that receive subjective penalties and someone else is going to complain that you're being "too hard" on people who are "barely" hooking.

But, it's better than the "rumors" that float all over the place. You know, old so-and-so got banned for life because he made a derogatory comment about the admin moderator. When in reality, old so-and-so is off for a couple of weeks vacation, or decided to spend less time at FR for whatever reason.