BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES! A plea to all FReepers... mostly new, a few old

FreeRepublic ^ | 11-7-04 | Red State Denizens & me

[cgk]

Now that the Election is over, and we've let the rest of the country know Loud and Clear where we stand, and who we stand behind... it appears to be a good time to get re-organized here on FR.

Perhaps it's the euphoria that isn't quite wearing off at the 5% mandate the President earned and was given voluntarily by all of us. Maybe it's the fact we picked up even more seats in both the Senate and the House. Maybe it's just knowing Sen. Daschle has been voted out.

Whatever it is... we need to get back to work. "W2" is just the beginning of our battle. If you've been over to DU lately... they're not exactly throwing in the towel, and neither should we.

HOWEVER - this seems to be a good time to remind everyone a couple of things. Flame away, I expect it, because I know I am by no means some kind of old-timer around here breaking my seniority out at every perceived slight. Then again, I've been waiting for one of those "since the 90s" FReepers to say this, and haven't seen it yet.

To those of you who found us after the Buckbeak/CBS Memo scandal... many of us (not all) do not consider FreeRepublic a Blog. Because the MSM has labeled FR as a blog, doesn't make it so. FreeRepublic is considered by most (from what I've read here since before the CBS debacle) as a Forum. A Blog has been commonly defined as a website hosted by one (or so) people - where they post their thoughts. An online diary. People comment or analyze on that person's thoughts sometimes. Sometimes not. Here on FR we comment on various articles, news events, editorials, and call out for action.

All that being said - because FR is not by common definition a "blog" - your every thought does not need, nor sometimes deserve its own thread. If you feel you really need to share something with everyone, it is best posted in the General/Chat forum.

Next... PLEASE PLEASE USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION! It can be found below, in its own link, and it is also found on the Main Forum page as a Handy little Box above all the current threads.

Hot tip: Searching for an exact title is less successful than typing in ONE keyword FROM the title of the article you're trying to post. Especially when people miss spelling errors in their titles, and change the titles of the articles. Searching for ONE word works, especially when it's by DATE.

We can all understand the excitement and confusion of Election Day, exit poll madness, and Arafat and his 72 lives.

There are pros and cons to duplicate postings.

• How many times have you clicked on an article you've never seen, only to see 2nd or 3rd in the comments "Already posted"?

• Suggested Solution: Notify the Admin Moderator or Sidebar Moderator about the Duplicate post by PROVIDING THEM THE LINK TO THE MAIN THREAD, so they can "lock" the thread and direct all future responses to the "Main" thread. This will help all of us from trying to follow news events on sometimes up to 8 or 9 threads. It stands to reason that if we help the Moderators out by providing the links for duplicates, things will proceed much more quickly and smoothly.

• Try not to abuse Topics when posting an article. If you want to get maximum exposure, it actually works if you post the thread where it belongs. I assume I am not the only FReeper who uses the Headlines page to gauge what the "Top Stories" are on FR. It's something else to see "Arafat Dead!" on every topic from "Breaking" (yes) to "FR" (no) to "California" (hardly) to "Anthrax" (source?). Not every story is breaking, especially those coming from unreliable sources. (Your own head comes to mind). Not every news story belongs in all 50 states. And no, not every thread from DU belongs in "News." (And if you're posting profanity-laced threads, clean it up please. We can all follow the original link, should we choose to expose ourselves to garbage.)

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  I'm sure there's more others would like to add to the Bonfire... whether it's to agree or disagree. Long-winded I know, but much of it seems to be overdue. This seemed like as good of a time as any to gather all the valuable informative links and resources of FR and stick it in one place.

  I honestly am just trying to help out those who are new, and who are still riding the W2 wave. Let's not get sloppy.

  :)

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  Recommended Bookmark/Starting Point:

  Your Headlines Page

  Main Forum

  Main FR Search Page

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[cgk]

Everyone Should Read These:

Statement by the Founder of Free Republic

Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

Way too many duplicates and vanities. Please read - again. (Welcome Newbies)

Repeatedly Submitting Abuse Reports when you disagree

Revised & Updated! -- THE LEXICON OF FREEREPUBLIC -- (FR dictionary, more help for newcomers!)

R U new? Some Tips....

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Some should read these...(How to:)

The HTML Campfire

Basic html formatting

HTML Sandbox

HTML Sandbox: Thread 2

HTML Sandbox: Thread 3

Reference HTML Cheatsheet

[cgk]

I am out of line in any of the above, I welcome your input. I'm not a newbie, but I don't run this place either. :)

[ml1954]

Because the MSM has labeled FR as a blog..

Who cares???

[OSHA]

UNNNNGH

[DainBramage]

We can't actually clean it up until Arafat is completely dead, which may take weeks.

He is scheduled to die again at 0700 tomorrow.

[cgk]

;) So I should've saved all this until the SOB was actually in the ground?

[silent_jonny]

He is scheduled to die again at 0700 tomorrow.

LOL!

[El Oviedo]

May be its an ambitious project. But since Free Republic is in California, we should try our darndest best to make California a red state so that by 2008, we got more electoral votes to start with.

(1) First let's make the legislature conservative on the next election - 2006.

(2) We should convince the Christians and Catholics that their only hope for a moral culture is getting rid of the liberals in the legislature. It will be hard because you have the unions to contend with. But with a plan and the resources we should be able to do it.

Any suggestions?

[Dolphy]

Here on FR we comment on various articles, news events, editorials, and call out for action.

I don't think we care what the label is, we care how the forum is used.

Thanks, cgk.

[KarlInOhio]

He is scheduled to die again at 0700 tomorrow.

So that means that we shouldn't post Debka's three Arafat obituaries between now and then.

[DainBramage]

Well, I agree with the need for such a thread for sure,

but the each Arafat death can spawn 20 vanities in minutes.

[NewLand]

Already Posted

:-D

[cgk]

I don't think we care what the label is, we care how the forum is used.

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True enough! Heehee... To quote Kerry (you can kick me now) "I've always hated labels. And I don't abide by labels..." and "Labels don't mean anything"...

You're right. We do care how the forum is used. And I am proud that this forum is represented in the world as a "Conservative website" for news reference.

[Ryan Spock]

To those of you who found us after the Buckbeak/CBS Memo scandal...

Who the heck is "Buckbeak"?

[cgk]

LOL! You know, I actually searched before I posted this? To be sure the title wasn't "taken" - which was strange in this place that it wasn't.

[theFIRMbss]

>I am out of line in any of the above, I welcome your input

Infiltration

[asgardshill]

Can I add the following stick of dry wood to the fire?

Some of the uberkooks over at DU are certainly entertaining in their own way (much like watching the dove fly into the brick wall in Shrek 2). However, can we please be mindful that the vocabulary of the mental midgets over there is full of the f word and worse, and strive not to quote those words over here when quoting DU posts?

[cgk]

Sorry. Buckhead ;)

I deserve a sound slap for that one, sorry. I wasn't a part of that thread and my memory is terrible.

(Can that be fixed, Almighty Mod? I screwed up royally...)

[Rightly Biased]

But how do you get the newbies to read this?

[ml1954]

I don't think we care what the label is, we care how the forum is used.

Point taken. I'm new here so I won't complain much. My only gripe is the number of vanities. But I'm assuming that the rules have been relaxed for awhile because of the election.