Posted on 11/30/2004 2:49:06 PM PST by annyokie
I had it written out as a tagline not too long ago.
So pointing it out after the tagline wouldn't be a bad idea.
I think.
*rubs forehead in deep thought*
That in and of itself may be a bad idea.
I'll have to consult my bad idea rulebook.
Lately, whenever I use teh search function and use the "Title (date)" option, I get zero returns.
*chuckle*
Of course, I'm the one who is cursed with technology.
Yes, it still works. In fact, I just used it to see if a column I wanted to post was already up. (It was.)
Per below, you can easily find old articles with a few mouse clicks, without a problem, and without any duplicates.
(As an aside, and more generally, no one wants to encourage people to knowingly violate the FR admin moderator guidelines that require one to search before posting and use the search to avoid the posting of duplicates. Admittedly, searches don't always work right.)
I apologize in advance if you already know the below, but others may not be aware of the following features.
If you want to find different articles, try this. Go to http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm. Click on "latest articles" in the left column, NOT on "latest posts."
Scroll down and you can see all articles. Click on "see more results" and you can see older articles. Scroll to the bottom and click on "see more results" and you can go back to earlier articles .
If you want to find the lastest posts (i.e., replies or new threads), try this. Go to http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm. This time, click on "latest posts," NOT on "latest articles."
Scroll down and you can see all recent posts. Click on "see more results" and you can see older posts. However, this makes it hard to find articles/threads that haven't been bumped for a few hours.
HERE IS A PROBLEM THAT MANY NEW FREEPERS HAVE. They are always using "latest posts" mode and it makes it hard for them to find articles posted more than a few hours earlier.
Use "latest posts" mode when you want to see what topics are hot at a given time, but use "latest articles" mode when you are looking for different articles or want to make sure that you don't miss a thread with an interesting title.
Your settings play an important role in how many threads you see on a page. Go to http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm, click on "Edit Account Profile," and then click on "My Preferences." You can then edit under "Browsing" to determine how many threads appear on a page, as well as other features to suit yourself.
My preference is for 50 threads per page when browsing the forum. Using that setting when viewing "Latest Articles," I may have to click on "see more results" about 15-20 times to see all threads posted in a day, but it is easy to do.
If you set up to show a larger number of threads per page, you won't have to click "see more results" as often. No matter what you've set as your threads per page, you're still scrolling the same number ot titles to see all in a day. More importantly, it's a lot easier to find interesting articles in "latest articles" mode. Unlike sometimes happens in "latest posts" mode, your page won't be filled with 50 replies, of which 45 are on three articles not of interest to you.
Hope this enhances the FReeping experience.
I use it.
Exactly. Below is what I post as a reply when I see a duplicate. I have this saved and just insert a new search that shows the duplicate each time I use it. All are welcome to use this text or a variation of it.
Sometimes the search function doesn't work right, but a lot of times it appears people aren't even bothering to search.
In addition to posting the reply below, I also alert the moderators by hitting abuse and telling them that the thread is a duplicate of [list first post of the article here]. They often then either delete the thread (if few replies have been made) or lock the thread against new replies.
BELOW IS FORM REPLY FOR DUPLICATE THREADS, BUT DIFFERENT SEARCH IS INCLUDED EACH TIME
Please don't take offense. No ill will is intended towards you, but this was posted previously. Click on my search link a few paragraphs down to find the previous posting(s) of this.
If you did search before posting using the original title words and it didn't work right, I understand. It may happen sometimes.
If not, please be so kind as to search before posting a new thread. Thanks!
See my search here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;s=million
See also below guidelines from the admin moderator with emphasis added by me to sentence about duplicates.
Way too many duplicates and vanities. Please read - again. (Welcome Newbies)
Volume 3 ^ | 7-27-04 | AM
Posted on 07/27/2004 1:11:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
We are asking that you all follow these simple posting rules, search before posting, use links and sources when possible, and excerpt as required. Please take a moment to read. We need your cooperation.
[snip]
If it's a breaking news topic, check breaking news first, it's probably already posted.
To avoid duplicate posts, please search before posting. The best method to search is to pick a key word or two from the title. If the article you are posting is, "Funny Video, This Land", start with 'Land' for the key word. If it is a hot topic, you might want to use two or more keywords, in this case, try 'Jib'. For an effective search, select 'match any words' and select 'order by post time'.
Hey, we need your help over here...they moved our cool thread to General/Chat.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1291999/posts?q=1&&page=1#1
Yeah, I know all that. I already use "Latest Articles". But I like just having to look at the main page. Lazy, I admit!!!
You can't be conservative and lazy at the same time. You must be mouse-challenged or clickaphobic. ;)
Set your preferences to 250 threads per page and you can minimize have to click on "see more results."
Don't we all buy our groceries from street corners?
LOL, you were doing good up till this point. Now your just another illegal alien apologist.
I posted just to get the rad trads and the newbies worked up.
I'm glad that you posted it. Too many people are posting without searching.
And you did get people worked out, but who are the rad trads?
Normally, but not always, searches by date of important words in the title will reveal if an article is already posted. Searching by score has never seemed to work for me.
As noted by others, a poster sometimes violates the guidelines and makes up their own own title. Why they don't use the original title and append explanatory or other comments in brackets or parentheses at the end is beyond me.
Another problem is wire service stories such as from the Associated Press. Newspapers make up their own titles and so you can get multiple postings from different papers and under different titles. Depending on the thoroughness of the search and the differences in titles used by the newspapers (sometimes they are significant), a search may detect the previous posting.
Occasionally duplicates are posted within minutes of each other. In that case, I like to believe that the second-to-post FReeper searched before the first post was up. By the time the second poster set up the article (which could take some time if using hyperlinks or other html features) and posted, someone had beat him to the mouse click.
Duplicates with little or no fault of the poster (i.e., changed title situations or within minutes of a first post of the article) are one thing, but not searching is a real disservice to other FReepers, a violation of the guidelines, and results in an increase in server capacity requirements ($$$) for FR.
Since it is hard to know if the search just didn't work or they didn't do a search, I politely remind the poster of the need to do a search per my reply 127 above.
there is always one killjoy in the crowd huh?
Perhaps JimRob or someone could create an algorith that compares random bits text from an article-to-be-posted (or the corresponding link to the source of the article) with text of another recently posted article. That might cut down the number of redundant posts, but I don't really understand all this nitpicking about redundant posts in the first place.
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