Upcoming changes to the forum

[John Robinson]

I'm working on the following changes to the forum software:

Thread URLs will change.

Old links will be redirected to maintain bookmark compatibility. The new links will be more descriptive, offering the date of the article and perhaps a meaningful filename.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1510575/posts doesn't say much.
http://www.freerepublic.com/2005/10/27/freeptoon/p1 says so much more.

Time zone handled by browser.

The timestamps on threads will change to your computer's local time zone, but only if you have JavaScript enabled. Otherwise they will be in US/Eastern. Your FR preference will be ignored (and will be phased out in favor of browser-side time zone handling.) The beauty of this arrangement is that as long as your computer displays the time in your time zone, FR will "Do The Right Thing"(tm).

Fixed number of comments.

No more than 50 comments per page will be shown. Your preference of 20, 100 or 250 is going to be ignored. I know this is a bit of a heartbreak for some, I understand it is a sacrifice. There are very good and very strong reasons this is changing.

Article text.

Only the first page of the thread will show the article text, and will always show the article text. Subsequent pages will only ever show a summary. In the future, a little browser-side magic could make the article text appear when you click a link.

All for one and one for all.

Everybody logged in or not will see the same content and links. For example, in the existing software, if you're not logged in you won't see the "Report Abuse" links. This check is going away, everybody will now see the same row of buttons.

In exchange, we'll have cache-friendly forum pages. This means:

• Faster downloads. If nothing changed on the thread you won't have to download it again. Also, local caches can store the page and deliver it much quicker.

• Better response time. Our servers will have to do less processing. Better yet, the front-end server will probably already have a generated copy of a thread in cache memory. Your request will be served instantly.

Update 10/30/05

I've expanded the scope of changes. I'm cleaning up the information we present to search engines like Google and Yahoo. Our site will be more useful to third-party search engines and thus more useful to you. For the most part this will not directly impact our human visitors. There will be changes that could break bookmarks of certain types of pages, but the chances such bookmarks have ever been made are slim.

[Delta 21]

Its been around for a year or so. I found it by chance myself, just pausing over a posters name just befor "right clicking" to get to his profile page.

These Robinson guys are a tricky bunch!

I think that its about the only remnants of zottted trolls and other such malcontents. Ive never quite figured out how some folks can sign up tomorrow though?!? That will probly be fixed with the time zone thingy.

[pcottraux]

"Old links will be redirected to maintain bookmark compatibility. The new links will be more descriptive, offering the date of the article and perhaps a meaningful filename.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1510575/posts doesn't say much.
http://www.freerepublic.com/2005/10/27/freeptoon/p1 says so much more."

Hmm...looks familiar!!!!!!!!!! THANKS FOR THAT LITTLE PLUG, JIM, I FEEL FAMOUS NOW!!!!!!

[NYTexan]

John, you do great work!

But when are we gonna see once again see 'members from our state' so that we can ping to local matters? Would be nice to know also if they are active and when they last posted!

[pcottraux]

I mean John, sorry.

[IIntense]

Can you tell us the school you blame for that? LOL

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

To be perfectly honest, I construe this as a feature. I abhor puke-inducing cutesy smilies, avatars, and other images that add nothing to the discussion. That's just my personal opinion, however.

I agree with that.....especially if it impacts performance at my screen. I bet the dial up guys would really appreciate it.

I would hate to see the great political toons disappear though!

Keep up the great work, thanks for all your hard work!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Can you allow me to search within my own comments? Many times I recall that something I've said before is even more relevant now and I would like to be able to easily go back and find that link or statistic I pointed out earlier.

That facility already exists....just plug your username into this URL where XXXXX is.....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=XXXXX

Save it in your text editor and open a fresh tab (Firefox with extension does that ) put it into the URL entry of the browser window and hit enter.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

we need a little real time java applet that runs and shows which threads are receiving new posts - or at least the "top10" hotlist of threads getting new posts.

Is this gonna require all viewers to have JAVA enabled or available.....I bet there are lots of folks that don't have capability.....think I saw someone with a WebTV comment.

[IIntense]

Enough with the kitties, viking or otherwise! In recognition of the the many astute freepers, I suggest a switch to the canine kingdom. Give me a dog over a cat any day. Seeing eye dogs, drug-sniffing dogs, hunting dogs, sheep dogs, dogs that round up cattle, and on and on.

For your reading pleasure, I introduce Buffy, a small, white fluffy-haired female. My brother & his wife gave her to my Dad, retired and in his 70s. They and my husband & I stopped in on one of our frequent visits. Dad had to be waiting for a time like this.

As he sat in his favorite chair, he said to his dog, "Buff, go up and get my slippers!" Buffy immediately bounded up the stairs and put the slipper at Dad's feet. Next, "Buff, will you get my other slipper?" Off she went and returned with Dad's other slipper.

We were amazed! Dad had to have loved it!

I didn't make this up. It's absolutely true.

[FreedomCalls]

That facility already exists....just plug your username into this URL where XXXXX is.....

No. that's not what I want at all. I already can do that just by clicking on "pings". With 11,000 posts I have to scroll back through them 50 at a time until I get to the one I want. That takes forever. I want to do a keyword headline or text search only in my posts. Or at least be able to bring up a subset from a month ago, or three months ago, or whatever. I can sort of do this with Google where I search "site:freerepublic.com +FreedomCalls +keyword" but Google doesn't index all my posts of course.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For what purpose, just curious? With the change to fixed-size pages, we'll probably move away from the comment # (first 1-50, 51-100, 101-150, 151-200 ... 3,051-3,074 next last) style pagination to a page # pagination.

Will we still have a reply number to reply to?

I think that is really important to still have that facility/......

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The benefit of shifting this enhanced functionality to client-side JavaScript far outweighs any negative implications.

OK , ignore my earlier comment on Java and Javascript.

[Krodg]

Hey, cavewoman. : )

I haven't been called that in a long time. LOL

I kind of like smilies, but they just don't fit the cutthroat atmosphere around this place, do they?

Personally, I think smilies are cute, but over used. They always remind me of this nonsense... Bush's fault, it's hugh, this is series etc...

I agree that this site has a very cutthroat atmosphere, if you know of another one PM me.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That sounds like it would be tough and require more indexs and /or processor power....but John might have even more magic than many of us can imagine....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I prefer Dogs also....love Goldens....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Some time when you want to mess with people's heads try de-activating the automatic "close tags" code so folks can see what FR was like in the old days.

man.....BAD IDEA is right!!!

ROFL!!

[BreitbartSentMe]

Dogs over Cats? Never!! Here's why cats fit in here so much better:

Dog and Cat Diary . . .

As seen in a dog's diary:

7 am - Oh boy! A walk! My favorite!
8 am - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 am - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
Noon - Oh boy! The yard! My favorite!
2 pm - Oh boy! A car ride! My favorite!
3 pm - Oh boy! The kids! My favorite!
4 pm - Oh boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Mom! My favorite!
7 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home Dad! My favorite!
8 pm - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 pm - Oh boy! Tummy rubs on the couch! My favorite!
11 pm - Oh boy! Sleeping in my people's bed! My favorite!


As seen in a cat's diary:

Day 183 of my captivity... My captors continued to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from clawing the furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded - must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair - must try this on their bed. Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear in their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan. There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More important, I overheard that my confinement was due to my powers of inducing "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Night now! :)

What's with you leaving us so early???

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Could we get a post article button added to the search screen...would help with posting articles.....

[BreitbartSentMe]

EXCELLENT suggestion - in fact I think it would be great for the ONLY place that the Post button would appear is on the Search Results page - forcing people to at least attempt a cursory search first.