Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Upcoming changes to the forum

Posted on 10/27/2005 5:16:18 PM PDT by John Robinson

Edited on 10/30/2005 2:01:52 PM PST by John Robinson. [history]

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:

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.


TOPICS: Announcements; Technical
KEYWORDS: adminlectureseries; faq; fr; idontgetit; lexicon; youdaman
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 301 next last
To: John Robinson

Any thought to enabling avatars?


61 posted on 10/27/2005 5:59:19 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

Excellent move John! Bravo!


62 posted on 10/27/2005 5:59:42 PM PDT by The Mayor ( As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home everyday.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson
Could you add a feature to FReepmail where all messages can be chosen at once?

I'm thinking a small Perl code addition should do the trick.


If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.

63 posted on 10/27/2005 5:59:55 PM PDT by rdb3 (Does this wheelchair make me look fat?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Txsleuth

Oh that's easy. Just remember that it's either earlier or later than where you are!

Always!

Without fail!


64 posted on 10/27/2005 6:01:26 PM PDT by Brad’s Gramma (FR1....Varoooooom, Varooooooom!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

I'll have to see what you are talking about when I see what you are talking about.

And the visual appearance? Are we going to have to go thru all that again??


65 posted on 10/27/2005 6:01:30 PM PDT by Exit148 (Founder of the Loose Change Club. Every nickle and dime counts!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Phantom FReeper; Admin Moderator
We've had that feature in the past and it was a mess. You think people troll the public side? You should see what crap they post to abuse.
66 posted on 10/27/2005 6:01:55 PM PDT by John Robinson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Focault's Pendulum

You did.

Go back to sleep now.

Nighty-night! ;)


67 posted on 10/27/2005 6:01:59 PM PDT by Brad’s Gramma (FR1....Varoooooom, Varooooooom!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: JMack
Some day, way off, maybe we could consider a policy here whereby each new article will have two labled comments immediately added to it? The first would be labled "Commentary", and it is what you would reply to to add commentary to an article, and the second would be labled "updates", and it would be what you would reply to to add an update?

A simple "edit post" feature would take care of some of that.

68 posted on 10/27/2005 6:02:16 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
I'll go even further, On 9/11, it would have been 9/12 before I found out what was going on with 50 reply pages. I was in NJ, without phone service to the City and no way to get home, but I had FR and could sort out what was really happening from the chatter with the long pages.
69 posted on 10/27/2005 6:02:33 PM PDT by Woodman ("One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives." PW)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Incorrigible; John Robinson; rdb3
I usually do to but I find myself pausing at rdb3's logo on long threads.

Exactly. It's a quick way to find a certain poster's comments.

70 posted on 10/27/2005 6:04:30 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative (...He had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here...-- Worst.President.Ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

Jim, We are just glad that this forum exists.

Thanks so much for everything, and especially a great opportunity to learn and debate the *right* ideas.


71 posted on 10/27/2005 6:06:04 PM PDT by indianrightwinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson
John, John, John. The whole point of conservatism is to conserve things, to keep them the same, to resist change, to fight progress, to abhor a vacuum, to praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, to vote early and often, to take two and hit to right, to fake left at the green Chevy and go long, to...

Well, maybe I'll try it, just to humor you.

72 posted on 10/27/2005 6:07:05 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Look it up!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GraniteStateConservative; Incorrigible
Okay, now youse guys have me paranoid.


If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.

73 posted on 10/27/2005 6:09:05 PM PDT by rdb3 (Does this wheelchair make me look fat?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: Brad's Gramma

Whew...I feel better now...I knew you could help!!!

LOL

How are you...I haven't "seen" you around lately...since the Freepathon actually.

I guess you have to recharge your batteries, huh???


74 posted on 10/27/2005 6:09:11 PM PDT by Txsleuth (I am the real TXSLEUTH...please freepmail me if you doubt it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson
Everything sounds good except Java. Maybe I'm not so 'puter literate, but isn't java an evil way for folks to take control of your computer when you don't want them to?

Hell, for all I know java is enabled anyway, I just remember reading somewhere it was bad. In that case, it all sounds good.
75 posted on 10/27/2005 6:10:55 PM PDT by tongue-tied (stands for nothing...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tongue-tied; John Robinson

Yes John...good question. I always thought Java was "bad".


76 posted on 10/27/2005 6:11:40 PM PDT by Brad’s Gramma (FR1....Varoooooom, Varooooooom!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: rdb3

Funny tagline. Thanks for the laugh.


77 posted on 10/27/2005 6:13:52 PM PDT by perfect stranger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

78 posted on 10/27/2005 6:14:42 PM PDT by manwiththehands
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

Sounds good to me.

Thanks a lot, John, for using your expertise to continually update and improve the forum.


79 posted on 10/27/2005 6:18:46 PM PDT by Palladin (America! America! God shed His grace on Thee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: John Robinson

Hi, John. Glad you asked.

I think taglines could be dispensed with.

Thanks for the best message board on the www.


80 posted on 10/27/2005 6:20:16 PM PDT by Jackie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 301 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson