Posted on 10/26/2009 4:32:01 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
This is a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood Admin Moderators (Sidebar gave us some attitude so we shoved him in the closet for a while. He never recovered from the Yacht incident) For a while, we have noticed some things happening that we need your help with. The Free Republic community is strong; we are almost a family, albeit very dysfunctional at times. Like any community, we have new members joining us daily. Unfortunately, the air of suspicion and the desire to keep things “the way they are” has fostered a feeling of distrust with new members. Almost every day, we see new members join, then, because of comments of suspicion, they often don’t return. For any community to thrive, it must grow. Because of this, we are asking for your help. Here are some important things you should know:
The Internet has changed greatly since Free Republic first started. When we formed, few people had their own websites, now, everyone has their own blog. With this, there is an attitude change where someone who doesn’t understand how our community works may be more interested in self-promotion than we have been used to in the past. We don’t want to change the overall feel of this site- it is about our shared values, not about self promotion, however, we don’t want to drive people away simply because they link to their own blog. There are blog “pimps” who want nothing more than to promote their own sites, but for most people, it is simply how they start out sharing their thoughts on a matter. Encourage these members to take part in existing discussions.
Many new members may not communicate well what they believe and it gives the appearance they are not 100% kosher in their Conservative beliefs. This may have nothing to do with their Conservative credentials but simply how they are communicating their beliefs or how the media/pop culture has told them what to think. Be an example and discuss what you think is wrong. A liberal troll’s true colors will reveal themselves while a new member who is honest, but may not communicate well, may learn from the conversation.
Remember, how you respond to a topic not only reflects your thoughts, but also is a reflection of the community and Conservative values. We need to be an example of positive conservative values when responding to members, especially new ones. As mods, we make a strong attempt to screen all new members. Every new sign-up goes through a period where their posts are reviewed. This helps us eliminate most trolls, porn and commercial spammers, and those who don’t fit in with our Conservative values. This isn’t a perfect system, but it does help us make sure that by the time a new member reaches the community, there is a greater chance this person is the type we want around. Some slip through, yes, and you can always help us by hitting the abuse button. (of course, we do let some world class morons through every once in a while as “Live Chow”- after all, the kitties have to have toys.)
_____________________________________________
With all that said, we need to grow. We need to be far more welcoming to new members and guide them into how to use our community best. With this said, we are issuing a challenge to our long time Freeper family. We would like to start up a ‘welcome wagon’ type of ping list or group whose job it is to welcome new members, show them the ropes, and guide them through our community. This could be as simply as giving new members a kind welcome, guiding them to how to post topics or replies, or just making the experience pleasant.
As this is your community, we would like your thoughts, ideas, and most importantly, for some of you to step up and help us with this.
We are passing the ball to you. What do you think?
I’ll help.Just ping me.
Do you think it makes the men in the military sick to their stomachs at the thought that McCain could be their president right now instead of Ozero? That’s not what the military men in my life say.
I didn’t support Romney, either, DoughtyOne, but I didn’t feel compelled to chase down and verbally attack anyone who did, every time they posted. Did you?
LOL! You have me by one thread and 61,000 replies.
For that I’m donating tonight!!!
In other words, some of us need to change our tone. :)
I think it’s a great idea! I’d be happy to be on a Welcome to FR ping list.
A few months ago I posted something similar in reply (although shorter and essentially just saying this is why people don’t hang around) and I was told to grow up and stop sniveling so thank you! Thank you for echoing my sentiments!
If someone wants to start a ping list add me, if you’d like me to start one, great. Just let me know how to know when new people join us.
Only on days that Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
[If the laws, regulations, etc change then I see it.]
I’m certain it does, it’s been years since I read what the differences are but I would think it might have to do with taxes, etc?? I need to look it up.
Sometimes what you say is true, but I can tell you I lurked for a long time because I’d seen the “welcome” that people got here.
I’ve donated before.
Much like we are being encouraged to tell the RINOs running the GOP about their policies, no more money until those two perennial gripes are fixed (especially since it would be simple to remedy - there are open source editor modules that could be used and they could just embed Google Search instead.)
I hear ya, Paulcy, though I don’t know that money is the reason we don’t have cooler widgets around here.
The subject came up on a thread once, and if I recall correctly, it was stated that the layout and tools of FR are of the owner’s choice and preference.
The case was made that adding whiz-bang widgets to the site would only promote a cartoonish atmosphere, and would likely take away from the concentration on intellectual discourse.
I can think with that reasoning. But, I can dream...
Put search terms to the left of "site".
At least I don't say nasty things about other Freepers without pinging them to my post. Can't say the same about you as you did it twice on this very thread.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to put that up.
Yer the official spenun checker ain't ya!
That’s some really heavy stuff. I hope it all turns out all right.
Open source may or may not offer a solution for this custom-programmed environment in perl. And it takes time/money to customize, implement, test, fix and maintain the code.
The system is bare-bones but not broken. (Well, the search IS broken, I guess.)
So I’m just sticking up for FR’s scarce resources.
I’m aware of it. But why should we be required to go offsite to search FR?
I don’t know all the technical reasons why we don’t do X but we do Y in terms of how the forum works, however, I know one of the biggest things that has come up is simply efficiency. A lot of extra features bog things down. Also, a lot of those ‘out of the box’ forums don’t have the features that our members like, such as ping lists.
I know Jim, John and those working behind the scenes more on a technical end, are always looking for ways to improve things, however, it usually involves speed, efficiency, and security first. It never hurts to suggest though.
Except we keep being told they’ll fix it. :P
Also, the posting system, despite disclaimers, isn’t fully HTML compliant. For example, we can’t embed YouTube vid links.
Just because we’re conservatives doesn’t have to mean our forum is stuck in the 1980s.
Nah, I don't think you need to worry. :-)
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.