Mod Lecture Series- Freeper Community Update

[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.)

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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?

[SuziQ]

LOL! Poor Beaker!

[paulycy]

My pet peeve is folks who immediately start dumping on folks who post stories that have a liberal slant

You have just pointed out the fact that we need to tell newbies about the Barf Alert tag so that fewer misunderstandings occur. Great point.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Yes. Noted. Will do.

[Natural Born 54]

“What about sending a FReepmail welcome letter to any new user with FR mission statement, FReeper etiquette hints, and links to html sandbox and FR acronyms?”

I second the “great idea” reply. I still don’t know what some of the acronyms mean and would like to...

[Canadian Outrage]

I agree that we should be more tolerant of the newbies. Give them a chance to show who they are and NO Name calling!! That and the speech police #%&*! LOL CO

[Lakeshark]

I don’t like the way you talk, newbie......

[vox_freedom]

As my Mama always said, "You catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar".

That's all well and good, SusiQ, but why would anyone want to catch flies anyway? lol

PS I agree with your pet peeve.

[deks]

Some people will use a feature if it is explained, but can go for years without finding it on their own. Here’s an example quote I found from another Freeper about the FR software...

“Okay...I’ve been here for over 6yrs, posted 3,122 threads and 33,229 replies and I’ve never used the ‘view replies’ option until just now.
Ya learn something new every day.
Thanks.”

I once helped a Freeper who’s been here since 1998 find the Free Republic home page. Since there is no “Home” to click on like other sites, she didn’t realize that you click on the words “Free Republic” at the top or bottom of the page.

I think the FR home page would be a great place for newcomers to start, however, entering www.freerepublic.com (in my browser) goes to this...

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index

not this...

http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm

So, many people might miss a lot of good introduction and explanation that is on the Home page.

[deks]

You could try this link... scroll past the terminology part to the acronyms.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2341085/posts

[deks]

Could you please move this article back up as it goes off the Breaking News sidebar? It’s good advice and there must be many who have not seen it yet.

[Semper Mark]

I have been here for more than a year.

You're still a newbie. (grin)

[rlmorel]

ROTFLMAO

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Question: Where is FR’s homepage? I type in http://www.freerepublic.com and I am instantly redirected to http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index and the list of threads. I would like to see FR’s homepage again. The one where JR talks about a grassroots organization...

[Canadian Outrage]

About as new as you huh? LOL CO

[mad_as_he$$]

Ok i will try to be nicer to noobs pimping their blogs here or fishing for some out of context quote from the "evil right wing".

I would like to see one thing change though. If a noob could have their screen name in say blue for the first six months it might have some effect on how they are responded to - I understand you can hover over the name but a different color might slow down trigger fingers. I also would like to see zotted members names changed to say purple (I really do not care what color) since there is no mechanism to check that without clicking on the name. It seems this would also help with server traffic.

[mad_as_he$$]

Actually I think it was not misspelled since it does not appear to even be a word(except in the urban dictionary). I’m series.

[deks]

FR’s Home page is right here, FRiend...

http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm

Also, you can click on the words “Free Republic” at the top of the page.

[Pete-R-Bilt]

It takes a village?

[vox_freedom]

If a noob could have their screen name in say blue for the first six months

So, why should you be any nicer to a noob than someone else on here ... like me ... for example?

vox

[vox_freedom]

It takes a village?

Don't start...