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.)
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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?
Good night and good luck! I don’t even know exactly what the rifles we have in the attic are.
Probably should clean and oil them every now and then just to keep them from corroding into junk.
The missus grandfather hid a .30-40 KRAG in a cubby space years ago.
We found it after he died.
*sigh*
What a waste of a rifle.
Yo, Petunia! You want a Life Membership in the NRA if they run the Christmas discount again and your grandmother gives me a pile of money? Then you’d never need to think about it, except to change the address when you move.
The Undead Thread brought it back to life for a month -- just for folks such as you. *\;-)
They’ve been cleaned and wrapped, when they arrived here after my parents cleaned out the house in Missouri. I have a handgun permit, too, and just haven’t got around to buying one, what with having a baby. Sometime in 2010 ...
If we mention Rankine how can we forget Kelvin and Réaumur ?
But his scale would have worked well in Gaelic, which had a numbering system based on 20 (though the Gaels are slowly switching to the decimal system) -- a headache for us luchd-ionnsachadh (learners) who were raised on computationally-sensible decimal systems of metrics, you know, like metres, litres, and grams.
Okay... like most American luchd-ionnsachadh I wasn't one of them. I learned the inch/foot/yard, tsp/tbsp/cup/?/gallon/?, and inch/foot/yard/mile/light-year systems, and where I remember the conversions it's okay. But it makes Gaelic metrics even more difficult.
I really prefer the metric system, for all it means I'd have to give up old comfortable metrics such as gallons (U.S., not Imperial), pounds (whichever of the two scales we use daily), feet/inches/yards and so on.
The American miles/gallon vs the German litres/kilometer gasoline or diesel automobile metric is another difficulty. Machts nichts, give me a universal system and I'm happy.
Sure, why not? It can only make me more annoying to the natives of this annoying land of salmon-lovers.
Ick. I’m going to bed now. My grammar is getting worse as the hour gets later.
If I ever have to touch an M1 Garand again, I may shoot myself with it.
Welcome to our world, Anoreth! But there are good folk here still.
Good night all.
Don’t, Sidebar mod is still messed up from it.
They do?
Well, just that much more reason to leave em alone....
I like salmon! I’d substitute it for chicken in the grand scheme of things, if it cost the same.
Oooh, oooh, oooh. Can I post pictures of my level 80 World of Warcraft hunter? On second thought ...
Ok then you may also have a warm dry place to sleep.
And sleep is what I am off to do. Good Night everybody!
Mornings are the first of things for which we learn to be ungrateful.
I can see ... it’s going to be a good morning.
.
Being able to open your eyes is a good start. Good Morning!
Good morning. The sun is shining, and I suppose the birds are twittering, because the kitten is sitting on the back of the recliner nattering at the windows.
Frank was feeling better last night, but I still had to clear his nose out around 4:00 a.m., and then he didn’t want to go back to sleep, so we came downstairs and got the dog an early breakfast, posted a kitteh, and eventually went to sleep on the sofa. I need to bring a blanket downstairs; I was cold.
OldTax-lady said she received an email!
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