 What's this all about? Zotland the Craven |
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 Some guidelines for posting on this thread. Some highlights of this thread. |
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The December Chronicles (redux) Read: The November Chronicles (redux) |
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?
B U M P
Missed opportunity!!!
R.A. Lafferty has died (in 2002, so it’s not like I missed it *recently*) but he lived (until he died) in Broken Arrow while we were there, and I never knew it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Lafferty
I’ve done both. Actually, I prefer the latter approach.
This email struck me because my friend is not and never has been associated with the military, and seldom ever voices her political opinion.
After 60 years, I learned something new about her!! :o]
If a person is much smaller or weaker than I, kicking them would be uncivilized, no matter how obnoxious they are. If the person is bigger, kicking would be unwise!
And aside from the kicking issue, there are some excellent thoughts in the list.
True. I like the list. I could have taken out the kicking parts. But I’m not awake yet.
I’m as awake as I’m going to get! I refused to get up and feed the dog at 4:00 a.m., but the kitten turned up wanting to sleep on Frank’s head.
Seeya, Bill wants the computer.
I tried, it’s hit its limit now.
Oh, wow! Correct apostrophes! Please stay as long as you want, and you don’t even have to bring brains.
| What's this all about? Zotland the Craven |
|
Some guidelines for posting on this thread. Some highlights of this thread. |
|
The December Chronicles (redux) Read: The November Chronicles (redux) |
IF it’s not a ping, then what *exactly* is it, huh?
A banner. You’ll note that all the ping text has been removed.
Thread. Full stop.
Got it - a banner. It’s good to have the vocabulary to make these fine distinctions.
If things went well, he could avoid the sand traps. They were such a bother to rake out afterward.
I once issued a list ping with a visitor’s name included and he thought I had added him to the ping list. I try to avoid that; I don’t like being arbitrarily added to ping lists.
I'd file for a name change...
We discovered, to our dismay, that dragging a tread along in zombified form past thirty thousand posts bogs down the system.
(Oops)
So upon further reflection and discussion, we decided to leap from thread to thread at the end of each month.
Preferably it would be a thread posted by a troll that we would set up shop in and turn to our purposes.
Such as they are.
(General chat and discussion about literary pursuits and brainstorming bizarre sci-fi ideas. Among other things.)
We’ve been a victim of our success, as trolls have learned not to post threads close to our moving day.
So we’ve had a donated thread or two along the way.
Welcome aboard, and enjoy the show.
As always, we aim to entertain.
(And if we give this thread more exposure by our circling in holding pattern, then full speed ahead.)
Like this?
LOL, something like that.
HALO jumping into a thread and taking it over like pirates would be more apt.
But with this thread we’re in holding pattern.
Just wish we’d find a worthy dishonoree for us to descend upon.
I know, patience.
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