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?
And this is what our bread-crumb trail looks like:
Note: The links below will take you to our entry points into high-jacked threads,
which are our monthly continuations of the Undead Thread.
2004 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2005 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2006 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2007 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2008 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2009 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Leaping to hyperthread, the new wave in thread propulsion.
Just make sure we bring the king cobra!
And the queen...?
Not to mention the princes and princesses...
As you might know from my postings of long ago, I believe in some measure of civility in a forum such as FR. But, the inner person is too easily revealed when we hide behind the anonimity of a forum name. And our true colors surface. Hence the mob behavior that is far too prevalent.
After April 2007, I reduced my activity here almost totally. I no longer contribute by posting articles. Too many good and valuable folks have left, many by choice - some not. This has diminished and marginilized FR, in my view.
FR can play a strong voice in the next two election cycles - but only if it is viewed as having sound membership. If it wants to be on the fringe, it will be thus.
The mob has to be controlled.
One thought... have a seperate area for the creationists/Darwinists/Evos to play in. It becomes too obtrusive at times and very often hijacks threads.
"One thought... have a seperate area for the creationists/Darwinists/Evos to play in."
By the way, that's sepArate. Don't forget to consign Spelling Nazis to your cacophonous gulag.
Thank you Bobby. You are right, of course... and clever too. I am quite humbled. Carry on. Please.
But, for what it is worth, I remember when FR was not like this as a rule. Now, civility is the exception.
Mostly it depends on where you hang out. Most of it now is what was once reserved for the Smoky Backroom.
Possibly it's related to a general breakdown in civility; a growing coarsening of our society. The kind of thing that was noticed a couple of thousand years ago.
Some areas, devoted to learning and polite repartee, go on as if bannings and crevo wars were a distant memory related to the late unpleasantness.
Denizens of the Undead Thread like to pretend that we are distant from all that worldliness, having taken to the Asteroid Belt some years ago. By shrinking our world, (to three connected Habitats), we avoided the expanding incivility. (For the most part.)
People who want to stir up trouble find us too boring for their tastes. (Cue the talking about babies and sore throats!)
I have found that if you insult people and call names it is much harder to convince them of anything.
You can convince them that you are coarse and rude.
LOL!
Figured I’d better read that and respond. Wouldn’t want to get my ass kicked, or anything...
Hey... I like the idea!! I could even give ‘em a break on the brains part if they are somewhat civil! Do they have to pass thru metal detectors to get to the Undead Thread? What about the kittehs?
I need to be more careful tho. Usually my spelling is quite good - but I have noticed several errors of late. Gotta get back on the meds, I guess.
I remember when I signed up you had to do all the HTML formatting yourself.
And woe to the poor fool who left a tag open.
And, getting flamed was a daily occurance back then.
There was very little by the way of moderator work, it was all Jim himself.
” give ‘em a break on the brains “
*ugh*
Just getting home from work is not the time to read anything and expect it to read the way it was typed..
I read that as “break their brains”, which my writing does to people quite often.
Uh oh... that must be a small Celtic sect method of spelling “occurrence”. Must be.
*mumbling*
I’m not awake.
After eight hours of wrangling truck drivers, I don’t think anyone would be awake.
It’s like herding cats, cats that drive huge rigs, and cry when you yell at them.
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