Massive Free Republic Changes

[John Robinson]

There will be some massive changes to Free Republic from now through the end of the year. I'll quickly iterate those changes now.

1. Most important, on the 27th, Free Republic will be down while I move my network along with Free Republic to a new host. We're moving from UUNET to Verio. This in itself is a massive undertaking, and availability of the site may be intermittent. We will use all available resources to mitigate outtage. Verio underbid UUNET by about $17,500 on a one-year contract, so this is really worth it. ;-) Overall, bandwidth will be less expensive 2002 by about $25,000 which will be passed straight to Free Republic.

2. I'm making massive changes to the structure of the database, will be replacing the posting program, and the latest posts program. While I'm converting the database and working out bugs some features may be down. Hopefully for not too long.

3. When Free Republic's new posting program is online, the routine to post an article will be different. First, an article will be indexed into many topics. So instead of a pulldown to select the topic, there is a field where you can list as many topics as you feel appropriate. And at any time later an article can be added to additional topics.

   Second, no more "Category" and "Section". Both have been replaced by the extended topic system.

   Third, the posting of an article and a comment have been decoupled.

   Fourth, there will be different types of articles you can start. Shouldn't really call these articles anymore, discussions is a better term. The very basic "Discussion" requires just a topic, title, and body. "Article" requires topic, title, body, source, source url, etc. Some topics may not allow some types of discussions. There will be only 'article' type threads in "Breaking News" for example.

4. The topic system in general will be completely changed. Once again you will be able to create your own topics. But to keep the topics from becoming the anarchy they were before my 1999 changes, all topics will live in topic groups. Those groups: General Interest (all existing topics); Highlights (Breaking News, Extended News, etc -- these are their own topic now); Hot Topics (current interests, such as Anthrax Scare, etc.); Local Topics (These will replace the Locales); User Defined (a sea of Freeper topics.)

5. Bump Lists will be integrated with the new topic system. Bang_List could have its own topic.

6. It will be possible to host many forums within Free Republic. Each forum would have its own management features, user list (with independent user levels), moderators, etc. Some forums may be private, some may be created for special projects, some may just be alternatives to Free Republic.

7. Finding articles should be much easier. There will be a title search, you will be able to list articles in a specific topic, or with a specific keyword. Maybe full searching of the article itself or its comments. (Looking for the right technology.) And Author and Source searches will work again.

8. Sidebars. Any topic can be added to your collection of sidebars.

9. There are more features, but I'm really pressed for time. :-)

[Z2]

That's interesting about the beta version.

Guess you wouldn't know about the bandwidth savings, vis a vis the fundraiser, huh? Not being a partner in FR and all. Perhaps Jim could weigh in on that question.

Thanks.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You are amazing John!

keep up the good work!

[John Robinson]

I would love to have Yahoo's chatroom software. Any idea if it is on the market?

[farmfriend]

If you would like to be added OR removed from my ping list please send me a FReep e-mail and I will edit my list upon receipt. Thank You.

See you started using that new tag line. I keep forgetting. Thanks for the reminder and the ping.

[Neets]

Kewl on #188...sometimes Freepmail is a tad too cumbersome.

[SlightOfTongue]

Hey, When are you guys gonna take a vacation?!?

Geezus H. Great-Day-In-The-Mornin'! You guys DO need a break.

Like Dubya says, "Enjoy yourselves. Take your families and friends. Get on those planes, fly away to fun spots."

Round-trip tickets are cheap these days - especially to Kabul.

All kidding aside. You people need some sane rest time, eh? What are you guys - androids?

Free-gards. SOT

[John Robinson]

Thanks for the suggestion. Over the weekend, I'll have that notice plastered all over the top of every page. Frankly, I was waiting for that date to be finalized with Verio. I was hoping they would get back to us by this evening, but they didn't. So it should be "probably" the 27th. (It seems there is always "one more paper" to sign/fax etc) Contract, Insurance forms, Network diagrams, IP address justification/request forms, Biometrics, blah blah blah. This isn't like signing up with AOL! :-)

[John Robinson]

Nah, your current bookmarks will be just the way you left them.

[John Robinson]

YES! The end of the thread... I'm gonna take out the trash now, get something to eat, etc. :-) I'll be back here tomorrow.

[RnMomof7]

Thanks John Merry Christmas

[WVNan]

Yes, I do desire that "Cheers" environment, but I also liked the ability that we had to form fast and massive political activism. Remember the MFJ? Two weeks it took to gather 4,000. That's not small. Maybe I fear that if we become too compartmentalized we won't be able to respond to the call to action fast enough and as effectively. Anyway, you know that I appreciate all the hard work you do. Merry Christmas!

[Dixielander]

"could the system clock be placed on either Pacific or Eastern time? For the life of me, I can't figure out what time zone it's currently set for.

Hear! Hear!

[jjbrouwer]

re: the yahoo software

John:: I have a friend who is developing something very similar and relatively inexpensive right now. If you are interested I can get him to Freep you. I think he is registered here.

The best thing about Yahoo is that you can TALK - particularly good for sites like these where people are great distances apart and can't afford to spend money on long-distance telephone calls.

A lot of the other chat room software doesn't allow you to do that.

On the subject of being distances apart, from a moderating point of view a Commonwealth forum could be maintained 24 hours a day.

Because (for instance): I am in London (as are many of the Brit Freepers), peabers is in Australia, Shaggy Eel is in Wellington (New Zealand) etc.

Next year I will be moving back to New York so that covers the American time zone too.

We could also arrange the occasional fundraiser for FR, which would double up as a social get together too. We are actually having a British one in January so that might be a good time to start the ball rolling.

[WIMom]

ohhhhhh, yippie. Do I get a medal? Maybe I should go there and post the fundraising link. Nah, I don't want spam e-mail, I get enough spam snail mail, I really don't need more garbage.

[Quix]

SOUNDS LIKE THIS CHANGE-OVER
COULD USE A LOT MORE PRAYER,
PRAYER WARRIORS!!!
PLEASE KEEP JOHN ETC
*EXTRA* IN YOUR PRAYERS
NOW THRU THE NEXT WEEK!!!

Father God, Please give John an abunance of your grace in all his efforts overhauling FR this week. May all those individuals, organizations, machines, software, atnys, documents and whatever other components are involved flow smoothly, quickly, appropriately and in the best form, wording, set-up for John, Jim and FR. May John get rest and be able to enjoy his family and some great food this season we honor our Lord in. May you guide his thinking, writing, doing. May you especially thicken all the bonds of love and intimacy he has with those close and dear to him.

In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen.

[klee]

A commonwealth forum wouldnt be a bad idea. Lees likely to hurt anyones feelings with our bad humour JJ.

[celtic gal]

Happy Holidays!

I'll be off the net from 22 Dec and back about the time you go down for your changes!

Thanks for the heads up.. what a way to start out the new year.. with a whole new system:)

[klee]

Its a great idea to get a commonwealth forum.

PING

[goldilucky]

Thanks for the ping. And have a nice holiday!

[supercat]

Is there any reason you seem to have disabled the style property [disabling the style tag was reasonable since it does not follow nesting rules, but use of the style property with tags like [span] is often a better way to size things like captions than the [font] tag].

Normal. [span style="color:blue"]This should be blue.[/span] Back to normal.

Any possibility of changing this? Building accurately-sized tables and captions without the style= property is well-nigh impossible.