Suggestions for a better Free Republic

Vanity | October 10, 2003 | RightFighter

[RightFighter]

I was just wondering if any of you have any suggestions for how to make Free Republic easier to use and a better place in general. This is NOT a criticism of Jim Robinson and I am most appreciative of all his hard work. This site is great and I enjoy coming here to learn about and discuss the conservative issues of the day. This is just my desire to see this site become more "viewer-friendly" than it is in its present iteration. I've had thoughts over the years about this and these are the ones that I keep coming back to:

1. Different background colors for alternating posts within a thread, for readability

2. Ability to set up chat rooms for certain events, rather than using the "Live Thread" concept. The entire idea of a "Live Thread" is somewhat of an oxymoron and EXTREMELY difficult to follow.

3. Smilies and other icons available when posting messages

4. Keeping track of numbers of posts by each user. Many forum sites do this, and some even give titles to users who reach certain posting milestones.

5. The ability to mark a thread for later reading, rather than having to "bump" the thread

[upcountryhorseman]

How about an automatic spell checker on the comment
screen?

[null and void]

That's what I meant. Thanks!

[RightFighter]

Here it is:

[Calpernia]

Mixer made a freeper photo album:

http://www.d21c.com/billie/FRfinest/FreeperPhotoAlbum.jpg

Or you can have your picture on your profile.

[Skooz]

Thanks, but I was just being silly.

[ASA Vet]

can only start a thread after so many posts

What you're suggesting is a multiple level membership.
How about basing it of sign up date instead?
I suggest thread startup not be allowed by anyone signing up after
March 11, 2003.

;-)

[Momaw Nadon]

Also, maybe it's time to remove the "Anthrax Scare" category from Hot Topics.

I think it would be great if the "Anthrax Scare" category was replaced by a "Polls to Freep" category.

[misterrob]

Now you know how we feel about your posts.....


:-)))))

[Calpernia]

Opera Browser has that too. I do enjoy that feature.

[secretagent]

I've always wanted to be able to search for an article by using the writer's name, which isn't always in the title.

Ditto.

[Grit]

I think that Grit should have the ability to ZOT! anyone who looks at him funny.

[evets]

Change the name to "FreeBeerRepublic".

[carenot]

I remember a post a few months after the Columbia shuttle breakup that pointed to a thread starting about an hour prior to touchdown. You could relive the whole sequence of anticipation to horror.

Eab was talking about it in the agitator chat room before the link was started at FR. He had a link to the NASA room, and the people were just sittin there. They didn't seem excited or worried or anything when they lost contact with the shuttle.

We were wondering how they could lose a shuttle.

[new cruelty]

Think about this too, if you are in a debate with someone...then the have the ability to change their words.

Yes, they would be able to change their words, but not their original post. As such, any interested party could click on the history and view the original post. As is sometimes done with the article of certain threads, like so: History

[msgt]

Right click, open in new tab. it's the only way to FReep.

I've also found that -Click opens the link in a new tab, but I'd still like the option to have it default with just a click.

[secretagent]

Something that flags material from to a copyright touchy source - before it can be posted

Agree.

[I'm ALL Right!]

I agree with #2. I've been frustrated w/ the amount of vanities. When I first started freeping there were hardly ANY vanities, and people got flamed for posting a worthless vanity...now it's commonplace.

[spodefly]

Spodefly! (11,478,934 posts)	Oct-10-03, 11:25 PM (ET)
Is this is what you have in mind?
We can look just like one of those UBB threads, or like DummyCrat Underground. Actually, I think FreeRepublic has the most easily followable (is that a word?) thread styles of any site on the web. Change nothing (except maybe adding "ignore" ...)
Remove | Alert	Edit | Reply | Top

[rdb3]

I'd like to see a block feature, similar to the Yahoo! Messenger where you can block correspondence with people who you have no wish to associate.

It will keep flames down and save bandwidth. I'm not for hitting "abuse" nor squelching speech. I think of it as Freedom of Association.

[Core_Conservative]

I would like the ability to re-edit a post. I know we have a preview - but we all have our own ability to not see our own mistakes - until it's too late and posted.