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

[carlo3b]

I wish it had a bathroom!

[talleyman]

A kid's forum - somewhere they'll be safe from the screamers & trolls (and the kind of stuff I post...)

[Skooz]

Oh, man. Take me back to 1996. Those type forums are so lame and antiquated. FR is light years ahead of that.

[hispanarepublicana]

give titles to users who reach certain posting milestones.

My "FReeper milestones":

Nov. 29, 2000: newbie

Jan. 15, 2001: 20 new pounds

Feb. 2, 2002: Husband coaxes me outside to see if he can see my shadow. He sees my shadow, which means I'll be on FR 6 more weeks.

May, 2003: Husband coaxes me away from FR by taking me on a tasty vacation to the tropics.

[TheBigB]

Yes, and we can do like DirtyUnderpants and put a HOT TOPIC! icon next to a thread with 5 posts. ;)

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I would love an 'ignore' feature so you don't have to read certain posters posts.

[Skooz]

I remember about 8- 12 months ago, someone posted a vanity asking if there was an ignore feature and how to access it.

He was EXCORIATED by the people who posted responses. IIRC, he was called a "wimp" and asked what he was doing here if he couldn't take the heat, etc. I don't think he got a single sympathetic post. They were all quite vicious.

[is_is]

but I'd still like the option to have it default with just a click.

Download The Tab Browser Extension and you will have the option of running firebird that way.

[EllaMinnow]

I would love an 'ignore' feature so you don't have to read certain posters posts.

I hope you don't mean me!

[Calpernia]

We can be more diligent about adding author names to Keyword. Then it will show in a keyword search.

[hispanarepublicana]

We kneed a spel cheker wores thne aynthun elsse

Looser!

[EllaMinnow]

Excellent.

[Calpernia]

True. Good point.

[hispanarepublicana]

I also think FR should partner with Sears on a special edition treadmill with a dedicated FR browser and keyboard.

[Ben Hecks]

"A spell-checker would be useful for us spelling-challenged."

Yeah. But then we would never have any hugh or series posts.

[Mr. Mojo]

Here's my biggest beef:

The thread titles (and the individual post #'s) that I've clicked on are shown on my screen in dark blue, while the ones I haven't clicked on are shown in medium-dark blue. These can be very difficult to distinguish. It would be a lot easier on the eyes if there were a greater color contrast. .....like blue and red, for instance.

[mikegi]

I'd like to see a "reply include" function, so I don't have to manually copy and paste, then put in the "italics" tags, then the paragraph tags.

I don't think that a full "reply include" thing is necessary. Right now, the post parser is too strict on detecting html. Once a tag is discovered, it defaults to full html and that squashes paragraphs together. The parser should preserve the tags AND preserve the paragraphing. That way, all you have to put the "i" tags around the included part that you want to comment on. Other BBS software does this so I don't think it's that big of a deal. Otherwise, I like FR's software. It's simple, fast, and retains links to the post being replied to.

[new cruelty]

ROTFLOL. Indeed.

[hispanarepublicana]

I think you control those options in your own browser options. On mine, the clicked-threads are purple versus blue.

[Consort]

Eliminate Triple Tag Lines.

147 posted on 10/10/2003 8:35 AM PST by 3-Tagger

(The Tag Line below is false) (The Tag Line above is true) (Both are an illusion)

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Triple tag lines?