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

[mrsmith]

" Smilies and other icons available when posting messages "

Idiotic.

[Calpernia]

I have no problem ignoring posts of freepers I don't want to talk/chat/comment too.

What I have a PROBLEM with is when they start freep mailing me because I ignore them.

I would like to be able to block freep mail from posters as an ignore.

[sissyjane]

How about a snack delivery system...Need a pizza over here, or nachos please.

[Brian S]

Just one.

Set the default search feature order "by post time" instead of "relevance"...

When searching on a keyword before posting a new article, I always have to run the search twice because I'm more interested in whether the article has currently been posted.

[Calpernia]

ROFL!

[oceanview]

how about a java applet that runs constantly, like a scoreboard, showing people in near real time when new posts come into threads, so you don't have to keep hitting reload, you only hit it when you see a thread you are interested in be updated on the scoreboard.

[Calpernia]

Here you go!

[new cruelty]

It would be a lot easier on the eyes if there were a greater color contrast. .....like blue and red, for instance

If I understand you correctly, you can change the color of the links you have visited (while browsing with IE) by clicking on the Tools menu, then select Internet Options, then click on Colors (located at the bottom left of the dialog box), then modify the color assigned to links you have visited and to links that have not been visited.

[new cruelty]

And for Netscape

Changing Link (& text & background) colors:

[Mr. Mojo]

Thanks, but my PC broke down last week and I'm on a Mac now. ....with a Safari (Netscape) browser. I'll have to go search for those settings.

[headsonpikes]

Triple tag lines?

If I can have but one mercy granted today, may it be that this does not start a new trend.

Seriesly.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I have a "20,000 Words," at my fingertips.

[Mr. Mojo]

Thanks again. ....I'll give it a go.

[Consort]

It's just an HTML trick. There are no triple tag lines.

[moodyskeptic]

I take it you don't have kids in school. If you stand up at a PTA meeting with helpful suggestions, you just automatically volunteered to head the commitee. And I'm the guy with my hand raised nominating you. ;>)

[new cruelty]

One thing I would be interested in seeing is statistics such as a feature that shows how many FReepers are currently logged in and specifically who is logged in.

Other stats can already be found here: New Numbers for the Curious (or FR Traffic Stats)

[JIM O]

bump for later reflection

[max_rpf]

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