The Censored Republic

Free Republic | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

Ok, this is a free for all thread. Come in and take your best shots. I promise I won't delete it or get upset. Get it out of your systems and then we will see if we can solve the problems. There always several sides to any story and several possible solutions to any problem. I'd like to hear them all and I'd like to solve as many problems as we can and get this forum kicking socialist butt again instead of kicking each other. So, please anyone with a complaint or a problem or a possible solution, (moderators, posters, FAB, everyone) please chime in. Thanks, Jim

[FITZ]

I didn't even see it there at the bottom --duh!---I was just used to it where it was and didn't look for it.

[Converse Lee]

Moderation in all things, including moderators.

[cdwright]

Truth and peer pressure

A study in contrasts, I trust.

[rwfromkansas]

lol....true

[sourcery]

A suggestion: a log of deleted posts that provides the title of the deleted article (with words censored if necessary), the date/time it was posted and deleted, and a brief comment explaining the reason for the deletion. Such reasons could even be selected from a standard set (e.g., "profanity," "libel," "personal attack," "threat of violence," etc.).

This would help cut down on all the posts asking why an article was deleted, and would help provide an audit trail to prove that the site operators are exercising due diligence in policing the site.

[hogwaller]

Great site, even if a lot of people on it are wrong. :)

It's your site. Delete and ban as you see fit.

How about a "Top 25 Bookmarked Threads" link?

[BluesDuke]

In an effort to respond to what some have complained about with the loss of deep discussions on conservatism, I suggest that every day, you or somebody else comes and posts a thread on a topic that involves an apect of conservatism...

I had an idea along that line a short while back, when I began at least twice a week posting up vintage essays (which I keyworded "Classics of the Right") of conservative and libertarian bent (from the like of Frank Chodorov, Albert Jay Nock, Frank Meyer, and others), which could yet serve to remind us of first principles that are only too often forgotten in the flush of politics, but the response was so underwhelming I decided to ease off on the idea for awhile. I may try it again soon, I am still mulling it...

[Buckeroo]

"One thing that many fail to recognize is the greater threat posed by EXTREMISTS on the "right," those who are so far to the right of a FREE Republic that they hate us every bit as much, if not more, than the Lefties do." -- Illbay

You remind me of Hitler dumming down the Germans prior to WWII.

[Sandy]

I didn't even see it there at the bottom

I can't get used to it though. And I also miss the "TOP" and "LAST" links that used to allow us to click to the top/bottom from anywhere within the thread. I don't know why he got rid of those.

[Objective Reality]

I also wonder what an FR thread might have looked like if it had been around during (for example) the Reagan assassination attempt, the downing of that KAL flight by the Soviets, the Challenger disaster, etc.

Jim, I would implore you to consider printing the entire yearly archive of freerepublic.com annually onto acid-free paper, and make arrangements for safe storage, perhaps with the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, or an academic institution. We live in an unprecedented era of communication melded with political involvement, and let nobody believe otherwise - what we do here, and who we are here, is historic.

[Born to Conserve]

When you take action, communicate the cause. If you delete something, be as specific as you can without having to sensor yourself.

Posters will learn and will cause you less work.

Besides, whenever posts start mysteriously disappearing, the black helecopters get closer, and I run out of aluminum foil.

[newzjunkey]

Threads have been pulled because they contain the term "raghead".

Entire threads are deleted because of a term? I could see a reply but an entire thread? That's just a little overkill.

I wonder if any of my criticism of Sharon and Israel has been tossed.

I'll agree with that poster who suggested the general quality of discourse has fallen off in recent months. I don't know if it's because there are so many newbie posters drowning out the good commentary with drivel, because old posters are too busy with life or what.

I've also noticed FR is missing some stories, which means there's a larger hole in the poster's coverage. It might simply because of the 'anthrax' noise in the media and that distraction. It seems, sometimes, like little else is going on. What can Freepers do to improve the quality of this site?

[Illbay]

Here ya go:

Confederate-Americans Seek Civil Rights

Judge rules Va. must allow confederate license plates

Pro-Confederacy Group Seeks Reparations for Civil War Losses

The Klan and the Flag

VIRGINIA AND THE LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH

VOTE TODAY ON GEORGIA FLAG "COMPROMISE"

I can almost GUARANTEE you that there is not one thing that can be said about this subject that doesn't already appear on these threads. And of course you can still post to them, I'm sure, so knock yourself out.

[altair]

We were pulling a lot of duplicates until lately. We've recently decided that if a duplicate is not real recent, we'll probably just let it stay up.

The problem with duplicates shows up terribly when you're in a distant timezone (I'm in Japan). I hate when there's been discussion on an article where I've posted to the thread in the morning only to find the orignal gets ignored when a duplicate comes up later (JohnHuang2 is by far the worst offender). Rather than deleting duplicates, could you arrange some way to link them together, or stop the duplicate poster in advance? If they've properly posted the article with a URL you can easily recognize a duplicate.

The value of FreeRepublic for me isn't the articles, it's the discussion, which I enjoy a lot. Thanks for all the work you've done.

[MannMade]

Major thanks and stay the same. I am new here, love the whole idea. Yank threads as you have to for security reasons. How about install a feature for hard core lefties in denial that sends a million volts up their keyboard. Not enough for death mind you, just bring them to their senses. By the way the good guys are going to win this one. I pray for our side.

[Jim Robinson]

Please send picture (of the boat).

[rwfromkansas]

Glad to see you back. If this happens again, report it. Don't put it in breaking news though, okay...:) I think you are in the right though in regards to it being deleted. For heaven's sakes, you were witnessing news. I think that is FR worthy.

[Tauzero]

I do have one possibly useful suggestion.

One thing I don't like about /perl/latest, is that I sometimes don't care a whit about the most active thread. At such times, seeing multiple posts listed from the same thread is of little use.

An alternative might be something like a most active thread list, which lists the threads that have received the most posts over the last X minutes.

[Torie]

I have been able to get along with Arator, and have enjoyed debating him, and we agree on absolutely nothing - yep, nothing, nada, the null set. The trick is to focus on ideas, rather than personalities, and try to be as polite as possible. If one does that, I think you have smooth sailing. At least that has been my experience. Having said that, way too many threads are being pulled IMO, for reasons that often baffle me. I think it may be because of the flames, although in many cases I don't find them that incendiary. In any event, typically flaming just isn't my bag, although I do admit a guilty pleasure in perusing those of others. As in so many aspects of life, moderation is the key. Partaking in one orgy a week is OK, but not every day. Cheers.

[Jim Robinson]

Thank you very much. Merry Christmas! Regards, Jim Robinson