More Belly Girl Threads!
Here:
*sigh* Happy now?
Posted on 10/10/2003 7:35:55 AM PDT by 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
Yeah but ... the ignored things would be noticeable in PREVIEW. And the spelling would be right.
More Belly Girl Threads!
Here:
*sigh* Happy now?
Seems like I'm always typing sentences like, "Your caption in #23 is a winner" or "I don't agree with your statement in #238".
I feel if I don't include such a sentence, the reader of my post won't remember what the comment is that I'm referring to or where it can be found without endless scrolling.
Hope you get my drift.
Leni
either:
0.5 inches (12.7mm) thick. or
5 inches (12.7cm) thick.
I've looked for a utility to perform that function at my end, but no luck so far.
The "sort by time" as default in a search would be a positive change.
All in all, this is still the best political discussion site on the web, IMO. A big improvement would result from posters stifling the defense mechanism -- if the post doesn't add to the discussion, don't make it. The signal to noise ratio can't really be managed, it relies on discipline from ALL of us.
Seems like I'm always typing sentences like, "Your caption in #23 is a winner" or "I don't agree with your statement in #238".
I feel if I don't include such a sentence, the reader of my post won't remember what the comment is that I'm referring to or where it can be found without endless scrolling.
Agree. I'd also like to have the post# included with the name of those to whom I've responded.
Same with Middle East. There are so many articles about Iraq it obviously could do with its own category. Iran; Syria; Afghanistan; Pakistan/India (because many Pakistan threads have to do with India and vice versa); Turkey; perhaps Jordan; Saudi Arabia/Kuwait; and a further Middle East cat to cover what's left or simply a Middle East cat to cover all.
Or one could further divide it up as Middle East (with parenthetical listings of which countries were covered) and Asia (which could then include Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, China). China gets a lot of threads though so perhaps a seperate cat for it would be good.
There's also a need for an Africa category.
It would make the "post thread" page a lot more complex but I think it would be worth it later for keeping everything sorted out.
There should be an evolution v creation category since there is a fairly sizeable faction here that like to argue on those threads. One could differentiate that from "science/space exploration etc".
I think a "Hot Thread" flag would be pretty cool. Maybe a small sidebar that shows threads of any subject that are getting a high volume of replies.
I think there should be a link to the search function on the "My Comments" page. For some reason, there isn't. I have to always open a random thread to get to the search link and then click there to get to the searh engine. Perhaps a function that included the search engine on the "My Comments" page by user settings would be nice?
One feature that might be too complex but would be useful would be a "view only this exchange" link at the bottom of every post on a thread. For example, we now have this:
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
If you had a link that would reload the thread to only show the back and forth between two people, that would be pretty cool. You could use it for yourself as well as just argument voyeurism. But it would be complicated to include an exchange with more than two posters I suppose.
Perhaps a feature that automatically searched for articles as you tried to post them in order to cut down on duplicate threads and poor use of search feature by those who want to post threads. This would also save a lot of bandwidth.
If I had to pick from all the suggestion I've just made, I'd want the search engine link on the My Comments page. Very easy to fix and it would help save bandwidth. After that, the automatic search feature on the post page and then the new categories.
Yep. It could be a timed feature. Like you don't come back and edit it within a half hour, it stays. (that way you can't be coming back months later and changing what you said).
That's a good point. Perhaps two seperate features on the member page. A "read for later" and a links list that would be open to the public but with the option to keep it private.
I second that! I also suggest placing the "POST" icon somewhere else other than next to the "EDIT" icon.
Aside from a short post like this, I compose my responses in MS Word to catch any misspellings and then cut and paste. It keeps me from making too many mistakes.
Yeeeehaaaa
Great tool
Downliads right into your IE as a tool
Way cool! Thanks very much! Not to be a busy body but I noticed you didn't use the spell checker for "downloads." :)
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