Polite Suggestions for FreeRepublic nextpointoh [Vanity]

Our tiny little brains | Saturday, March 26, 2016 | all FReepers

[SunkenCiv]

1. Currently, Topics are tied individual Forums, such that the 50 states (but not DC) show up as Topics for a thread posted in or moved to the GOP forum -- but the 50 states (and DC) show up as "US:(state name)" in threads posted in or moved to the News forum. Those state lists don't cross. Same goes for the duplicate Topics found in Chat and Blogger forums -- and those lists are all separate from one another. Keywords are available across all Forums.

   All three systems should be merged into a Tags system.

2. Currently, the URL (which I still think of as "new style" but they've been like this for over ten years) is http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/(topic number)/posts

   Eliminating separate Forums/Topics/Keywords would simplify and save a little bandwidth for FR and for its users -- http://www.freerepublic.com/(topic number)/posts

3. Currently, posting a new topic is a pain in the rear, especially if, at the first click of the process, the source turns out to be unusable.

   First step of the process should be, paste in the URL, click Preview, and if not okay, know immediately; otherwise, the software would pull an appropriate excerpt, nab the new Tags for the topic out of the metatags et al on the source page, name the author, title, date, etc, and IOW work like social media sites work in that regard.

   Also, to save time for the Mods, and reduce duplication of topics, someone in Preview would have, say, ten minutes to finish posting, during which time that particular URL would be reserved or frozen, so others wouldn't be able to post it preemptively. After the ten minutes, Preview would be cancelled.

[SunkenCiv]

The Second Amendment
immediately follows
The First Amendment
because
Some People Are Hard of Hearing.

[SunkenCiv]

a *very* off-topic post to all lists. Happy Easter!

[Gaffer]

NO offense, but what the hell is this about? Who is “Our Tiny Little Brains?” and what is “nextpointoh”?

[SunkenCiv]

nextpointoh because I didn’t have any idea (nor does anyone outside the FR family Robinson) what version number FR is up to. Since it’s open to all comers, suggestions are coming from all, well, most who post (some will troll on in to say everything should be left exactly the way it is). The tiny part, that’s just being polite.

[Monkey Face]

Well, that was...um...lemme see...ummm...what did you do with the thingamajig? And where was I going with this whatchamacallit? Am I logged on? *checking tinfoil hat*

Is anyone here? Where am I, anyway?

[Gaffer]

Honestly am not trying to be an ass. I just don’t understand it. Perhaps I have to be content in the things that I can understand and trust all the rest to those more cognizant and capable. :0).....

I take my leave and wish all well. :0)

[Tax-chick]

I was, myself, confused. I don’t let it bother me.

[SunkenCiv]

Moe Howard said it best... ;')

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

[nuconvert]

I understood the US States part. After that, you lost me.

FWIW, I’d like to be able to Search by dates. And I’d like to be able to go back to posts that I made 8, 10, 12 yrs ago just by doing a date search.

[Louis Foxwell]

An edit function in the first 10 minutes or so would save me from myself.

[SunkenCiv]

4. Currently, Post Topic leads to "Choose Forum".

   Instead, see #3 above.

   There would be no more separate Forums (apart from the Mods-only ones we don't see) -- everything would be in the Tags system, and if something is an op-ed, that would be fished out of the original source page (from metatags etc).

   All blogging sites would get so tagged (Wordpress, Blogger dot com, etc).

[bert]

As a staunch conservative, my attitude is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

[Monkey Face]

What? Who said that? Am I alone in here? Who’s on the other side of the screen, now? Is that you, Elizabeth?

[IronJack]

I would also urge all posters to include a dateline whenever you post a new thread. It’s irritating to see an article talking about “Harrison Hills” or “Beanfield County” when I don’t even know what state it’s in. So please include a date, city, and state if possible.

[JoeProBono]

[SunkenCiv]

Oooh, both great ideas!

5. Currently, search is by string in title, or string in keyword, a couple of others.

   Search by date/date range should be an option.

6. Currently, Post is forever.

   Like most (all?) other forum/social media sites, we should have at least some time to fix our own errors, resulting in a "edited timedatestamp" note.

7. Currently, Author name is optional, which means people who have something they don't want us to see, or are just bone-idle bums, don't include the author name, or some goofy abbrev.

   As noted up in suggestion #3, the Author would be fished out of the metatags etc, and would also wind up in the Tags system for simplifying finding by-same-author.

8. Currently, Topics and Keywords list by order in which they were added (often handy!).

   User-selectable sort options would be nice.

[SunkenCiv]

oh WOW do I support that one! Location would be at least feasible to fish out based on the original URL and/or tags inside the HTML there.

9. Currently, Bylines are optional, and often lazy posters don't include IDing info in the Topic or Keyword field.

   Best-guess based on source should go right into the Tags.

[raybbr]

Oh, boy! Do you have any idea how reluctant old geezers are to change? You might as well ask them to learn how to use Windows 8.