And, away we go!
Posted on 02/01/2006 2:00:18 PM PST by Admin Moderator
Edited on 02/01/2006 2:49:56 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Hi everyone, Olive here, it's been awhile since we had a refresher course on the posting guidelines. We've had a lot of newbies sign up! Welcome Aboard! The more the merrier! And it doesn't hurt you longtimes to re-read this. As always, we're here to help. Ask questions, we'll do our best to answer.
If it's a breaking news topic, check breaking news first, it's probably already posted. Check the breaking news sidebar first. Don't try to be the first one with the story, you've already been beaten by about eight threads.
To avoid duplicate posts, please search before posting. Use the published article title to prevent duplicates. The best method to search is to pick a key word or two from the title. If the article you are posting is, "Cindy Sheehan is a witch in a ditch", start with 'Cindy' for the key word. If it is a hot topic, you might want to use two or more keywords, in this case, try 'Cindy Sheehan'. For an effective search, select 'match all words' and select 'order by post time'.
If your thread title has a unique word, like 'moonbat' try using that word first in your search. Again, use the "order by post time" option to see the latest threads posted.
Vanities and General Interest.
All non-sourced non-news threads are posted here. All fluff stories are posted here. We are a political forum, not a pit bull, SUV or porno site. Keep your threads to a political nature. There are of course exceptions, but post those to the General/Chat forum. This doesn’t mean your one thought is a thread by itself, and your vanities should be substantial to be considered a news forum thread. Others will be moved to the various forums. Lately, we have been seeing articles posted that should be comments made on the main article. Your comment/vanity article will be pulled or moved to General/Chat. Vanities should be limited to the mission of Free Republic.
Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America. And we always have fun doing it. Hoo-yah!
Free Republic is huge, we're pushing 250,000 registered posters, so don't clutter up our news forum with your one thought lines, local interest aligator stories, or whatever floats your boat. Jim and John have worked hard to keep us current, let's utilize the tools they've built. There are areas to have fun discussions as well, but let's keep the news forum dedicated to news. And at times we'll let something fun in news, move something you think is important to chat, and variations of. We're trying to run a forum, not dis you as a poster. Nothing personal, it's just business, and we have to cater to a multitude of personalities. If you disagree, the fastest way to contact us is hit the abuse link, state your name and other usefull stuff, like a link. We're human, we make mistakes. And we can't always read inflection into posts.
For all of you who have blogs or personal web sites that you would like to discuss or promote on Free Republic, here's the place to do it.
Our Bloggers & Personal forum is for:
- Posting from your blog.
- Posting from other peoples blogs.
- Posting from your personal web site.
- Posting from other peoples personal web sites.
- Promoting your blog.
- Promoting other peoples blogs.
- Promoting your personal web site.
- Promoting your favorite web sites.
- Posting from your favorite outside forums.
- Posting from your favorite lefty forums or sites (DUh and the like).
Click on the "Bloggers & Personal" forum link on the Forums sidebar of the latest posts pages.
We know many of you think your blog is special. There are some blogs out there worthy of news, like Little Green Footballs. If your blog scoops something, and we blog it, again, let us know. We see most all articles posted, we can analyze your content and compare it to similar threads. We aren't personally trying to 'trash' you. We're trying to keep FR optimized. You have a problem, just ask, we'll work with you. Again, the fastest way, use the abuse function, leave your name and we'll try to get back to you as fast as we can. You can always FR mail us, but that might take longer. Remember, there are 12 of us and 30,000+ posts daily. We don't see it all.
Other sidebars
Only one of these topics will show up in a sidebar, posting to multiple topics will still only show one topic.
Activism/Chapters - Activism, protests, news and business of Free Republic Chapters. Freep this poll should be placed in vanity. General news stories about activism should be place in news. After action reports from Freeps are allowed here.
Announcements – Notifications of Activism events, FR business
Breaking News - Not every story is breaking news. Breaking news should be news that affects most of us. There are some exceptions. If there is a hot current event happening, check breaking news. Most likely, it's there already, please check first, then use our search function. (Explained below)
Editorial - Editorials are opinions. Some vanities, if well written and thought out can be considered editorial material.
Extended News - Extended news is for stories which have been posted previously and have updated or newer information.
Free Republic - This category is reserved for Free Republic business.
Front Page News - Front page is for stories which are not breaking news, but would be found on the front page of a newspaper.
These are just some of the topics that you may use two or more. Do not go out of your way to put in more topics just to try to get more views for your thread. Doing so makes the topics less usable for everyone. Also, do not list every state on your thread. It is unnecessary. Please limit the state topics to those states that the story pertains to.
Business/Economy - Business, industry, financial, markets, trade, banking, budget, debt, taxes and economy news.And lastly, please bookmark this excerpt only list, Jim updates frequently.
Constitution/Conservatism - Discussion of conservatism and conservative principles and issues.
Crime/Corruption – News and discussion of crime, corruption government abuse, power grabs, and scandal.
Culture/Society - Discussion of health, education, welfare, drugs, abortion, environment, housing, unions, employment, social security, religion, arts, humanity, sports, and other cultural and societal issues.
Foreign Affairs - News and discussion of international politics, foreign affairs, diplomacy, national security, war, military, defense and armed forces issues.
Government - News and discussion of all branches of government, departments, agencies, law, policy, legislation, processes and judiciary.
Miscellaneous - Anything which doesn't fit into another category.
News/Current Events - News and discussion of current events.
Philosophy - Discussions of philosophy and ideology.
Political Humor/Cartoons - Funny stuff
Politics/Elections - Discussions of politics and elections.
Unclassified - Articles awaiting re-classification.
Any State or Country - Do not spam every single state or country, please use only those that pertain to your article.
Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints
Don't think you are being sly or tricky, the mods have seen every trick in the book, so don't try to get around the posting rules with creative antics, your thread will be deleted. We have these rules for a reason. We want Free Republic to be on the internet, not shut down by liberals trying to silence our voices. Please, if you post an article and get an excerpt rule, follow it.
We will pull unlinked threads that might violate the excerpt rules.
Other links:
Statement by the founder of Free Republic
Jim and the Mod threads (cool band name)
HTML Sandbox (practice html here, learn new tricks)
IBTZ!
Ummm, no thanks.
Thanks for informing the newbies and refreshing the oldtimers.
Over the years, I've learned to 'hide' stuff, just to keep you guys on your toes.
"Those" look like BIG bullies to me! ;^)
Just watch me, kiddies.
Just remember, I'm Olive... FMCDH
My awards include:
two thread pulls (with a nifty suspension on the second)
and two "knock it off"s
I guess I am doing pretty good.
Keywords are optional, not everyone likes to use them. Posters can always add them.
The list of tips I occasionally post if I feel kindly towards a newbie:
New User Rules of Thumb
This is actually a quite friendly place once you realize some basic rules of thumb:
Don't post personal essays in News Activism. In fact, posting personal essays is frowned upon, especially if you don't respond to people who want to discuss it with you.
Don't post duplicate threads
Don't use this as an advertising place
Don't expect it to be a debating society, cause it's not.
Don't post and run. This gets more people marked as trolls than anything.
Don't use it as a place to do your homework.
Don't post in the wrong area.
When in doubt, use your spell checker.
Use the preview function to make sure your paragraphs are there.
Be respectful of the fact that many people who post here love guns, God, and the Constitution.
Viking kitties can be your friends.
Best way to get a feel for it is to get involved with discussions on threads and read a lot of what is being posted.
It's really not necessary to lurk for 6 months, rumour to the countrary!
Special vocabulary:
Zot - when the moderators declare a troll has posted, and the game of pile up on the thread takes place. Frequently symbolized by a lightning strike or an atomic explosion.
Viking Kitties - the ones who do the zotting for the mods! (a great game!)
BTTT - back to the top - when you want to bump a post back up, usually because you don't have the time to read it, but want it on your "My Comments" section.
Hugh - inhouse joke for huge
vey series - inhouse joke for very serious. Can be shortened to just series.
all your base are belong to us (I suggest you google that one. Great fun!)
Stuned - inhouse joke. Stunned, usually used in a humourous or sarcastic way, usually by a "beeber like device"
And finally:
DO NOT EVER POST A WHOLE MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS.
Remember, paragraphs are your friends.
Beware the spelling and grammar nazis. Good content will keep them at bay some times, but not always.
Couple of nice SUVs there.
That's another shemod. She's on vacation right now.
Thanks much! Bookmarked this...For quick reference.
Why is it when many people reply with a general comment, their replys go to the article poster (the one who started the thread) rather than the last person to make a post?
What I mean is, many times I'll read a multipage thread, and then reply to whoever was last, rather than page back to the beginning-are others just not reading past the first post or am I missing something?
Thanks!
You guys are just mean to little ole me.
Nice hardware their packin.
Those are sure big guns....makes me want to....what?....I was just look.......(((SMACK)))....OUCH!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.