Massive Free Republic Changes

[John Robinson]

There will be some massive changes to Free Republic from now through the end of the year. I'll quickly iterate those changes now.

1. Most important, on the 27th, Free Republic will be down while I move my network along with Free Republic to a new host. We're moving from UUNET to Verio. This in itself is a massive undertaking, and availability of the site may be intermittent. We will use all available resources to mitigate outtage. Verio underbid UUNET by about $17,500 on a one-year contract, so this is really worth it. ;-) Overall, bandwidth will be less expensive 2002 by about $25,000 which will be passed straight to Free Republic.

2. I'm making massive changes to the structure of the database, will be replacing the posting program, and the latest posts program. While I'm converting the database and working out bugs some features may be down. Hopefully for not too long.

3. When Free Republic's new posting program is online, the routine to post an article will be different. First, an article will be indexed into many topics. So instead of a pulldown to select the topic, there is a field where you can list as many topics as you feel appropriate. And at any time later an article can be added to additional topics.

   Second, no more "Category" and "Section". Both have been replaced by the extended topic system.

   Third, the posting of an article and a comment have been decoupled.

   Fourth, there will be different types of articles you can start. Shouldn't really call these articles anymore, discussions is a better term. The very basic "Discussion" requires just a topic, title, and body. "Article" requires topic, title, body, source, source url, etc. Some topics may not allow some types of discussions. There will be only 'article' type threads in "Breaking News" for example.

4. The topic system in general will be completely changed. Once again you will be able to create your own topics. But to keep the topics from becoming the anarchy they were before my 1999 changes, all topics will live in topic groups. Those groups: General Interest (all existing topics); Highlights (Breaking News, Extended News, etc -- these are their own topic now); Hot Topics (current interests, such as Anthrax Scare, etc.); Local Topics (These will replace the Locales); User Defined (a sea of Freeper topics.)

5. Bump Lists will be integrated with the new topic system. Bang_List could have its own topic.

6. It will be possible to host many forums within Free Republic. Each forum would have its own management features, user list (with independent user levels), moderators, etc. Some forums may be private, some may be created for special projects, some may just be alternatives to Free Republic.

7. Finding articles should be much easier. There will be a title search, you will be able to list articles in a specific topic, or with a specific keyword. Maybe full searching of the article itself or its comments. (Looking for the right technology.) And Author and Source searches will work again.

8. Sidebars. Any topic can be added to your collection of sidebars.

9. There are more features, but I'm really pressed for time. :-)

[rdb3]

Heh, heh.

You said "bang" and "bump."

Heh, heh, heh.

Yeah!

[RonDog]

Please ohhhh please bring back the archives. All the way back to Feb of 97 if possible.

If you know of - or can GUESS - at least ONE (four-character or longer) word in the title of the article, virtually ALL of FR is currently accessible - RIGHT NOW!

See:

Free Republic Search Engine *Experimental*
Posted on 12/7/01 4:42 PM Pacific by John Robinson

I have used this new feature to find articles posted as far back as THIS ONE:

About this forum:

Post notes about this forum here.

Thanks,

---

Posted by: Jim Robnson (jimrob@psnw.com)
01/16/97 14:12:28 PST

[Palladin]

Sounds good, John! Big savings at Verio. You always do a fine job of tweaking and fine-tuning the forum. Looking forward to the new and easy ways to post a topic.

[lelio]

Could we have some sort of XML tags in the posts? Would be handy to use those for a program I'm writting for my personal use to just get the articles I want.

[sistergoldenhair]

great improvements

[johnboy]

break a leg.

[Shenandoah]

Could you explain all that again?

[Admin Moderator]

Thanks John, I'm sure we will all adjust to the new and improved versions ........groan........

[Pete-R-Bilt]

go to the top of the page, click on settings, and choose your time zone,
though its only good from maine to hawaii

[Dominic Harr]

Keep up the good work. Thanks for everything.

[jjbrouwer]

Could you explain all that again?

haha

[Rockinfreakapotamus]

Split the savings with us? ;)

Sounds like we'll be having one hell of a grand Inaugural Ball party in January 2005 for Dubya's second term!

[The Drowning Witch]

and I was just getting a handle on html! now the navigation gets even MORE complicated?

Still worth it, Jim, thanks for the update. Now if I can just memorize that font thing....

[RonDog]

Amazing job, Mr. Robinson. If I could pester you for one additional change, could the system clock be placed on either Pacific or Eastern time?

For the life of me, I can't figure out what time zone it's currently set for.

Try clicking on Settings at the bottom of this page, or go to:

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/settings?

[harrowup]

Dude Hellish shot the moose in the arse about two years ago. Billie patched him up and hung a potted plant over the scar.

[WHATNEXT?]

SpellCheck?????

[harrowup]

I want dibs on Detention Hall.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hehehe good catch.

[COB1]

Well, there's got to be one in every crowd, John, and this time it's me.
I liked the way it used to be!
'Course I liked Baby Ruths for a nickel, too!

[Poohbah]

I think that one goes to A+Bert...