Replies

There are many issues about which you can accuse people of whining. I don't think it's fair in this case. There are some real legitimate concerns being addressed here. I don't think most people are coming down on Jim and John, just trying to make them aware of the problems. We would be doing them an injustice to keep our thoughts to ourselves, in my opinion. Personally, I don't like it. Some of it is ok and a lot of it I can learn to live with, but there are a couple of things that are really terrible and create REAL issues for many of us, whether it be in functionality, such as many web tv users have expressed or an adverse visual reaction...and yes, this too can be very real. It just doesn't flow. The visible layout is too busy and distracting and CAN produce headaches and visual discomfort that is not conducive to readability and is also unlikely to be attractive to those new to FR.

I have put a lot of time into helping new FReepers learn their way around here. It seems that it was kind of a waste now. I feel badly about that.

My impression is that a lot of the changes were being made because a handful of people complained a lot about having to be bothered to ignore topics they weren't interested in to get to ones that they were. Now it seems that the opposite has occurred. A few people like the restricted access and limitations on how much can be found or viewed at one time. The rest of us are missing most everything because we either A. Don't know where to look for it B. Get distracted while trying to navigate or C. Find it easier to find the news somewhere else.

I for one DO appreciate the effort that Jim and John make to be accommodating and I believe that they will weigh the things that we have been addressing as well, but please don't try to reduce it to "if you don't like it you're a whiner" because that just isn't the case.

Please don't insult your hosts that way ... they're not like that sweet. This was a systematically designed, programmed and executed software overhaul. This was in the plans for at least 2-3 months - here it is! Drift around in that scary netherworld outside this thread, you may find comfort or curiosity in some of the links or nooks.

You've said nothing with which I disagree (and you've said it very well).

However, I stand by my 'whiner' label -- which certainly wasn't meant to be applied to everyone who voiced (a) negative view(s) about specific changes in the format of the forum. It was directed at those people whose comments suggested that they appear to have awakened this morning, found that FreeRepublic wasn't as it used to be, and were complaining without even having made an attempt to adjust to the newness. Some of the questions they were asking, and some of the leaps they were making, simply whispered that they hadn't even attempted to understand how to navigate under the new format. Spoon-feeding is generally not part of a conservative diet. Such an attitude generally smacks of (more liberal-minded) immaturity, and ingratitude to the people who did what they saw as their best to improve the forum.

Hopefully, their best will be improved after positive input (much of which appears on this thread) has been heard and responded to (either by rational reasons as to why the positive input cannot be transformed into positive change, or by actual resulting changes in the new format).

There is a delicate balance to be maintained here between (1) exhibiting respect for the dedication of Jim and John to the success of this forum (and its all-important message, which is always under threat of being diluted, by both the behavior of those participating here, and attacks from outside enemies/agitators), (2) a commitment to fairness to those who have supported FreeRepublic, both financially, and through the expending of their time and effort to post, or personally write, meaningful observations and theories on the state of the nation/world, and (3) a need to be inviting to newcomers so as to increase the ranks of the informed.

As for your comments: A. Don't know where to look for it B. Get distracted while trying to navigate or C. Find it easier to find the news somewhere else, it seems to me that A and B are easily solved by education and familiarity. C is the issue that needs to be addressed and resolved. I can't help but wonder whether a brand newcomer to FreeRepublic would find the new format no more difficult to navigate, and no less inviting, than the old one -- were he to view the two (for the first time) side by side. Isn't it possible that much of the discomfort people are feeling right now is simply the result of having to learn something new, or having to simply adjust their ingrained expectations as to what they are going to be met with, visually, when the page pops up? If that is the case, then time (and a relatively small amount of it) will cure the 'problem.' If not, then maybe Jim and John do indeed have a formidable amount of re-working to do. I'm betting that it's eighty percent the former, and twenty percent the latter.