Freerepublic.com is Gaining on Their Competition.

Alexa ^ | January 27, 2003 | High Wheeler

[The South Park Republican]

4) Send an FR discussions link to a friend who might be interested. Encourage them to sign up to FR.

I've tried that (And I've also tried lodging this "Complaint" too)...

Free Republic is next to impossible to navigate for a newbie. (I've been here for 3 years and I still can't get it right). People I send links to don't like it. (LOVE the content but not the format).

Every person I've sent to Free Republic has told me that they can't figure the place out. Granted, these people don't tend to be Political Junkies like most Freepers BUT these people have spent a long time on message boards and have a very good understanding of them.

Personally, I lurked here for over a year before signing-up simply because I couldn't figure the place out. And once I got registered, I couldn't figure-out all this HTML stuff for months (I've never been to a message board where you had to use those <'s to make a new paragraph.) And I still can't post pictures and color type and all that cool stuff.

Anyway...I'm a cumputer idiot but I'm an experienced computer idiot. I've never seen a message board I couldn't navigate easily other than Free Republic. But maybe this is on purpose...You REALLY have to WANT to be here.

Bottom line...I guarentee you that we miss out on a number of contributors because of this. What percentage? I don't know but I would GUESS it's well over half.

Just my take...

[bmwcyle]

You mean lucianne B%$#@

[lodwick]

bttt

[MrB]

DU shows a very open forum, allowing (and perhaps encouraging) incredibly vulgar language

This is the definition of "open"? Being able to use vulgar language at will?

DU is considered open when they will not tolerate dissenting opinions but will allow and encourage base language that offends mixed company.

[The South Park Republican]

FREEPAHOLIC???

As Homer Simpson would say...

I guess you're addicted to Freepahol?

;-)

[Deadeye Division]

bttt

[MinorityRepublican]

Free Republic is next to impossible to navigate for a newbie. (I've been here for 3 years and I still can't get it right). People I send links to don't like it. (LOVE the content but not the format).

Well, I love the format and I would not change Free Republic the way it is. It is an unique site, something that we love dearly. I don't want to change the site just so we can reach the "mainstream" audience.

We're a niche. Let's keep it that way.

[gnarledmaw]

Policing crude behavior and purging differing opinions are very different things.

[Liberty Valance]

Bump!
Ditto!
Bang!
Ping!

Liberty

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the GOOD News ! Confirms what we all knew already!!

Best Site on the 'Net !

[tangerine]

What!! I've been all over the web on message boards. The format of FreeRepublic is so easy and so fast to use it makes the others absolutely pathetic by comparison.

[gnarledmaw]

Serious discussions here require thought in response which takes time to formulate and verify. This keeps the number of overall hits relatively low. A response of the type that passes for deep thought at the other sites, "Bush sucks", doesnt take long to formulate and frees posters up for more hits. In other words, the "hits" ranking really doesnt mean anything.

[nicmarlo]

Thanks for the ping, meekie, I would have missed this; great news (and yes, something we already knew....everytime Rush mentions us, we crash!)

[wooden nickel]

Amen!

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

I FReeped so much at work that the system admin now blocks the site at the firewall.

Your are living the ultimate FR nightmare. Bless you.

[sweetliberty]

Loddy! Where ya been?? Missed you.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

anyone know where to find the data that shows current active FReepers? There's a chart or graph around here somewhere...

[sweetliberty]

I had to do a lot of self-educating when I came here and I am still learning. When I get someone new to sign up I send them a bunch of helpful links. Some are motivated to learn their way around and some aren't. Personally I love the way FR is set up and there is very little I would change. On the rare occasion I post on any other board it feels very awkward and I especially miss the ability to use html. I wish we could use it with FReepmail.

Here is a couple of links to help you learn basic html and how to post images and such. If I can learn it, anybody can.

Sandbox

Cheatsheet

[sweetliberty]

[jriemer]

With the Rushlimbaugh.com vs. Freerepublic.com data posted, my Saturday post wasn't that far out of line...

jriemer