Breaking News and Search

2/12/03 | Admin Moderator

[Admin Moderator]

There have been many duplicate threads lately. A search is easy to do, but is not 100% foolproof, nonetheless, it is very effective. The Free Republic search feature only looks at words in the title (words from within the article will not work). That is why it is imperative to use the original title. To avoid having duplicate posts, prior to posting an article, search a keyword from the title only. The main search page can be found here:

SEARCH

The best method to search is to pick a key word or two from the title. If the article you are posting is, "Powell Ties 'bin Laden' Message to Iraq", start with 'Powell' for the key word. If it is a hot topic, you might want to use two keywords, in this case, try Powell and laden. For an effective search, select 'match all words' and select 'order by post time'.

Search using 'powell' only - ninth article in list at the time of this posting.

Search using 'powell laden' - Third article in the list at the time of this posting.

Three words or more can also be used. Be aware, three letter words will NOT search. You must use four or more letters per word. So searching for FBI, CIA, ABC, FOX will result in no matches.

Search using FBI

While I have your attention. Please, not every story is breaking news. If there is a hot current event, check breaking news. Most likely, it's there already. If you see a breaking news story on drudge, it's probably posted in breaking news already, please check first.

We don't care about the latest hollywood scandals, the latest Bill or Hillary antics or what Rosie is going to have for breakfast tomorrow, are they really breaking news? Keep them out of breaking news. If Bill would be arrested for crimes against the US, that would be breaking news. Keep breaking news for those really breaking news stories. That would be something that the entire country needs to know. Sorry, your dog catcher elections don't effect the nation.

You all have been doing a great job, but with all the news lately, a reminder helps. Thanks for listening.

You're friendly neighborhood Zot master. And for those that care.......

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Click the picture

[KansasCanadian]

I'm not certain, but i think this is a duplicate post

[knak]

Is "new posts to you" working tonight?

[Admin Moderator]

NO, thanks for reminding me. New posts to you is broken. John is working on it.

[Balata]

Bump, Mine aren't either.

[Billthedrill]

Already posted HERE.

[knak]

ok, thank you very much

[Balata]

If an Admin Moderator Zotted himself would it be self abuse of the hot kind?

[Bogey78O]

What?

[null and void]

Already posted...

;^)

[farmfriend]

I see stuff in breaking news all the time that is not a hot news item yet it remains. Even when flagged to the moderators attention.

[null and void]

Eeeeeevil Bill, just eeeeeevil...

[Shermy]

Click the picture above.

[Sunshine55]

So where did the post about NYC preparing for a cyanide attack go already?

[canuck_conservative]

As long as we've got you here, there's something I always wondered about -

can you see how many "lurkers" visit the site each day? What is the total amount of traffic? (or is that confidential?)

Love the site, the concept, the people, and the job you're doing - thumbs up.

[Sunshine55]

Nvermind...I found it :)

[Sunshine55]

NEVERMIND even!

[bonesmccoy]

Great effort guys.

I appreciate all the yeomans' duties you guys do over there at FR

Our thread on the shuttle accident seems to be scoped by the national news media. I've noticed that some of those guys seem to following our thread and asking questions during NASA Press Conferences that sound like they're straight from our thread. Either we're matching wits with the press, or the press is watching us.

That's ok guys... you've outmoded a 150 year old newspaper like the Wash Post or NY Times.

How does it feel???

LOL

[coloradan]

Already posted here.

[Flyer]

You all have been doing a great job

WAHOO!

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Operation Infinite FReep Nation Wide Feb. 15th !!

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[chance33_98]

Been guilty of doing so myself when I get busy multi posting. Will certainly aim to get better at it. On the plus side, no one has seen how many articles I did not post because I found them through search.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Would be nice to have a feature in FR that looks up what you're about to post and says, if applicable, "THIS LOOKS LIKE A DUPLICATE POST (LINK, LINK, LINK) - ARE YOU SURE?"

[Flyer]

New posts to you is broken. John is working on it.

I bet he's gonna fix it so it only shows posts To and not post By

[coloradan]

... and then "You look like a liberal disruptor. Are you sure?"

[Balata]

Here's a suggestion for a new question on the sidebar.

"Is it important for the US to have their borders sealed?"
Yes
NO

[toenail]

"...the latest Bill or Hillary antics or what Rosie is going to have for breakfast tomorrow...

But you repeat yourself....

[Admin Moderator]

It might not be breaking news to you or I, but our criteria generally is, would the majority of freepers consider it breaking news. And then, the activism threads are left per Jim's request, and some others Jim wants there.

[Flyer]

can you see how many "lurkers" visit the site each day?

Check here for a ton of stats.

[TigersEye]

Click on the Viking bunny and turn up the sound.

[Admin Moderator]

That's great! Any thread which gives publicity to FR can be breaking news too. Let us know, we can move threads.

[Admin Moderator]

Duplicate. sorry

[Swordmaker]

I am one of those guilty of posting a duplicate thread today. I ALWAYS do a search before posting... I am cconscientious about it because I do not like duplicate posts. However a search today before posting an article did NOT return the already existing threads. I searched by the entire title, each word in the title, and a couple of distinctive phrases in the title with NO RESULTS, so I went ahead and posted.

A fellow freeper noted in the second comment my post was a duplicate. I then REPEATED the search and lo and behold 15 hits came up on just a single term.

I have had this happen before when seeking threads I KNEW existed. Later searches would bring up the missing thread.

At the time I was posting approximately 10 other threads were started between the time I started putting a rather simple initial post together and the time it appeared on the main page... I went immediately back to that page and it was five or sixth down. Is it possible that your server chokes on searches above a certain number at a time and dumps any overage?

[Balata]

their=its'

[Admin Moderator]

AH, the moderators wish for that kind of stuff probably more than you. John can only do so much. Let's add it to the wish list. Funny, the more we want, the closer we get, the more the technology advances. Will John ever be able to grant us all our wishes?

[Admin Moderator]

Yep. Just to tick you off ;)

[Admin Moderator]

You might be on to something.....We'll definately keep a watch on that one...

[Admin Moderator]

John see post #25.

[petuniasevan]

That's a viking kitten.

[Admin Moderator]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry

[WestCoastGal]

Just wondering if there have been any ideas suggested for an emergency situation should it arise? Like if an attack is in a certain area it would be helpful if people with local news and verified news could post and others limit themselves from overloading the system.

[Admin Moderator]

One of the problems is AP will report the story as 'Iraq sells nuclear bombs to Libia'. Reuters will report the exact story, 'Middle east giant makes nuke deal with African nation'.... Each media source has their own story, yet the news is identical. There's not much we can do. Our best key indicator right now is titles.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

I particularly like the one where the kittens sing "Independent Woman", originally by Destiny's Child. I even bought my dad a t-shirt with one of the kittens on it, because he likes cats and he liked the movie "Charlie's Angels", which features the song.

[Admin Moderator]

Speling erors dont kount tonite.

[dighton]

Speling erors dont kount tonite.

Güd, thingz R buggrd up b-yond all b-lief.

[Swordmaker]

Several of the duplicate threads had the EXACT same title as mine.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks for the best laugh of the night.

[TomServo]

My kinda thread. Bump.

[wonders]

That's my wish, too. Think there really is a Santa Claus?

[Admin Moderator]

Like I said in the article, it's not 100% foolproof. There are times when you will do everything just perfect. It's happened to me. I've had threads pulled because they were duplicates and I search every single article I post. It's just part of the limitations of the software features we have right now. We're just reminding everyone to remember to search.

[wonders]

ROFLROFLROFL! Funniest post I've read on FR for ages!