Free Republic

VANITY - Is it just me or do we have a disproportionate number of newbies posting today?

... In the late 1980s, Internet users adopted the word “troll” to denote someone who intentionally disrupts online communities. Early trolling was relatively innocuous, taking place inside of small, single-topic Usenet groups. The trolls employed what the M.I.T. professor Judith Donath calls a “pseudo-naïve” tactic, asking stupid questions and seeing who would rise to the bait. The game was to find out who would see through this stereotypical newbie behavior, and who would fall for it. As one guide to trolldom puts it, “If you don’t fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.” Today the Internet...

I emailed the owner of this website and he told me a high ranking source said there is some buzz in Washington D.C. that John McCain will announce on Monday that Colin Powell has accepted his invitation to be his Vice-Presidential Nominee http://www.mikefrancesa.com/wordpress/?p=946

What part of "Body of Comment" underneath the "Body of Thread" when you're posting an article don't you understand? How many times have I logged onto FR and see the main page, only to be greeted with threads such as "Democrats challenge Bush on Iraq" (Thanks again cut-and-run conservatives!) or "Giuliani addresses crowd in California" (GO RUDY! THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BEAT HILLARY!)? Isn't it annoying? (Expected FReeper responses: "Then don't click on the threads then moron!" or the "Aw Geez, not this s--t again picture.") OFFICIAL USE OF PARENTHESIS IN THREAD TITLE ETIQUETTE (1) Location. Listing the...

Over a period of some four years now, I've complied a list of Those Threads Which I consider the "best Help Threads" for FReeper Newbies From Time To Time, I've "Posted" the List To Newbie Threads to be of help These Threads have been on my Profile Page over the years and Updated From time to time as necessary. IT has been sugested that I post these links on a seperate Thread. I have hesitated to do that as I complied the "List of Threads" over a period of time. Well, Here It Is for those FReepers who may need...

Hi everyone, 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. Are you ready maggot? SEARCH 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...

Welcome Newcomers! This Sandbox is devoted to giving you a place to practice basic HTML, and to get some coaching. So, first things first: Go to michigander's [ HTML Bootcamp (Cyber patriot training)] and learn there how to change font color, font size, font face, and the like. THERE'S A WEALTH OF INFORMATION THERE NOT COVERED HERE (so as to avoid duplication). Learn there also how to post a link and an image, then come back here to practice. If you're having problems, folks will drop by occasionally to give you pointers and help you troubleshoot. Boring posts are...

Alamo-Girl used to have a super Newcomers Welcome Desk and Information Center. I've been on extended leave from FR. Is there still a place where newbies can go to get oriented, pick up some lingo, learn etiquette, get questions answered without getting flamed, etc.? My sister just registered, so I'm trying to help her out. Thanks!

I've been participating on FR in comments only a short while now but I learn (mostly) quickly (self promotion!). My one delay on the FR Learning Curve is whattheheck does "bttt" mean? I see it often on threads but I don't understand: (1.) what the acronym (please tell me it's an acronym) means; and, (2.) what purrpose it serves to type it. So, oh wise learned Freepers, please explain. I thankyew.

Welcome to Free Republic! .......... Our heroes seem to like white hats.... but .... Don't mess with U.S.! If you are already feeling warm and comfortable - that's a good sign you've found a home in cyberspace. Welcome!!! The posters here are scratching their heads and digging in their bookmarks trying to find just exactly the right links, pictures and information that might be useful to you as you unpack and settle in. So please be patient with us while we try to get this thread better organized for you. Here are some things the posters (called "Freepers") believe you ...

Freeper Poll: Should new sign-ups be frozen until after the election? We're being flooooooooooded with trolls, as well as newbies who keep posting the same articles over and over.

Terry McAuliffe has issued instructions for his troops to spend the first 10 minutes following the debate tonight voting in online polls, emailing media outlets and calling talk radio stations to “spin” the outcome. Power Line provided the following text of McAuliffe’s letter: Tonight, don’t let George Bush’s henchmen steal another victory. We need your online help immediately after the debate, so save this email, print it out, and have it ready with you as you watch the first Presidential debate tonight. We all know what happened in 2000. Al Gore won the first debate on the issues, but Republicans...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- They're terms that Jersey Shore residents have used every summer to describe the tourists lining beaches and boardwalks and filling hotels and restaurants. If you are one of these tourists, it's possible you've never heard of the derogatory nicknames whispered behind your back. In other words, you might be a "bennie" or a "shoobie" and not even know it. Almost everything about the words, from their origin to the frequency of their use, is a subject of disagreement. Yet their existence is undeniable. Even as their region has cashed in on summertime visitors, every generation of...

Command Line is your friend, Page 1/4 Introduction Around 2001 I spent some time working part-time at a local adult-education centre teaching CLAIT, a beginners computing course, to a wide variety of people. These were complete beginners; many had never turned on a machine before. It was as much an education to myself as it was to them. The key thing to remember about these newbies that I taught is that they were not in any way stupid or slow. Many of them had mastered complex technical jobs and excelled in their chosen field. All these people felt that...

Have you ever been in one of those jobs where the old hands amuse themselves during slow time by sending the newbies out on wild goose chases or meaningless tasks? Examples: in an Army motor pool, sending a newbie out with a ball peen hammer to check for soft spots in a tank's armor...or to find a box of ground guides... ...in a photo lab: "these are blurry, go get me some focussing fluid..." ...in the Air Force: "a roll of flight line..." Add your own!

Welcome Newcomers! This Sandbox is devoted to giving you a place to practice basic HTML without getting flamed when you make a mistake, and to get some coaching. So, first things first: Go to michigander's [ HTML Bootcamp (Cyber patriot training)] and learn there how to change font color, font size, font face, and the like. THERE'S A WEALTH OF INFORMATION THERE NOT COVERED HERE (so as to avoid duplication). Learn there also how to post a link and an image, then come back here to practice. If you're having problems, folks will drop by occasionally to give you...

Hi all, It's time again for another posting refresher course. Thanks for your cooperation. Only one these topics will show up in the sidebars, 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...

OK, FReepers, I understand that we're all not just a bunch of mind-numbed robots. But, I just did a quick search on certain people's profiles and discovered a lot of these people slamming Rush Limbaugh seem to have just registered on FR this month and every one of their three to five posts are anti Rush, anti Bush and completely out of the norm for our favorite site in the world. Did the losers at DU finally decide to go on the offensive and infiltrate our space? I understand that there are a few folks here who really don't like...

After 15 years of saying they needed to find a liberal answer to me, the left has decided that they don't need talk radio because they "own" the Internet. Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times picks up this latest Democrat talking point in a piece headlined: "With Click of a Mouse, Liberals Find Answer to Limbaugh." Whenever one of these ideas germinates in the liberal wing of the party, it's all over the press. Liberals pass on whatever absurd talking point they hear without analyzing whether it's true or not; they don't think for themselves. Brownstein distorts the tiny...

Welcome Newcomers! This Sandbox is devoted to giving you a place to practice basic HTML, and to get some coaching. So, first things first: Go to michigander's [ HTML Bootcamp (Cyber patriot training)] and learn there how to change font color, font size, font face, and the like. THERE'S A WEALTH OF INFORMATION THERE NOT COVERED HERE (so as to avoid duplication). Learn there also how to post a link and an image, then come back here to practice. If you're having problems, folks will drop by occasionally to give you pointers and help you troubleshoot. Boring posts are...

<p>Neither Democrat Bill McBride in Florida nor Republican Bill Simon in California had ever run for office before. But both managed to overcome long odds to defeat party favorites, former attorney general Janet Reno and ex-mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles, in their primaries for governor. Both still have a chance to win Nov. 5, but their campaigns have shown how tough it is to start in politics at the top.</p>