The rules apply across the board. The home page of Free Republic states:
Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting personal attacks, profanity, vulgarity, threats, racial or religious bigotry, or any other materials offensive or otherwise inappropriate for a conservative family audience.
Quite so.
However, by habit or custom or busy-ness or whatever . . .
most mods seem reluctant to wade into flame wars in chat or bloggers . . . etc.
So the culture here has become more bare knuckled.
And, it does afford a certain level of more accurate, blunt candor the Rel Forum doesn’t. For better or worse! LOL.