Apologies

I am simply posting a public apology for unintentionally abusing my access to Free Republic. Having recently unveiled an original news blog -- and since I share many of the conservative values expressed here at FR -- I wanted to make my findings available via this venue. I must say that until today many, many FR readers found my articles useful and even enraging in light of some of the government programs I have shed light upon. However, I did not realize it was in poor taste to post an excerpt and link to my own work.

You have my assurances that it is more important to share my articles with my fellow Americans. Although it is undeniable that I appreciate new visitors to my site, my goal was not to build up my site-meter numbers.

What you've described seems like something that should be handled the usual "mod" way -- zot the abusive posters, end of story. Why do we need "blog overlords" to heap criticism upon the threads (again, what is and is not even a "blog" these days?)...Can't this just be handled by people hitting the abuse button when appropriate?

I guess that's my main point: why can't the "marketplace of ideas" and the usual mod-function determine what is or is not "interesting" and appropriate?
Why do we need "blog overlords" to protect me from "uninteresting" posts (defined, by the blog overlords, as a post by someone who authored the article)?

Just think there's a bit of overkill here with this "blog overlord" stuff. Report abusive posters, get rid of them, move on.
I think it's a shame that a good blog such as this one was put off because the author shared his posts here.

Good points, thanks for posting.

Several good bloggers have left because of the over zealousness of a few FreeperBeaters.

If we don't vet and give voice to the good bloggers out there, who will?

I thought one of the missions of FR was to give conservatives a solid platform for voicing ideas that need to be heard. Bloggers are stepping up to fill the void left by the LSM. Many of the publications we think of as New Media started as just some guy in a basement writing a blog -- hence even the felicitously named "Pajamas Media."

The fact that the proffered "solution" is for bloggers to post their entire piece here, to me, demonstrates that the main grievance of the blog overlords is that they resent someone getting pageviews. WHY?

No one is forced to go to any blog or site to read an article and if an article is worth reading, I would think Freepers above all would want it to get it as many pageviews as possible! Pageviews determine SE rank, as we all know, and that determines how many people might see and be influenced by that conservative blog post.

What is not to like about that?

The whole thing seems crazy to me. And don't get me started on screen names -- do the blog overlords not realize that all bloggers have to do is sign up as "Spongebob" and then post away?

The point of that is simply this: of course it doesn't matter one whit WHO posted the article -- and many bloggers would never bother to use a screen name because it would never occur to them (or anyone else, unless they're in the weeds on FR) that there was something impolite about posting their own stuff.

What matters is whether the article is worth knowing about and reading, and that can be determined the same way it is with every other thread: by freepers deciding for themselves whether or not to read the article.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.