The Big Guy himself:
35. Dissatisfied with the operation of the Prodigy bulletin board, and similar sites, I decided to start my own "bulletin-board" Internet-type site to encourage the free expression of ideas -- particularly in connection with President Clinton's then past and present activities. I wanted to be able to reach a wider audience than did the Prodigy bulletin board and encourage more free discussion. Thus, in September of 1996, while still a consultant for ProtoSource, I started Free Republic.36. I began looking for suitable "forum" software. I located a couple packages and tried them out, but was not happy with the formats. I decided to write my own.
37. It took me a couple of months to write and test the software. I developed and tested version one on ProtoSources' computer. I developed and tested later revisions on our Electronic Orchard computer before installing on freerepublic.com or other sites open to the public.
38. I "cross-posted" (showing a link to freerepublic.com) articles to Prodigy, several USENET groups, and a couple other forums on the internet -- the names of which I no longer remember. On all articles I posted, I included the URL of the new freerepublic.com forum and within a few months people began visiting the Free Republic site.
I think I first saw one of Rodger's articles, before Google worked so hard to limit linking access to FR. :)
I came to FR through PRODIGY IN 96,
Had to re-register in 98. I was a little leary to give up my email address and waited until July to sign up