[Responsibility2nd]

In 2016, in the run-up to the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States, I began to detect the seeds of dissension and disharmony at Free Republic, ala the “Never Trump” crowd that emerged. Less and less, I frequented the site because it seemed that every thread was a mini-battle, not with liberals and socialists—I would have welcomed that—but with ourselves; conservatives and libertarians taking off the gloves, continually entering the battle royal.

 

There were some knock down-drag outs in '16. Yes sir. But they paled in comparison the the bugzapper threads of 2008. Thousands of arguments. Hundreds of zots. On a daily basis.

[usflagwaver]

Yes, 2008 was awful on Free Republic. I stopped donating at that time because it was so awful. I cut way back looking at the site for quite a while. But now I am back and a monthly donor again. I like Free Republic, but I also don’t like some of the nastiness.

[Tom in SFCA]

But they paled in comparison the the bugzapper threads of 2008.

By my reckoning 2012 was even worse than 2008. FAR worse! I've not really been much of a fan of FR since then and I even went a few years without an account. This after having been a donor back around 2000, attending various FReeps, etc. It was no surprise to me how ugly 2016 got after what happened in 2012. It is a deep-seated flaw of this site.

[Rebelbase]

The Buchanan threads were a lot of fun!