Posted on 01/25/2024 1:52:51 PM PST by OneVike
Too begin with, I wanted to share what was posted the day I joined, but Sadly, 99% of FreeRepublic's early history is lost due to FR losing a court case brought on by many leftists in the MSM over copyright violations due to Freepers posting full articles. Thus all the records of posts and comments prior to early September 2021 were scrubbed by court order. I do find it quit interesting that the order came down from the courts about a week before the attack on 9/11. Coincidence? Maybe, but looking back now I with all that has been happening in the last 8 years I now wonder. Anyway, I was able find some posts from April 19, 1988, which is the earliest I could retrieve information using the Way Back Machine at ( Internet Archive)
I originally planned on posting this last year on my 25th anniversary, but totally flaked out. Then I promised myself I would post it on my 26th anniversary. Well, I'm a few days late. Time seems to get away from me lately. So I I'm just touting my 26 year Freeper Birthday. Yup, the birth of my name OneVike. It was around 6:00 pm or so, not long after I got off work. I had heard of FreeRepublic from Rush earlier at work. Wrote down the name and looked it up on the web. After I found it, I liked it joined the forum. Well, the rest is Freeper history. It was February 22. 1998 and I was still living in Chico CA, about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento on I-99. Chuck State university is the college there. Me my wife and her family all escaped the state in May 2019 and now live in Payette iD as refugees.
If interested you can check out my Freeper profile paget, which has many things I put together with menus and all using the HTML I learned in the early years of FR. Back in the days when HTML was your friend. Back in the day, if you failed to close an HTML code, the rest of the comments were effected by it until some one came along and closed the tag in their comment. Awww, the fond memories of the old days. My profile also links to my my website (The Reason For My Faith) if your interested in checking it out.
We have come a long way since February "98". As I stated, I learned of FreeRepublic from Rush Limbaugh so I was I was already a student of the EIB university. I had been listening to Rush Limbaugh every day at work for almost 11 years by then. About a year before he went national in 1988 I used to catch him on KNBR radio out of Sacramento. I must admit, I was blessed in that the guy I worked for, David Salisbury, was a hard core Christian conservative who played Rush every day in the shop of his small business. Sadly I and countless million like me were forced to graduat upon the death of the "Great One."
I joined when I was 42, and today at 67 I look back at those years with fond memories. I learned much through the years. Not just from Rush, but from the hundreds of thousands of Freepers who have trudged through the halls of freeRepublic through the years. Like many of you, I lost many friends along the way whom I learned to love and respect, both women and men. Today we stand upon the shoulders of those who came before us, and if FRee Republic lasts, there will be newbies who will stand upon our shoulders as they continue the task of carrying the torch of freedom by taking on the Deep State establishment .
Often times I peruse Free Republics Memorial Wall and take time to remember those former giants who helped make this the number one conservative political forum on the World Wide Web. I would name some, but there are too many, and I would be insulting those I forgot to mention. I suggest everyone take a moment by following the link below to show your respect to those great men and women. Members who, if they could see America today, would be shedding tears for the country they loved.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone, even those I seldom get along with, for being part of this 26 year ride. I look forward to the future with hopes and prayers that Free Republic will be around for many more years. Before I finish I want to remind everyone to help the cause by sending a donation to help keep this place free for those who come after us. Let's all ensure that this great forum will continue being a place for those who, like us, were once looking for a place they could join and mingle with like minded conservatives who still love and fight for the America we love.
Thanks for your time,
God bless Jim & John Robinson for creating this amazing forum, God bless America, and dear Lord Jesus come quickly.
I hope you enjoy the trip to the past with the following links to old Freeper Posts with comments. A treasure I found using the Way back Machine.
Remembering Waco: Where's the Outrage?
Reply To: Peggy Posted By: aladyjfw
3142 04/19/98 07:06:12Black Ribbon Bumper Stickers
Reply To: bluedevil Posted By: Bugbear
3141 04/19/98 07:04:31MOMENT OF TRUTH
Reply To: freereb Posted By: thorn11cav
3140 04/19/98 07:02:36YOU DON'T SUPPOSE we could------
Reply To: BADJOE Posted By: Bugbear
3139 04/19/98 07:00:55BLACK HELICOPTERS ARE REAL!
Reply To: Rodger Schultz Posted By: black cloud
3132 04/19/98 06:21:15FreeRepublicers: YOUR GRAIL HAS LANDED -- ALL THE MINDFOOD YOU NEED IS RIGHT HERE!
Reply To: freereb Posted By: Cerruti
3125 04/19/98 05:08:41CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME/GORE'S MEASLY $353 NO MATCH FOR BUSH OR QUAYLE
Reply To: Tommyboy Posted By: DB
3124 04/19/98 05:07:07MOMENT OF TRUTH
Reply To: freereb Posted By: DB
3118 04/19/98 04:28:36Jail to the Chief
Reply To: Peggy Posted By: BD
3112 04/19/98 03:52:40EX-AGENT OPENS NEW DOOR INTO PREZ PROBE
Reply To: Steven W. Posted By: Txtruth
3111 04/19/98 03:52:13No Room for User on Device
Reply To: jrewing Posted By: Jim Robinson
3097 04/19/98 03:18:16Couple plans to take on FDIC and banking industry
Sweeney's fight back! Posted By: patriot76
3095 04/19/98 03:15:36Creators Syndicate Drops Arianna Huffington from Lineup
Reply To: Brian Mosely Posted By: CodeAgent
3093 04/19/98 03:12:14Panel Chairman Threatens Contempt Citations For Hubbell, Huang
Reply To: RoarNLion Posted By: Jim Robinson
3092 04/19/98 03:12:08Totally Neglecting The GNP, Clintonomics Spinners Rubin and Greenspan’s Prosperous Economy Is Being Dragged Down By Record Social Spending Programs And High Balance Of Payments Deficit.
Reply To: Bob D. Posted By: CodeAgent
3089 04/19/98 03:03:58Bill Clinton what angers you the most
Reply To: suijuris Posted By: Tyler C.
3088 04/19/98 03:03:33Panel Chairman Threatens Contempt Citations For Hubbell, Huang
Reply To: Jim Robinson Posted By: RoarNLion
3084 04/19/98 02:56:45CLINTON APOLOGY THE USUAL SHAM
Reply To: A Whitewater Researcher Posted By: pooper scooper
3083 04/19/98 02:56:22EX-AGENT OPENS NEW DOOR INTO PREZ PROBE
Reply To: Steven W. Posted By: what's up
3082 04/19/98 02:54:56Panel Chairman Threatens Contempt Citations For Hubbell, Huang
Reply To: Jim Robinson Posted By: LarryLied
3081 04/19/98 02:54:53SOFTWAR website -- Clinton's espionage!
Reply To: InfoMan Posted By: Tyler C.
3078 04/19/98 02:43:23Soldier who refused to wear U.N. patch and beret loses appeal
Reply To: all Posted By: imdoug
3075 04/19/98 02:40:14The Left Wing Conspiracy collides with the Left Wing Conspiracy, both of the vast variety.
Reply To: Helen Posted By: Jim Robinson
3062 04/19/98 02:18:39Jail to the Chief
Reply To: Peggy Posted By: Tyler C.
3055 04/19/98 02:04:48Michael New holds legal briefing
Reply To: Ed Millar Posted By: triple
3052 04/19/98 02:00:52Woman Who Crashed F-14 Wasn't Ready to Fly
Reply To: Lugo Posted By: Son of Liberty
3047 04/19/98 01:56:30
Did the moose bite your sister?
We could use an ASH ALERT right now from Don Morgan.
HOLY COW...too funny; 1974?
23 years for me.
I've always had my default view as "latest articles" so I never concentrated on a specific forum.
Great post !! Thanks
Hint: Traditional1 (since banned) posted often, back then.
The TWO Drudge Wars, the Anti-Semnitic one, the green eyed blonde scammer, ASH ALERT....oh the memories!
My anniversary is April 14, 1998 so I guess compared to you I’m a newbie.
I remember the great in-depth discussions we used to have and that on every subject there was a real expert posting.
Oh, the chat room was fun.
Remember, the main forum we use now was actually the whitewater forum. It’s just that everyone went to it, and the others just died away.
We have the category ones now, but back then there were separate forums that were not connected .
I lurked from 1998-2020.
In 2020, I grew some balls and registered at FR.
One of the best threads was the Shuttle disaster investigation conducted online at FR.
One of the most POWERFUL things I did was attend the 9-11 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, in year 2002.
Attending the Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton, when the House Trial Managers presented the Two Articles of Impeachment, to Chief Justice Rehnquist, was EPIC!
All of it OWED to FR ACTIVISM!
ACTION! ACTION! ACTION!
Then you may very well remember the posts I shared. They are from like 5 days after you joined.
Yes, those were the days
The GOLDEN AGE of FR.
Congratulations. Believe 98 was the year I joined this wonderful site.
Nope, it was 11-30-2000. So I am the newbie.
“Who remembers getting yelled at to “Close your tags!” when you used HTML to italicize something but forgot to put the ending </i> and every post after yours was also italicized?”
Italians off :-)
Did you have your freeper name changed?
I know a few Freepers who joined, then had problems getting in and had to rejoin so their join date is actually a few years later then they actually joined
Yeeeaup. You be a newbie.
LOL
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