It’s time to leave Free Republic after 25 years

vanity | 06-10-2025 | self

[Jaysin]

Dear Freepers

After almost 25 years of freerepublic.com being a rare bastion of sanity in this crazy world, I will be ending my time as a member of this once great site.

The quality of FR has degraded to the point that I no longer find much usage for the site that I can’t find on other platforms and sources. I have had multiple conversations with many freepers, both in the forum and privately and many of them agree with some of my points of contention:

A) The primary reason I am leaving is the failure of FR to address the rising and blatant antisemitism on here. Yes, a vast majority of freepers call them out and see right through it but the failure of the FR leadership to deal with this issue is not acceptable. There are a few dozen of these posters on here who have a very clear track record of posting their jew-hatred over and over again. Of course they will mask it under the cover of “I’m criticizing Israel, not Jews” or “I’m an American Firster” label or my favorite one “I’m an Appalachian Christian”. But if you look closely at what they comment on and how they do it, it is clear they have a JEW problem. These posters will ignore the atrocities committed by the same types of people who committed 9/11, killed RFK, blew up the USS cole, the marine barracks in Lebanon, shot up a club in Florida and countless other horrific acts that have killed and maimed thousands of people, orphaned many children, and left multi-thousands of grieving loved ones behind. The moral compass of these posters is quite shocking to say the least. And they always use the same tropes–foreign aid, the USS Liberty incident, war-mongering BiBi, AIPAC controls xxxxxx, and my favorite one is when they link to sites like the UN and Amnesty International as their “proof” that Israel is violating some international “law”. Some are more blunt and vicious than others, but it’s come to the point where much of my time is spent responding and commenting to the crazies on here. And of course most of them will deny they hate Jews, they just don’t want American foreign policy dictated by Israel etc….. FR is not twitter and is supposedly a tightly monitored site of like minded conservative individuals. Most of these loonies should be formally warned or banned, but they are not. Whatever happened to zotting?

B) Another significant reason I’m leaving is sadly, the quality of the discourse here. This was a website that was once feared as a threat by the left and helped expose the Dan Rather scandal. Those days are long gone. There was a time when I would come on here to get genuine and insightful opinions on politics and world events from intelligent people. Many of my political understandings and positions over the years were molded from what I read on this forum. Nowadays most of the comments to the real issues facing the USA are nothing more than silly venting comments in the vein of “we should lock up everyone of these rioters and throw away the key” or “Trump needs to fire these judges ASAP” or “It’s time for public tarring and feathering to return” level of quality. I can read through multiple threads without finding a useful insight to glean from it. It is really nothing more than venting and wishful thinking but not really practical–the same level of commentary can be found on a foxnews comments section. The personal assaults and attacks levied against each other don’t bother me so much and are often a natural response and I do sometimes like seeing someone get slammed down. I know I have been guilty of some crude and impolite commenting over the years. It’s the overall value of the content that has declined.

C) As a follow up to B, A vast majority of the articles that are being posted nowadays are from very mainstream fake news sources such as the NYtimes/Reuters/AP/DailyMail/MSNBC/CNN/SFGate etc… with a solid supplement of other almost useless sources such as foxnews/nypost/breitbart. Any halfway intelligent freeper on here KNOWS darn well that there's NOTHING useful published on these websites or articles so the comments turn into nothing more than “this article is such fake news” and similar style comments. It’s the same story over and over and over again and we all point it out. But real thought provoking ideas are not to be found. And of course we have the endless BOMBSHELLS and BOOMS and BREAKING headlines from the gateway pundit and dailymail posted on a daily basis that never amount to anything. Sites like American Thinker / townhall / Sultan Knish and some others are the only ones with real content worthy of real discussion If anyone dares to post some thought provoking article from some small blog or some less-known unfamiliar site, you’re instantly accused of blog-pimping. As a lead on to my next issue, the same news event is often posted multiple times just from a different source.

D) Leadership–I know I’m going to get flamed hard for this but who is steering the ship here at FR nowadays? I have much respect for Jim and what he’s built but I really feel like he only appears when appealing for money. He certainly is not actively involved in leading and guiding the site into the future. Perhaps it is time to pass the torch on to someone else who can keep the site as a useful and relevant place on the internet. Sadly, I feel that there is no one clearly calling the shots and no leadership here anymore

E) My final issue with FR is the functionality of the site. There hasn’t been a single update to this site since I joined. Not a thing. No, we don’t need flashy profiles and avatars and other silly bells and jingles but it’s 2025 and simple features like the ability to edit your comment or even delete it would be nice. A like and dislike option to a post would also be a nice feature and save a lot of the commenting issues I mentioned above. The ability to respond inline to comments would also make the flow much easier–If someone makes a comment at #12 and I dont join in until comment #93, I’m forced to copy/paste what they wrote so my comment can be understood in context. And no in 2025, I shouldn’t have to use html to post a picture. The breaking news is often hours behind an actual event happening. The search features are primitive at best. The site can still be very basic looking but can still be user-friendly.

I would love for FR to become a political powerhouse again that it once was but it will need to look in the mirror and decide what it wants the future to be. Or it can bury itself in the sand pretending that young 27 year olds are jumping on here and using the site (they aren’t!) I’m in my early 50’s and I sometimes feel like I bring down the median user age by 10 years. That’s not a bad thing per se, but what's going to be in 5-10 years? I really wonder how FR is going to make it into the next decade without some type of overhaul.

I truly wish FR the very best going forward and I wish only the best. I genuinely hope something good will come out of this final post. I will not be responding to this thread but will probably read direct freepmails sent to me regarding the thread before I log off for the last time. Some of you will tell me good luck and some of you will me good riddance. I understand.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

[Elsie]

The change that I would like is the REPLY NUMBER that you are responding to with the PRIVATE reply be included.

I hate it when someone writes to me saying, "I really agree (or disagree) with what you wrote in thread Lord Farquuad lives!", when that thing is up to 300 replies or more, and I've made 22 of them.

[Elsie]

Thanks for the Ping with over 300 responses it Very entertaining!

I really can't see how, but I, too, have been misunderstood with some of my replies.

[sopo]

sorry, that must have been “Lisa” or someone with a similar name, but it’s nice to meet you and to say good morning

[Elsie]

I don't have time to go through this entire thread, but I've gone through the first 200 or so comments and there really aren't many I would classify has hurtful. Snarky, perhaps.

I have found it!!

[Elsie]

I tried to maneuver you into being the thread killer, but it didn’t work.

Get one started about Mormonism - I'll kill it for you - with a whimper - not a bang.

[Elsie]

I'm not Lisa.

[Elsie]

...but it’s nice to meet you and to say good morning

'Tis a great morning indeed, but I await a better one.

[sopo]

His mercies are new every morning, but of course, as you say...

[Elsie]

There’s a better home awaitin’...

https://youtu.be/VsoXzLbNXYU

[LouAvul]

...that sod loves the water right now.

Still raining. I guess I picked the right time to lay sod.

[Elsie]

Take me to the valley, there lay the sod ore me
Im a young cowboy, and know I’ve done wrong

[LouAvul]

And, a pleasant good morning to you, as well.

[Darth Gill]

I too am kind of tired of Free Republic. I’ve been a member a long time - and joined during 9/11 - coming over from Lucianne. I will say that the quality of the discourse has decreased tremendously. It was nice when ideas and perspectives could be discussed without the constant attacks and insults. Today if I even bring up a point that even is slightly counter to the main narrative, I’m labeled a communist / left wing sympathizer. There is no more critical thinking - just one big bandwagon.

[ladyjane]

You must be stuned. We’ll let you know if anything exciting happens.

[Big Red Badger]

Tis Our Cross to Carry....
.
This Upholstered Sewer is Fading away and
We Have a More Sure Promise in that Christ came to This World to save Lost Sinners.
.
The Son of Man will be
Our Divine Light for Eternity.
.
Maranatha!

[Menes]

Ladies,

I think this lady’s Freeper name might be „BlackFemaleArmyColonel“. Sorry for being a bit late with a reply 🙂

https://freerepublic.com/~blackfemalearmycolon/links?U=%2Ftag%2F%2A%2Findex

[metmom]

Thank you.

I stand corrected.

[Menes]

You are so very welcome 😀

[wardaddy]

I think I’ve had candid yet respectful exchanges with you and the pluses and minuses of the culture of Jewishness in America today

I’m sorry to see u go

You’re right the forum has gotten moldy

We’re all old and crotchety now

Less folks posting up to minute threads is a big issue here

Defend your peeps when need be

Hell anyone knows me I sure do about southerners

And I admit when my group is wrong too

You can do that

It’s just life man

The right ain’t near as bad as the left is on Jews nowadays

I have conversations about this with my Jewish biz partner almost daily

And he’s a moderate

One explanation and yes I’ve said it before here

To leftist Jews if u call Trump Hitler it’s an insult to Hitler lol

Wish you’d rethink

You’re more than a headline reading scold poster and valuable

In any event take care of yourself

[38special]

I feel the same way about my job