Posted on 06/15/2025 8:31:17 AM PDT by BipolarBob
We either go bankrupt or we go to subscription only or we need to get busy today.
| In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Will Free Republic survive? Not without your support., Navy Patriot wrote: |
Navy Patriot wrote:
|
“I am in between. I accept that in any group there will be jerks. However it does seem to have gotten worse over the years. I suspect that may contribute to the funding shortages but I really have no way of knowing.”
Yes it is contributing, the hardcase flack and attacks are running folks away. But like you say in every format there will be jerks. It is just part of free speech. Which is their argument.
But here is the deal. The FR is a long time representation of the Conservative cause and values. And since prudence is the best policy it is important to remember that the FR is forward facing and open to the general public.We tend to forget this... The whole world is looking over our shoulders as we type.
So everything we share is being shared to the outside world as an example of intelligent Moral Conservatism. When low IQ chest thumpers display childish traits it makes the whole community and Conservatives look like dysfunctional trailer trash fools to the world. And I am not even sure that it isn’t designed by these users to make the FR look foolish and discredit the overall IQ level here on purpose.
But the community has to self police it’s self... Those who act like embarrassing teenagers should be called out for their unproductive actions. Conservatives are supposed to be the intelligent, moral, adults in the room right? And I have talked with many here who are tired of rubbing shoulders with the immature 4th grade antics. they think the Conservative movement and this place is better than that.
Content is what makes sites run.
Lots of it.
Been here since 98.
We started out with numerous new conservative sites posting content with a link. WND Drudge....which all generated FR content and we were off to the races. Content is king.
FR has had interesting complex content from an amazingly broad user base.
Now somehow new fresh sites are spurned and some people want only fox or Newsmax while others want the times or wsj.
I am looking for new perspectives and blog pimp doesn’t compute.
Honestly I think we should be posting articles from chronicles, city journal, first things, Spectator, as well as the opposition at the Atlantic, and others.
There are columnists such as vdh, Sowell, derbyshire, and others that we need to see and talk about regularly.
Tbh I would not mind taking the entire caboodle private and make it all a Smoky Back Room with a monthly cost.
I would not change the cleanest looking format on the web. Although make it easy to put up pics.
Have the text you are responding to be part of your response..or not.
And have a way to make it easier to respond to multiple posters or all on the thread. Bring back views.
And like dislike yes no vote option for threads.
Jmho
“it is important to remember that the FR is forward facing and open to the general public.We tend to forget this... “
Well said. Long ago someone posted on FR that one could find FR posts using google. I confess it was a blind spot of mine as I really had not thought about that.
Apparently you were engaging in a conversation and directing that conversation to your concern about funding and the types of membership for Free Republic.
I have become very careful regarding any change of subject in replies to my comments exactly because of Zeepers and Foreigners posting tactics, and I respond to keep the record straight and the comments on the subject.
I think my views on Ukrainian, that I want peace, seems to go sour on some people, but I don’t know how many they are that are upset by these views. I had entertainment/music posts pulled for no reason. Nobody told me anything, and I wondered if it is because of my views of wanting peace in Ukraine. I’m reading now of bad blood on this site, but I haven’t been tuned in, in a big way, to notice. FR is a great site and I have donated during the years. I wish it can go back to what it was. I also don’t like seeing a lot of posts on the sex change issue and the whole gay/trans thing. If these are leftist posts, I would want to pull back on that. It’s a depressing topic and sad for kids, even though it may be relevant in these times. That is my take on FR and my solution is to go back to what worked well.
It may be a little bit dated, but there is a link to our budget in the sidebar of the donate page. it’s been there for 25 years. yes, we pay ourselves a salary. Our salaries Are the lion’s share of FR’s expenses. We have no employees. Just me and my two sons And we’re all partners. And we all three work 7 days a week 365 days a year and they are not 40 hour weeks. It’s not just a job. it’s more like a calling.
And we have no board of directors. I went that route when I took my software company public about 30 years ago. we’ll never do that again.
I'm aware of that. That's why so many businesses became woke. The leftists made their money count, while we "lived and let live". The result was that businesses had every reason to pander to the left with no fear of offending us.
We have to make our money count, too, or we'll keep losing even with our wins in 2024.
Q: “Does anyone know why donations are down?”
Your answer: “Zeepers and Foreigners.”
For a while I was donating +/- $400 per month and then you and your pro-Russian comrades encouraged me to stop donating and now I only drop by rarely.
Isn’t that what you and your Putinista comrades wanted? Then why complain when we left and took our money with us?
Why aren’t you donating to cover for the people you drove away?
It was on our credit card processor’s side, due to one of those card testing criminals. Everything’s okay now.
Thank you for your support!
You SQUEAK you’re so tight!! You are NO CONSERVATIVE WITH THAT ATTITUDE!! You PROBABLY DON’T TIP YOUR WAITER EITHER!
Gee Whiz, I sure am effective, would you tell me which of the articles I posted so offended you regarding you and your beloved Ukraine?
Pedophiles find Ukraine a good place to roam
Ukraine turned blind eye to American pedophile working with orphanages
The Exploitation and Abuse of Children in Ukraine’s Orphanages
Ukraine-based hardcore child pornography website founder pleads guilty
I forget which article mentions Putin or his recommendation of the website.
I don't seem to find many links to Putin's writings on my computer, something must be wrong with my Bookmarks.
I did find this from Western Journal:
Putin Rips Detention of Jan. 6 Protesters, Accuses US Government of Assassinating Ashli Babbitt
I can't remember how I got it, it might be from reading a normal America Promoting, Morally Uplifting Magazine.
Does Ukraine distribute those American Magazines there?
Thank you very much. God bless.
I know my sarcasm is obvious so I’ll dispense with it here. Your comments to me on this thread illustrate exactly why people are leaving. It’s not funny. It’s annoying and childish at best. It’s often insulting. Why should people pay for that?
You have a comrad who tried to add me to a ping list that is pretty much daily posted to call in people to insult thread posters who share news of the Ukraine war. Yes, it’s the crowd who loves to call others zeepers just because they don’t like Putins aggression. I told mods straight up that if this poster kept pinging me or harassing me that I would indeed withhold my quarterly contribution. And for once it seems they heard the complaint. The annoying posts were deleted. That should happen more often Things might get civil again if that happened.
Humor is a healthy weapon against daily barrages of propaganda.
Maybe some of us on AMPU’s ping list donate to this site as well.
Humor, not insults. And a ping list to call in the mob? How childish. That’s playground behavior. Is AMPU or anyone else so immature that they can debate issues on their own? But if you are proud of that type of behavior, whatever. I’d be embarrassed.
Maybe it has something to do with the old timers who have left due to the devolution of civility and the rise in intolerance and radicalism........
Check out threads posted 10 years ago and beyond and see how many posters just left or were banned.........
You might not pop off as pompously if you knew about the earlier days and how some of those people treated some of us who actually *did* try to engage in civil conversations. If you didn’t walk in lockstep with their little clique, you were called all manner of names and your very patriotism was insulted.
Regularly.
And Heaven forbid if you asked some of them legitimate questions in the very early days of the war because some of them obviously were pretty close to the situation and seemed to have more detailed knowledge of the recent history. You could cut their condescension and snark with a knife.
You may not know the background, but a lot of these people have earned the disdain and mockery they draw.
I personally don’t care what you think. I was just trying to show another perspective, but you appear to be as close-minded as some of the zeepers.
Have a nice evening.
I have my own theory, but I asked the question to generate the discussion. I have been for the most part affirmed looking at comments. And yes, your thoughts are in line with mine.
Kind of hard to convince people to contribute to something that allows others to belittle and insult you.
Are you a Christian? Is using hurtful words a Christian behavior? Does it matter what others say if you are grounded in faith and focusing on yourself and the things you can do to be more in Christs image? That whole thing about when you point at others you have three fingers pointing back at you? I am not an evangelist by any means and you do not have to listen to me preach (thank God for that). But if you want civility (and this site to survive) it has to start with each of us. What does what happened three years ago matter to people who never even meet in person, just throw mostly useless comments on the internet?
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