Having known it was coming I bothered to read the entire rant. What a complete waste of time.
OTOH moderation should IMHO allow some scope, at least, for Freepers to flex their muscles debating a limited number of less-than-conservative people, so be that they aren't abusive and/or presumptious. They, as we all, do post at the pleasure of the site management for the reasons noted above.
Whole thing puts me in mind of Baptist churches, which are notorious for developing splits and spinoff congregations. For similar reasons to what you are seeing--that is, for reasons that people not party to the split have a hard time understanding.
Ain't that a bummer that "YOU" are allways right and everyone else around you is wrong?
Are you perfect?...Mr. Robinson, web site or not?
The "Free Republic" is not so free, like the name suppose to imply.Censorship is alive and well...
Do not bother to reply to me, because this is the last posting I will do in this format and along the way cancel my monthly contribution to "FR".
LOL Mr. Robinson have fun at it and I hope you enjoy it.
I do not need you Sir, YOU need me and/or the likes of me. You seem to have lost that touch along the way.
Have a nice day...!
While you are at it, would you cancel my presence on "FR"?
LOL! I guess I must be the slowest one on the board, but I have an observation or two.
First of all, I love this site. Sure, it has gone through a few changes. many of the "old timers" were indeed libertarians and some of them were indeed the most aggravating and pompous people I have ever, ever had the mis-pleasure to have a discussion with.
They often shot from the hip and baited arguments so that niceties were thrown aside and often a participant was banned or suspended.
I noted however, over the period of time that BadJoe was so angry about, these types of unruly repartee exchanges had subsided and I came to understand that many of these folks had been banned and were trashing FR on Liberty Post.
Frankly, I was delighted and somber at the same time. Not that they had been banned, but because it came to that.
Also, I have worked for several organizations and it is natural, that over time, people get grandiose ideas of their value and the value of their contributions. For some, perhaps most, this may be in fact true, but this does not guarantee them a captains chair and a seat at the round table.(If you know what I mean)
Sometimes these same folks will take liberties with their assumed importance and try to run the company and insinuate poor performance in others who actually have the authority.
I have seen this hundreds of times during my career. It never happened to me as I never stayed anywhere long enough to get that way. But I understand the phenomenon, and I saw it with my own company that I started.
In closing, I hope there is not too much water under the bridge to keep from mending fences with all concerned. I hope that time will heal wounds and people will realize that the purpose is bigger than personality.
No organization can run perfectly when personalities and egos are involved. And, it takes leadership to overcome those difficulties, sometimes to the detriment of personal relationships.
I think we have that leadership and I admire the fact that anyone would want to subject themselves to the grief voluntarily.
I have watched from way out here in "fly-over" country the gamesmanship of many wanting to curry favor with you Mr. Robinson and be part of the inner circle.
As in many things that include human behavioral patterns, I have learned that personalities often seem to get in the way of principles.
I have found it only mildly interesting that you posted a thread that went large in bandwidth in the anticipation of this article by BadJoe. Now you have lifted this missive from LibertyPost.org and placed it on your website as is totally within your purview to do so. And of course 99.9% of the replies to both threads heap nothing but praise upon you from the choir and nothing but disdain up people like BadJoe, who based upon his view of the situation did nothing but devote many hours of time and money in helping you and this heretofore fantastic forum where folks like me, way out here in fly over country, could voice our opinions one with the other on topics with which we were more in agreement than not.
Now my thoughts which, based upon the views of BadJoe might get me summarily banned, if his allegations are true.
What I find unsettling, and keeping in mind that I know nothing about you personally nor any of the other members, past and present, of the inner sanctum, is that your only response is to put people that obviously thought highly of you at one time or another and devoted much of their time and apparently money with the only desire to assist you and the FreeRepublic endeavor, in the same league as "... hundreds of trolls and assorted bannees ...", along with "The Washington Post, the LATimes, the City of Fresno Human Relations Commission, Peace Fresno, and liberals and anarchists the world ...".
On the surface, this does not seem to make much sense and suggests an unhealthy situation for you Mr. Robinson.
At the risk of becoming persona non grata around here, what the heck is going on? Why, rather than resorting to lumping those who have offered so much to help you and your dreams become a reality into a group that is "all out to get you", don't you refute the allegations you posted, albeit made by another to your web site? Is there a history of people you have trusted always turning around and stabbing you in the back?
No response needed here, but this is some really strange stuff to be posting and not then specifically either agreeing with, without sarcasm, nor refuting point by point. I mean think about it. Why draw so much attention to it for so many of us that had and have no knowledge of the inner workings only to just respond by saying "they're all out to get me".
From simply a business standpoint, it really does not make sense if your goal is to generate enough income from the work to keep the site going and growing and at the same time take some personal income from it, which you are of course entitled. This has been a lot of time-consuming work for you and your family.
Perhaps I am a bit thick concerning the situation, but your actions on the posting of both of these threads sure suggests to the uninformed a bit of paranoia on your part. To be honest I didn't even know there had been a schism between you and CAL, your lawyer Brian, and now BadJoe until long after they occurred and only then by your bringing them out in the open on your forum.
Trust me, as I think I might speak for many that came here in the first place to hang our collective hats together and rally around your stated mission of conserving our constitutional republic, running this type of thread on "your" forum and not refuting it only serves to diminish it (the forum) not enhance it. Of course, like Dennis Miller, I could be wrong. I have been before.