I support people excerpting all threads on Free Republic (save those that originate on Free Republic) and I support Jim Robinson deleting those that do not please him in any way. After all it is his site.
What I don't support is copyrighted works being posted on Free Republic without the author's permission.
The reason I support all threads being excerpted is because it greatly reduces the chance of copyright law suits.
I believe Free Republic has had more than its share of such.
Yes, many sites have to be excerpted for copyright reasons. But there is no copyright issue when the poster is the author. When the poster is the author, they have no reason to excerpt, except to rack up hits.