Too many purges by management over the years. For a long time group think was mandatory here. It's much better now but the damage was done and many really good posters have gone and they are not coming back.
Yes, many of the old Balkans gang went during the Ron Paul purge around 2011-2012. They knew he would not win the primary, but liked some of the things he had to say, especially re our adventures abroad such as the bombing of Serbia, and thought it was good he was running so his voice could be heard. Some more left in solidarity with them. I’m aware of other purges, too.
Over the past year, I’ve seen some very good, old time Freepers say on a thread or on their home pages that they were leaving or left because of all the conspiracy pushers and nastiness. More than I’d like to see. Very sad, but I do understand. The same group who drove them off FR are the ones pushing newer Freepers to leave. Some are super zot happy. They even actually spend time compiling a commie style List and brag they’re going to take over FR. smh