I don’t think FR is fixed yet. I still have to click on “comments” over there on the right side every time I bring up Free Republic (or even refresh) in order to get to the “Latest Posts” page.
The "Active Articles" view is the same as "Comments" except that it is ordered by the headline rather than the latest comment. You see the same list of articles in the same order either way. Commenting in a thread bumps it to the top in either view. Once shows you headlines in that thread, the other shows you the latest comments in that thread.
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I hope it isn't "fixed" yet. "Comments" is partway down the page, so I have to either use the mouse or "page down" button to get to it. I hope we will again be able to choose "comments" as a permanent way to view FR, rather than having to constantly reassert our preference. It's an added step that is quite annoying.