Posted on 09/13/2024 7:53:27 PM PDT by week 71
Okay Free Republic has been the best place for libertarian and conservative ideas for decades. And truly my place to post and view comments.
X is more evolved and many also love that forum. Any suggestions that could keep FR relevant. It seems it will be a 'dinosaur' of the 90's if nothing changes.
To be clear - FR is truly the best website. Simply stating it may be gone soon - 'can't fence time and change'.
I’ve been here longer than you and I’m not going anywhere.
Neither am I. simply an observation.
I’m on ‘X’ and FR, so comparing the two I find FR much more to my liking. In depth stories and articles and many different people.
‘X’ is full of bots and scammers...................
It’s simplicity and lack of ads it what makes it what it is.
Don’t change a thing.
I don’t post articles or replies like I use to, however I read as many articles and replies as I always have done. I think there is way less drama on this site than there use to be, don’t really hearken back to those times myself.
One thing that has concerned me is what happens when the top brass here are no longer around to keep it going, there should be a legacy plan in place.
Fair
Let me correct you. Libertarian ideals have moved sharply to the left in recent years. I’d say they’ve always been leftist and not truly conservative.
I’d further say that even William F Buckley was a social liberal and I have no use for libertarians.
Now having said that, I think it’s time we adapt to the changes and use 21st century websites on a 20th century site like Free Republic to the best of our abilities.
For instance, when I see a Breitbart article or a Fox News article that references a video and you have to click through to the link to two or three pop-ups to two or three more advertisements before you can even watch the video, that is pretty much a useless endeavor . The easiest way to watch that video is on x.com.
Now, having said that I will agree that most Freepers have no idea on how to access current videos on x.com but that’s another problem for another day
X charges people to be “verified users” and allows them special features. Would I pay $5-$10/month to support FR and also have the ability to edit my comments and block other users who are notorious for harassing or posting spam? Maybe.
.....and I really thought all those beautiful girls on ‘X’ wanted to be my ‘friend’............... 🙄
FR is the home of Lazamataz and Billthedrill, two of the greatest humorists on the Internet. That alone is worth the price of admission.
I think during the covid/vax era was when I really noticed changes in the discourse.
I think a few paid actors/provocateurs came in and changed the tone of FR. Not saying everyone who was strongly pro-CDC or pro-Pfizer was a paid provocateur but I think a few were, just enough to damage the FR culture.
Same for UKR-RU war.
A few provocateurs that push hard in various directions can push the whole community — mostly injecting division and strife rather than simply arguing for their position.
Prior to Covid such stridency seemed to be isolated in religious debate threads.
apples and oranges...
@ 10 - that’s Hilarious! I keep telling my bride so many girls want me on X. She simply shakes her head and sighs.
I don't think that it is important that FR should aspire to be relevant to anything but its own internal rules - primacy does confer a few perks and this place has been around for a very long time in Internet years. For that reason alone it is a fascinating study - groundbreakers, however quirky, tend to be that way. There is a massive cultural trap awaiting should we pretend to be anything else - look, for example, at the absolute cultural and intellectual wrecks resulting from people attempting to "reimagine [fill in the blank] for a modern audience", only to find that that audience isn't exactly what the reimaginers imagine. You can try too hard to be relevant and all it costs you is your soul.
It will stand or fall on its own, I think. So will its country. God bless Jim and the rest.
Correct. Look what happened to Bill Buckley’s National Review magazine. It all went to hell after he passed.
I am in favor of a monthley fee and a few other features including blocking ...never mind. It’s up to Jimbo, not us.
Where else could there have been a FReeper Book Club on “Atlas Shrugged” or the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers? This site performs a public service.
@ 11 - lol! agree
yeah; c-19 vaccine is a religion for far to many - sigh.
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