It’s time to leave Free Republic after 25 years

vanity | 06-10-2025 | self

[Jaysin]

Dear Freepers

After almost 25 years of freerepublic.com being a rare bastion of sanity in this crazy world, I will be ending my time as a member of this once great site.

The quality of FR has degraded to the point that I no longer find much usage for the site that I can’t find on other platforms and sources. I have had multiple conversations with many freepers, both in the forum and privately and many of them agree with some of my points of contention:

A) The primary reason I am leaving is the failure of FR to address the rising and blatant antisemitism on here. Yes, a vast majority of freepers call them out and see right through it but the failure of the FR leadership to deal with this issue is not acceptable. There are a few dozen of these posters on here who have a very clear track record of posting their jew-hatred over and over again. Of course they will mask it under the cover of “I’m criticizing Israel, not Jews” or “I’m an American Firster” label or my favorite one “I’m an Appalachian Christian”. But if you look closely at what they comment on and how they do it, it is clear they have a JEW problem. These posters will ignore the atrocities committed by the same types of people who committed 9/11, killed RFK, blew up the USS cole, the marine barracks in Lebanon, shot up a club in Florida and countless other horrific acts that have killed and maimed thousands of people, orphaned many children, and left multi-thousands of grieving loved ones behind. The moral compass of these posters is quite shocking to say the least. And they always use the same tropes–foreign aid, the USS Liberty incident, war-mongering BiBi, AIPAC controls xxxxxx, and my favorite one is when they link to sites like the UN and Amnesty International as their “proof” that Israel is violating some international “law”. Some are more blunt and vicious than others, but it’s come to the point where much of my time is spent responding and commenting to the crazies on here. And of course most of them will deny they hate Jews, they just don’t want American foreign policy dictated by Israel etc….. FR is not twitter and is supposedly a tightly monitored site of like minded conservative individuals. Most of these loonies should be formally warned or banned, but they are not. Whatever happened to zotting?

B) Another significant reason I’m leaving is sadly, the quality of the discourse here. This was a website that was once feared as a threat by the left and helped expose the Dan Rather scandal. Those days are long gone. There was a time when I would come on here to get genuine and insightful opinions on politics and world events from intelligent people. Many of my political understandings and positions over the years were molded from what I read on this forum. Nowadays most of the comments to the real issues facing the USA are nothing more than silly venting comments in the vein of “we should lock up everyone of these rioters and throw away the key” or “Trump needs to fire these judges ASAP” or “It’s time for public tarring and feathering to return” level of quality. I can read through multiple threads without finding a useful insight to glean from it. It is really nothing more than venting and wishful thinking but not really practical–the same level of commentary can be found on a foxnews comments section. The personal assaults and attacks levied against each other don’t bother me so much and are often a natural response and I do sometimes like seeing someone get slammed down. I know I have been guilty of some crude and impolite commenting over the years. It’s the overall value of the content that has declined.

C) As a follow up to B, A vast majority of the articles that are being posted nowadays are from very mainstream fake news sources such as the NYtimes/Reuters/AP/DailyMail/MSNBC/CNN/SFGate etc… with a solid supplement of other almost useless sources such as foxnews/nypost/breitbart. Any halfway intelligent freeper on here KNOWS darn well that there's NOTHING useful published on these websites or articles so the comments turn into nothing more than “this article is such fake news” and similar style comments. It’s the same story over and over and over again and we all point it out. But real thought provoking ideas are not to be found. And of course we have the endless BOMBSHELLS and BOOMS and BREAKING headlines from the gateway pundit and dailymail posted on a daily basis that never amount to anything. Sites like American Thinker / townhall / Sultan Knish and some others are the only ones with real content worthy of real discussion If anyone dares to post some thought provoking article from some small blog or some less-known unfamiliar site, you’re instantly accused of blog-pimping. As a lead on to my next issue, the same news event is often posted multiple times just from a different source.

D) Leadership–I know I’m going to get flamed hard for this but who is steering the ship here at FR nowadays? I have much respect for Jim and what he’s built but I really feel like he only appears when appealing for money. He certainly is not actively involved in leading and guiding the site into the future. Perhaps it is time to pass the torch on to someone else who can keep the site as a useful and relevant place on the internet. Sadly, I feel that there is no one clearly calling the shots and no leadership here anymore

E) My final issue with FR is the functionality of the site. There hasn’t been a single update to this site since I joined. Not a thing. No, we don’t need flashy profiles and avatars and other silly bells and jingles but it’s 2025 and simple features like the ability to edit your comment or even delete it would be nice. A like and dislike option to a post would also be a nice feature and save a lot of the commenting issues I mentioned above. The ability to respond inline to comments would also make the flow much easier–If someone makes a comment at #12 and I dont join in until comment #93, I’m forced to copy/paste what they wrote so my comment can be understood in context. And no in 2025, I shouldn’t have to use html to post a picture. The breaking news is often hours behind an actual event happening. The search features are primitive at best. The site can still be very basic looking but can still be user-friendly.

I would love for FR to become a political powerhouse again that it once was but it will need to look in the mirror and decide what it wants the future to be. Or it can bury itself in the sand pretending that young 27 year olds are jumping on here and using the site (they aren’t!) I’m in my early 50’s and I sometimes feel like I bring down the median user age by 10 years. That’s not a bad thing per se, but what's going to be in 5-10 years? I really wonder how FR is going to make it into the next decade without some type of overhaul.

I truly wish FR the very best going forward and I wish only the best. I genuinely hope something good will come out of this final post. I will not be responding to this thread but will probably read direct freepmails sent to me regarding the thread before I log off for the last time. Some of you will tell me good luck and some of you will me good riddance. I understand.

GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

[Bullish]

That is never going to happen, just as Facebook will never again have the same impact. A historical peak comes and goes for all media. But what we do have is an enviable and, to me, priceless community of friends, frenemies, patriots and fellow travelers who have come a long damn way together, and are growing old together. And I treasure those real human beings more than any other mere platform. I am sorry you do not.

Thumbs up Man, real thumbs up!

[Ikeon]

Typical liberals monolog. IM LEAVING! BLAH,BLAH, BLAH AND BLAH-BLAH , Blah- blah,blah. . Just shut up and leave. Nobodies crying.

a decent person just sign off.

[chrisser]

I concur that the quality of FR has deteriorated.

We used to have some awesome opuses.

[itsahoot]

I am not giving up on FreeRepublic but I think it is dying and we will try to sign on one day and discovered it is gone.

I went for hours a day here to a few minutes. Big stories are covered of The Liberty Daily so I read those and occasionally look here to see freeper reaction. Hillary is still guilty as Sin and Free as a Bird. Even tho YouTube is heavly censored I still glean some truth there and because I find much more entertainment there I spend more time there than here now.

When Rumble catches up in features to YouTube I will go there but not yet. Liberty Daily links to lot of their stuff so I watch those. I have been here more than 25 years and feel the downturn in quality of threads as well.

I decided to never post anything here that could cause Jim any copyright trouble and only post links within conversations and don't even do that much anymore because I doubt anyone uses them since conversations here are usually very one sided.

All good things come to an end I guess.

My daily machine is still running Mojave so I can run some legacy software and find that I have to use the newer Apple Silicon software to open FR pages. Using my M4 machine for this post because Mojave wouldn't open this thread.

[Herodes]

Good observations on the lack of site updates.

I too...would love to see an edit feature. Many sites have a simple “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” option for response.

In today’s world...those two updates simply reflect the price of poker to get into the game.

JR should take a look at those requests and comment re: his thoughts.

[MikelTackNailer]

Good points. After being involuntary confined to hospitalization with television the only medium I was shocked to see how easily one can become deluded by the trash that passes for news - something I would NOT have recognized without years of Free Republic and the general wisdom and insights of it’s members.

Free Republic is a vaccine against ignorance and purposeful propaganda. It’s also an island of sanity in a reality where I have to check too often to see if I’m reading actual news or the Babylon Bee. My sincere thanks and appreciation to you all who’ve expanded my knowledge and awareness over the years with your contributions, help and different perspectives.

[Candor7]

Cry baby.

You been hanging out on the wrong threads.

Freepers have been speaking out a lot about Antisemitism.

Let your courage be expanded by YHWH, as of old.

[freeandfreezing]

...I don't want billions in unaccounted-for taxpayer dollars sent to support another proxy war with Russia, which only helps people who have investments in the military industrial complex get richer...

Thanks for posting a great example of why you might have been characterized as a "Russian troll".

What makes you think money spent, mostly in the USA to build replacements for the old munitions sent to Ukraine is somehow "unaccounted for"? The US spending on support for Ukraine is a matter of public record.

Why is US and European support for a nation we promised to defend against invasion in return for Ukraine's surrender of the world's third largest nuclear and ICBM arsenal a "proxy war" against Russia, the country that invaded them? Is our support for Israel just the USA fighting a proxy war against Hamas?

Doesn't the spending in US factories building weapons systems help the Americans employed in those factories? Do you think it is better to spend taxpayer dollars on welfare for illegal immigrants, or woke social justice programs?

[Antoninus]

I have to shake my head at people who complain that antisemitism occasionally rears its ugly head on FR.

There has been a not insignificant contingent of anti-Catholic posters on FR for the 27 years I’ve been on here. Those of us Catholics who have persisted on the site just grin and bear it because: 1.) that’s life according to John 15:18, and 2.) most people aren’t like that. But the anti-Catholics are definitely tolerated. Given this, you’ll forgive us Catholics if we don’t get bent out of shape over some antisemetic comments given the regular abuse we have to endure — largely without any sympathy from our Jewish FRiends.

[RummyChick]

you are right. Black Agnes!!!

[GOPJ]

I don't want billions in unaccounted-for taxpayer dollars sent to support another proxy war with Russia, which only helps people who have investments in the military industrial complex get richer than they already are. There's arrogant, ignorant idiots no matter where you post on the internet. The secret is to ignore them because they always revert to name calling when they can't argue facts civilly. They show themselves for who and what they are. And I've found that there are plenty of other people here who feel the same way I do. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never kill me."

I was raised with the, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me." idea too. And I'm totally with you on this. I'm not into 'cancel' or run from people we disagree with... Unless we're dealing with a paid troll let's duke it out or ignore the person. Great reply mass55th...

[A Navy Vet]

So you post a thoughtful articulate opus; are we suppose to ask you to stay? Just change the channel. I did some years ago (no opus) about some things I thought should be changed. Then I realized, who am I to tell the creator/owner of FR how it should be run.

So I came back to the most informative board I've ever seen. I've learned so much from the intelligent, informed, wise posters here, while ignoring the pissy fights amongst others. Good luck. I suspect you will be back.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

“”posted too often - mainstream fake news sources such as the NYtimes/Reuters/AP/DailyMail/MSNBC/CNN/SFGate etc””

I noticed an uptick in NY Times articles on Freerepublic starting a bit before the 2024 Election. I took this as El Rush-Bo taught us. Just another example that the Drive-By Media has not, will not change. I hardly ever click on the actual Slimes link. The thread from Freerepublic commenters is always informative and useful.

“”he (Jim) only appears when appealing for money””

When I first discovered Freerepublic, after just a week or two, I realized that fund raising is a constant. Just like Hillsdale College, Freerepublic takes no government $$$. The paltry sums that Freerepublic requests are not a bother. I give when I am able.

“”functionality of the site. There hasn’t been a single update to this site since I joined””

PLEASE DO NOT UPDATE FREEREPUBLIC - There are enough changes in life that we have no control over. All we can do is adapt (adaptability is a good thing).

We LOVE that Freerepublic is consistent in its basic functions. How many of us have old tools, older simple machines that still work well. On Freerepublic, we know where things are, how they function. We don’t need to go looking for it.

Freerepublic reminds of the Scientific American magazine, long before the wacky wokism of the Globull Climate Hoax. I used to subscribe to Scientific American. I did not understand every page, but I wanted to. It made me research, read, and, yes, think.

Another El Rush-Bo comparison. Rush had his Essential Stack of Stuff. As he stated, his Stack, and website in general, became an encyclopedia of knowledge and truth. Freerepublic provides another avenue to the world, the truth and the light.

PS - I am still amused when a Freerepublic poster will put at the end of his/her comment “”do I really need to put the /s?””

[AppyPappy]

Addressing E. Don’t change things just to change them. We don’t need any “grocery aisle” moves. We are grumpy enough as it is.

[Bonemaker]

Hating on Schumer, Goldman, Nadler, Schiff etc isn’t anti semitism anymore than hating on Bidem is anti-Irish, Maxine Waters is anti-black, Maisie Hirono is anti-Japanese, and so on. All groups have their share of filth and if the shoe fits they have to wear it.

[piasa]

“If someone makes a comment at #12 and I dont join in until comment #93, I’m forced to copy/paste what they wrote so my comment can be understood in context.”

***

You don’t have to copy and past the post you are responding to at all. All you need to do is reply to the post, and then a reader can simply click on the replies link below each comment to see your response and any others, or when reading down a thread and encountering your post, can click on the link below it to see what you are replying to. Easy peasy.

As for your other comments, Jim Rob has been in ill health.

Yes, the quality of the posters has declined and that damage was done during the primaries back in 2016 when bullying of disparate views reached an all time high, and moderators were banning good conservatives whom they disagreed with over this or that candidate rather than being neutral and just enforcing civility, with no emphasis on posters having to source thair assertions.
As a result, the bullies won the day and the site devolved into being dominated by name-calling and crude insults, childish harassment, mindless propaganda posts, rising racist and crude posts, as the most thoughtful people just brushed off their feet and moved on rather than go to the trouble of wading through the garbage. Without their contributions the number of new threads plummeted.

Very few people left are bothering to post threads any more, the majority just read what other members have found and shared. I will admit that I have not posted many new threads either, due to my own financial situation leaving me little time to spend on social media.

I don’t recall seeing your name come up here. Have you posted any threads from materials and sites you have found? That is one way to help improve the site.

[Joann37]

You do have some valid points, but please consider staying anyway. I am a very low volume poster here, but it’s a great place to come for news and to vent once in a while.

[AAABEST]

lmao

[crz]

Other than that, hows everything going?

[RummyChick]

well, i couldnt remember if it was my bieb is stunned or beiber is stunned.