Posted on 06/10/2025 11:32:39 AM PDT by 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.
?????
Seriously???????
That's one of your complaints??????
You had 25 years to figure out that YOU can post the news instead of waiting for someone else to.
He will be sorely missed...
Snicker
A rather accurate portrayal.
The quality of discource depends on the people who use the site, not the site.
The site is what you make it. If some people post inane or stupid things, it doesn’t make the site inane or stupid.
Maybe a “like/dislike” button would give posters feedback and encourage them to post better thoughts.
The ability to edit and/or delete would be good. Then some of the really stupid stuff could be wiped off the face of the earth.
Or maybe a mandatory delete when the ratio of like/dislike reaches a certain point.
I know that much of what’s posted can be found easily on other sites, or through a search. But this site is where I go every day to see what interests me, which is also what interests most FR denizens and is likely to be posted here.
I am curious, though. Did you make an announcement when you arrived on FreeRepublic?
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.
Bingo. I left for nearly two years for those very reasons. Before then, I had posted many original articles here that are still on my site and refer back to FR. They are lengthy thorough, and well documented in the hope to elevate the quality of debate and the stature of this site as a center for thoughtful conservative discourse. I refer often to those old threads, in part to give people a sense of what this site was.
FR is still a good aggregator, but since other news sites offer "comments" threads, the objective value of discussion here has declined by comparison. There are still some very special and prolific posters here, but it isn't what it was in total.
There is one other singularity in FR's history greatly reducing its value, which was the damage to the Archive pursuant to the LAT/WP lawsuit. I had posted a LOT of material on those threads. Instead of excerpting them and retaining the replies, the entirety of those threads were simply erased. I managed to find some on the Internet Archive, but the loss of that work was without consideration of mine.
When it is time to leave, leave, don’t type.
you’ll be back
Indeed! My reaction as well.
I agree with a lot of what you said. Leaving looks like a reasonable action.
I think this is a good site for me, so I will be staying.
I greatly reduced my engagement with Free Republic after a government school defender threatened to dox me and my children and grandchildren.
These government school defenders were probably paid. They have completely disappeared from Free Republic. I suppose when I lowered my profile those funding them no longer sent them money.
Earth to frozen brain, I never mentioned the depletion of our weapons inventory. I specifically said $$$$. Ukraine has received billions of taxpayer dollars...specifically cash, which there is no record of where those billions ended up. And news flash!!! We can't even produce enough of our own weapons needs in this country, so why are we even supplying Ukraine with replacement parts as you claim?
And thanks for proving my claim that there are cognitively-challenged dingbats here who feel the need to label people with childish names, just like the Nazis did.
Thanks!!
Hope your hospitalization days are over, and you are now enjoying good health. I’ve been here a long time as well, and I’m not about to let ignorant people chase me off. If a person can’t get a laugh-a-day on Free Republic, then they’re doing something wrong. And we can all use a good laugh every day.
C YA
Here are a few key phrases that should give a glimmer of what's going on. They always tend to gravitate towards the top of the power structure, clever with words and all forms tempting bribery(just ask Judas). One of satan's names, and he has many, in the bible is "the destroyer". Nothing has changed since the crucifixion, yet.
John 8:44
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Rev. 3:9
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."
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