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.
mods probably deleted it from breaking news. meanwhile, I am stunned. this is the top story of the day
Thank you for a well thought out and reasoned post.
I know many others who no longer post here for similar reasons. They just never opused out. They just quit posting.
Can’t say as I disagree with your reasons, but I still do find FR the best site available for finding the most conservative viewpoints in one place.
And my favorite thread is..... the gardening thread although I GREATLY appreciate the labor intensive Threat Matrix.
Are you a ah you know demon rat trying to damage free republic? I think so!
Thanks for the dissertation...
Later. Don’t let the door hit ya. You could have just left, but no... had to leave a smarmy, holier than thou post before leaving.
Good luck.
Actually, I am using FR more these days.
Every major and most other so called news sites want a lot/too much of our signin/logon data and post it.
Also, today, a lot of paid B$ poses as news. Certain posters are paid per word and are worthless. So, I just move on and use FR, without their B$.
At the age of 86, I don’t want to waste my time on B$ posing as news.
Thanks Jim!!!
“They just never opused out.”
I laughed out loud at that sentence. There probably have been some swan songs. I seem to remember a few.
For the record, do not lump me with "Jew haters." I lived in a NJ suburb in my early years; my family was one of two Christian families in the neighborhood. Never felt threatened being surrounded by Jews. Later in life, I helped a Jewish person who ran an annual conference, and did it for 36 years.
I'm also concerned about the quality of discourse; I can live with the "noise," and ignore it, looking for the few pearls that appear on FR.
I wish you well.
The site is quite antiquated for it being 2025. The only thing that annoys me are the blatant propagandists and their posts. I would like to see some changes to a more modern easier to use site. I think the younger conservatives mostly stay away because there aren’t easy ways to upload images too. You have to know code or use a third-party service to create the code to post something. The younger sect are attached to graphics like I was for beer in my younger days lol.
Jaysin, I joined about 6 months before you.
I don’t think the level of discourse has dropped. There were always jerks.
Stay.
If there us an antisemite like machomaga, then point out his errors. Don’t let him win
Thank you. I’ve been wondering about the Jew-hating crew that hangs around. Strikes me as 2 or 3 guys with 10 screen names, as they repeat the same garbage.
🔝🔝
I guess you’ve chosen not to ignore the a-holes here, and to simply give up. I’ve been here for 26+ years, and have no plans on leaving until the day I die. I’m a fighter like President Trump.
I’ve been seeing “antisemitism” thrown around so much it’s well on the path to becoming as watered down and toothless as racism/racist.
Some may, but not all do.
The ones I know didn’t.
They just quit in disgust.
It’s not a train station
You don’t have to announce your departure
I do hope you get your money back for the right to read and post on the forum.
Oh….wait
Perhaps. But he has valid points, whether he’s a newbie or not.
I know the antisemitism is bad when people don’t even recognize it right in front of their faces.
Thanks for the ping.
Agree especially with your point (B).
If a reincarnated James Madison began posting new material at FR under a screenname, 95% of the comments would respond to the titles of his works rather than their substance.
Sad.
I was the first to call for RFK, Jr. to drop out of the race and endorse President Trump. I did this on Sunday, August 4,2024 after weeks of tracking the polls where RFK, Jr. was taking votes away from Trump more than Harris.
On Monday, August 5, 2024, Clay Travis repeated the call for RFK, Jr. to drop out and endorse President Trump. I'm assuming that he saw my post on FR the day before.
On August 23, 2024, the Trump camaign released a memorandum announcing the endorsement of Kennedy after he dropped out of the race.
I'm taking the credit for being the first to discover this trend and calling for Kennedy to drop out and endorse President Trump. Travis picked up on this and publicized it on his show. The Trump pollsters verified the trend and began backdoor negotiations with Kennedy to do what I suggested.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
-PJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.