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.
I’m OK with this website. I wish the tagline section was larger.
I never leave a place without giving thought to the next destination.
I would hope you have as good or better place in mind.
That’s my defense of Free Republic.
In fact that defense works for any decision.
‘Meaningless Words’ p. 4
https://personal.utdallas.edu/~aria/research/resources/orwell.pdf?trk=public_post_comment-text
It’s something like Red Guards, circa 1965 “Running dog capitalist hyena puppets!” though not as hyperbolic.
“well...bye” is offered in accordance with the highest and most cherished traditions of and at FR.
No exit ceremony is complete without it.
You really shouldn’t seek to find fault in its use.
To do so is Karen-like. Bad ju-ju.
I remember her.
I think *female* was in that name, but IIRC, you got the rest right.
I’m going to ask around. I know some FReepers who should remember her.
:^(
I’ve always been a thread killer. I wonder if it will happen this time.
It’s certainly a well-thought out opus. I am sure it wasn’t easy for you but it has clearly been in your heart for a while. God speed and God bless America.
Define “Anti-Semitism”. If it is being opposed to or hating Israel, then I dare say that most American Jews are Anti-Semitic.
YOU are leaving because of a few dozen people? Please rethink this. We can either take them on or ignore them, but none of us should be driven away by ideas offensive to us. The solution to offensive speech is sane speech. Maybe take a few months off then come back...
“the failure of FR to address the rising and blatant antisemitism on here.”
Boomer Cons gotta Boom.
Maximum Liberty for all means Free Speech, Bruh.
The voice you hate is the one that needs protection.
Let all be heard, and let them reveal themselves for the evil they hold.
That’s how you fight it. Out in the open.
You can choose to turn it off, or ignore it.
Or face it head on, and realize half the posts are Tags from Posers.
The Israel haters I just chalk up to God blinding them. God’s word centers around Israel. They are the only country I would be willing to fund.
I agree with you—no updates. Where does all that money go?
I notice a lot of the breaking news is days old. I also notice that not many people post stories. It’s always the same ones. I would post news stories, but I don’t like having to run around in circles doing it. Make it as easy as every other site on the web.
“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.”
You’re correct. And now, where there is real, open, antisemitism, people think the real victims are crying wolf. Or use that as an excuse to ignore them.
I wonder if that was the real intent.
she is the one that had a lot of knowledge about China and told me China was perfectly capable and willing to kill off some of their population to genetically get rid of less desirable people in order to achieve world dominance.
You are not describing a concerning issue here. Sounds like the readership are paying attention and are on it.
Your reply was perfection. I’m laughing just thinking about it.
I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first.
𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝑳𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉, 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒉.
If you think this site is free speech, you need to reread your constitution.
I don’t think she has posted for awhile. something like “blackarmysergeant” but that wasn’t it.
Are you talking about FReeper BlackFemaleArmyColonel??
She is well, and still posting.....
The scientist I remember conversing with, quite often, on the ChyNah virus threads was Black Agnes
She hasn’t posted since 2021...
https://freerepublic.com/tag/by:blackagnes/index?brevity=full;tab=comments
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