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Looking over my list now, I realize it's only about 10% of the freepers that are my favorites - I could come up with a short list of a few that I don't like, many others that I feel like I still don't know, and a list of thousands who I admire deeply.

Free Republic is like a hometown to many of us. It is our true town square, where we can speak our minds, laugh together, pray together, cry together, and argue about issues big and small.

I didn't register on FR until early in 2001, but I lurked through the summer and fall of 2000. During that summer, I had family concerns that kept me away from my own house for 16 hours a day. When I got home, I usually couldn't sleep, so I would come to FR to lurk and forget my personal problems and relax for a few hours.

By November, my personal life was much calmer, but the country was in an uproar. Living in Tallahassee, I was right in the center of the storm. The LIVE threads during that time, during the Supreme Court hearings, and even during the hearings in Judge Sauls' and Judge Clarke's courtrooms - which were taking place less than a mile from where I was sitting at my computer - helped me keep my sense of humor and my sanity.

FR has brought me many friends, some short-term, some long term. It has even given me cyncooper, my best friend, who flew to Florida last year so we could meet face to face, and who I know will be my friend as long as we live.

Thank you both for your heartfelt replies. Is this the best forum on earth, or what?

Yes, there are too many great Freepers to list. It is so interesting that on a forum where one knows so few people's real names, one can meet and make true friends.

It is like a town square. Your characterization reminded me of one of those small town squares one sees in movies of a town in the midwest, or the south. It's a homey, comfortable, pleasant, reassuring vision. Sometimes, though, FreeRepublic is like a western saloon where an inevitable brawl breaks out, where you're pretty well assured that someone is going to break a chair over your head.

All-in-all, this is a great site. I marvel at our period in history where we can commune with people from, literally, all over the world; enter into a cooperative venture with people all over the country whom we will likely never meet, and yet feel like you'd be willing to give your life defending. It's a great to know there is a place to get information, courage, inspiration, and a good laugh, particulary when it feels like the darkness in the world is closing in around us.