Posted on 12/17/2004 9:05:01 AM PST by Valin
Anatomy of a Freeper...
For those of you who just stumble around Instapundit, Hugh Hewitt, Powerline or The Corner, and a couple of internet sites to get your dose of non-Ratherised news, you may not have ever heard of a "Freeper". In a minute, I'm going to use the following example to give you a window into their world.
Freepers are people who post to a rather interesting bulletin board service called Free Republic. A lot of my blogging friends know about them, but surprisingly enough, not very many of them view them as a news source they visit frequently. I think the Freepers are an essential element in gathering news. If you go in with the right mindset, and know what you are looking for, it can be a goldmine of information.
Hugh Hewitt has often called freepers the Coast Watchers of the new media. When news happens, either in print, on radio, or on television, someone will post a link, and much of the meat of the story, as the beginning of a thread. Within minutes, if the story is juicy enough, just like flies, freepers all over will descend on the story and give their two cents worth.
Here's where the discernment of the person surfing has to come in. There are saboteurs who will immediately try to spin the story, especially if it's political, and there will be people from every walk of life taking their shots until the end of the thread takes the original picture the story paints and turns it into a Picasso.
Here's an example of the wit, sarcasm, sincerity, & speed of the Freepers:
11/29/04 In Linn County, Iowa, there is a small town called Robins. Population of 1,806. There is an accidental shooting of Lyle Rusk, the town's police chief, by one of his own officers. The story was reported on local Cedar Rapids television, link here.
12/16/04 10:01PM PST The story is found by a freeper and a link is started. Remember this is a very minor story in the overall scheme of things, so there is a delay between when the event happens and when it's reported on FR. If it's a major news story, a thread will appear in seconds.
12/16/04 10:04PM PST Five responses, largely cynical, have already been posted.
12/16/04 10:05PM PST The first Barney Fife reference made, including this picture.
The neck injury to the chief was serious, and the recovery process is going to be long, but all indications are that he's going to be fine. But when you read that he'd been accidentally shot by his own officer, tell the truth. Didn't this image flash in your mind? If there is a punch line in a news story, no matter how tasteless, at least one Freeper is going to use it.
12/17 12:11AM PST In just a little over two hours, there have been fifty-four responses to the original story. Many have been humorous, many have been respectful and prayerful, and many have been from people who have obvious law enforcement background dissecting how something like this could have happened in the first place.
Remember this is an obscure story. When the Rathergate story broke, there were responses, theories, and updates literally every time you hit the refresh button. Freepers are very much part of the face of new media. They are also very much a part of the blogosphere.
The speed at which news travels on sites like this is the reason why liberals can no longer dominate the media and control the spin to suit their agenda. The news moves too fast. There are too many people who see stuff and post it, and there are too many smart people to praise it and spread it around if it has merit, and dissect it like a frog in biology class if it's bogus.
In cases like Rathergate, a bogus story can be proven false, spread all over the world, and completely discrediting of the original reporter before he/she comes to work the next morning.
Sometimes the content in the threads is not for the feint of heart, but if you cruise the latest topics, you will often find news literally as it's being reported anywhere in the world.
...j.r. has always been a hero...pingi can stand the heat in here, even with the goofballs...
aloha ronnie, ron dog, john huang 2, and others have been always faithful to the show and i...we will continue to reciprocate when possible..." - generalissimoduane
Are your flies married and same sex? Just curious...Bahahahaha!
.
We Freeper expose, while Los Angeles Times Media Critic DAVID SHAW still states that:
RATHER's work 'Shoddy, Slipshod' not LIBERAL..?
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1227809/posts
.
.
NEVER FORGET
...If we returning Vietnam Vets had had Freerepublic.com to share the truth about the Vietnam War with America in our combating the even back then Anti-U.S. Media lies of CBS TV's WALTER CRONKITE, DAN RATHER & DON HEWITT:
-A once Free South Vietnam would still be Free today.
-3 million poor S.E. Asian souls would still be alive today.
-100,000's of South Vietnamese would not have been tortured for years in Communist Vietnam Prison Camps after the Fall of Saigon.
(I know, for I have personally had my fingers placed in these Freedom Loving heroes' deep knife wound scars in Little Saigon)
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965, Landing Zone Falcon
http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
NEVER FORGET
.
The FR admins need to design a better archive search service. It also needs to be easier to go through one's own archives. When somebody makes 10,000 - 20,000+ comments a year, it cecomes cumpersone clicking through pages of 50 at a time, especially when a summary of the comment is no longer available (it used to be though).
You should of seen what we had before.
Precisely. Think of it like Jerry Lewis trying to chase down Carl Lewis, circa 1984.
my own anatomy which includes a beer belly and several nasty scars from recent bypass surgery...
1 Consider the alterative.
"In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular."
2 I'm getting a VERY distrubing image.
Was freeping yesterday and saw the story of the killing of the pregnant woman and taking the baby. It was 1 hour before it was on the Fox.
Yes! You have 24 hours to live.Are you going to spend it here? ..............A Bugs Life
That would be Howlin'
How do you keep pictures and articles on FR. I know it is not an informed question, but I would like to learn about this.
In the 1950s the government release from small planes millions of flies over Texas and the southwest to eradicate the Blowfly. These critters would lay eggs in the umbilicus of newborn calves and deer. They were very agressive larvae and often killed the baby. With the release of the sterile male blowfly the breeding began. The life cycle of the blowfly is such that the female breeds once only and then lays eggs and moves on and dies. In overwelming numbers the sterile (sterilized by irradiating them) males decended upon the femalse, raped them and the cycle was stopped because only unfertilized eggs were laid. Save the cattle industry billions over the decades. Helped the deer populations too.
Flies dissecting frogs? Flies revenge. Ribit.
No flies on that.
Now convert this picture to 106 and any male of your choice.
42% of the responses will be humerous falling between "Ha-ha-funny" and "tasteless" (myself being part of the latter group.)
28% of the responses will most likely relate to the story.
10% of the above responses will relate to some sort of conspiracy theory or blame the problem on Democrats. The latter group will most likely be correct.
30% of the responses will complain at the lack of Ann Coulter photos.
3% of the above will actually post Ann Coulter photos. This group is my favorite.
Hilarious!
Love the new Seal.
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.