Just curious, how were you able to go that quick in your search all the way to 2004? Is there a faster search technique that I should learn? Please let me know.
Trade secret. ;-) At the bottom of your posting history page, there is a "go back farther" link. That link has a couple of numbers in it. The larger one of those numbers represents "how far back" the link will go. Build a catalog of those numbers (theare are FR post numbers) crossed against calendar days, and voila, back to the past.
I covertly check lots of freeper claims. It's fun, and it's free.
Scroll down and click on the link that says "Show more results".
Look at the URL. It should say something like: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=45020;more=35394574
That number after "more=" is a sort of date. If you gradually reduce it, you will get to earlier and earlier posts. If you increase it, you go forward in time. It's a hit-or-miss. I really wish FR had a way to search the dates more precisely, but I remember the old days of having to close tags, so I can't complain.
I wish I knew how to decode the expression after more=, but I don't.