It's kinda funny...folks on this thread are stating opposite reasons as to why site traffic is down. The same thing happens when folks give their opinion as to why the Republicans were defeated the last go around, whether or not Rudy is electable, and so on.
FR seems to be every bit as internally polarized as liberals and conservatives are nationwide. I think it's sad when no middle ground can be found even between center right and far right conservatives. I think it's safe to say that most posters here have more in common politically than not, but even minor differences in ideology are exaggerated to an absurd degree, and result in insult-laden arguments.
Add to that a paranoid atmosphere—people are labeled DU trolls and zotted far too quickly, in my opinion—and a degree of elitism toward newer posters—will I have to be signed up here for four years or more before I can safely post my thoughts?—and you have a site that is a bit on the unwelcoming side, to say the least.
If FR is a microcosm of the state of conservatism nationwide, then I fear conservatives are in for some serious pain come '08.
Disagreeing on what is "conservative" was an issue when Buckley founded National Review in 1955, and it hasn't stopped since.
But when the site mods purge posters whose idea of conservative differs from theirs, the site loses traffic. And some of us remember large purges, which eliminated posters for stating opinions that are now standard here.
Some of these posters were members of long standing. I don't know if they would return if they were asked to.