Is Free Republic a Fraud? Is it time for Free Republic to go away?

Free Republic has had one helluva run over the last five years or so. We helped impeach one president and helped get another into office. We've been active in demonstrations and protests in nearly every city across the nation. We've participated in conventions, petition drives, activism campaigns and projects for dozens of conservative causes.

We've grown from a tiny web site with a few hundred posters and readers from the time of inception in 1996, to one with tens of thousands of participants today. Along the way we've made lots of great friends and, unfortunately, also made lots of bitter enemies.

We've grown from a small web site that I could manage myself on a part-time basis to a huge monster that has totally consumed all of my time and resources plus nearly all of John's time, plus the time and resources of many dedicated FReepers who volunteer or contribute large amounts of their own time and money.

The site is now consuming all of a 10 mbps dedicated line with two servers and we're still growing, and it consumes large amounts of money to keep all this running. In the early years, it only took a few thousand dollars per month to keep Free Republic on the air, but it is now costing over $20,000 per month to cover all expenses.

The major costs include approximately $8,000 per month for bandwidth, 3,000 for systems management and programming services, 7,000 for management, operating and administrative services, plus two or three thousand per month for miscellaneous office expenses, telephone, communications, repairs & maintenance, travel & lodging, postage, rentals, insurance, legal fees, accounting fees, etc., etc.

We anticipate a reduction in bandwidth costs next year as we renegotiate our contract (the market price for bandwidth has fallen recently), however, that will be more than offset by an expected increase in costs of our legal expenses. As most of you know, our pro bono attorney has left us and we've hired a new attorney to continue with our case, plus we have the suit against eschoir to pay for. My projections are that our regular monthly expenses for next year will be running in the neighborhood of $22,000 per month, or approximately $264,000 total for the year. This means we will need to raise approximately $66,000 per quarter.

Talking about making enemies, we've got several ex-FReepers and other detractors who are claiming on their anti-freeper web sites that I am ripping off the donors and that Free Republic is a fraud. Now, Free Republic is what it is, and it is definitely not a fraud. It is a conservative news discussion forum that encourages participation in politics and activism projects. It is not being billed as anything else. We are not selling or promising anything. And I am being up front about our operating costs. The costs of running Free Republic are what I've stated above and they are necessary to keep FR on the air. I do not have the financial wherewithal to operate this site without your help. If the majority of the FReepers feel that these costs are out of line or too much to bear or that Free Republic is no longer wanted or needed, then we will either cut it back or shut it down or do something altogether different.

I've also been criticized about not making our financials public. Well, the reason I do not want to do this is that I have been sued, both personally and as Free Republic, LLC. The people suing us want to bankrupt us and shut us down. They subpoenaed our financial records, but we refused to turn them over. The judge agreed that the plaintiffs have no right to the information, thus I have no intention of making any more of it public than I absolutely have to, until this lawsuit is resolved. You all know the amounts of money we raise if you follow the fundraising threads. It is all above board and out in the open. The totals posted by BadJoe are usually pretty close to the actual cash received and the amounts expended are pretty close to the amounts projected. No one is getting rich here and no one is being ripped off. The funds raised are being used for the purposes stated, and that is keeping this website on the air and that's it. Nothing fraudulent about it. Those who want to help fund us freely do so with nothing expected in return. Those who do not want to contribute do not have to.

There was a thread running this morning where people were making all kinds of accusations about Free Republic "hiding the truth" or whatever. These accusations are being made by Chuck Allan and others and fall along the same line with the accusations being made by some of the earlier banees or AFers including Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan, Arator, keep U.S. Sovereign, TKEman and others. Some of these people are existing FReepers and some are banned. I am going to reinstate Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan and Arator's accounts so they can join Chuck Allan, TKEman, K.U.S.S. and whomever else wants to get involved, and I invite them to come onto this thread and make their accusations public. As long as they do not go onto other threads and make a nuisance of themselves, I will let them have their say.

Like I said above, if it is time for Free Republic to go away so be it. Those who want to keep it going speak up. Those who want it to go away, tell us why. But if those who want it to be gone lose out in the debate, then I'd say they should just go away themselves, or, in the very least, shut up and quit whining about it.

On the financial front, it could be.

You are hilarious. When people donate, they're thinking, 'I want to give what the site is worth tom me.' Obviously, if you don't think the site is worth a hoot, you don't pay anything at all. If you think it is worth 10 bucks a month to you, you pay that. Some think it is worth more than they can afford to pay, and so give whatever they can spare. Some don't bother, because they don't have to. There is no way that could be fraud by any definition of the word. But if you think it is a fraud, don't pay, and don't post. It IS that simple.

But, whether it is or not, no one outside a closed circle of FReeper elites knows for sure.

I'm way outside of the 'closed circle' and I know for certain that my donations went precisely where I wanted them to go. I wanted them to go to whomever provided this wonderful service, and that's it. Beyond that, I don't really care what happens to the money once I've sent it, since I have enjoyed immensely what I have seen here, and since I'm still seeing it, my money, as little as it is, must have worked.

There are, however, some facts which have recently come to light which should raise concerns to all donating FReepers.... a lack of accountability at the top of FR.

No accountability is owed to me or any other freeper that has enjoyed the forum. The forum exists, and we've enjoyed it, and that is the reason we are paying- for what we took (bandwidth). If there is enough to keep it going, so much the better. What goes on between the owner and others is irrelevent to the rest of us, so long as the forum works.

Abuse is possible, even abuse of the owner and host of this forum, not to mention everyone who has ever donated to FR in good faith.

Abuse of the owner is none of our business, unless the owner asks for my help. I donated my money to hopefully cover the cost of what I've used. Nothing could be taken from me, since I have already 'collected,' and so, I cannot be 'abused.' Nor can anyone else.

Greater financial transparency would, it seems, protect not only you, the FReeper doner, but Jim Rob himself from possibly unscrupulous hangers on who may gravitate toward him and seek to use the big FR money pot for their own nefarious purposes in your (and Jim Rob's) name.

Financial transparency is neccessary and wise only for the IRS, the stockholders, if any, and the partners- not for any snoop who wants to use the information for political purposes. All funds are freely given, not coerced. The money goes to a place of Jim Rob's designation: it is his business where it goes after that... even if he wanted to give it to a 'hangers-on.' He's a big boy. The donors are all adults.

FR may or may not be a financial fraud, but it IS without a doubt a political fraud, and that is what is at the heart of all my disputes with Jim Rob.

Nope, it is just not your personal cup of tea, which is what you wanted it to be. You keep forgetting whose site it is. It is NOT the donor's site, it is not the freeper's site. It is Jim Rob's site, and whomever he designates as his partners.

Jim Rob claims to value freedom. But the way he manages his forum screams otherwise.

What you don't like is that he is USING his own property as he sees fit, in other words, he is using his own freedom. That just burns you up.

Too many of my FReeper friends to count... have been abused, bullied, censored, and finally banished merely for expressing CONSERVATIVE political opinions.

You can't be abused if you aren't here. No one is holding you hostage. You are free to go at any time, and Jim is free to toss you out, or me, if he so desires. I would hope that on my web site my freedom to kick people off of it is guaranteed if I so desired as well. That's a real CONSERVATIVE opinion.

And you cannot be censored by Jim Rob, by me or anyone else on your web site, so your rights have not been infringed in any way. You do not have a God-given or constitutional right to use someone else's property, not even for 'speech.' You're just a mooch, trying to get on the Freerepublic dole, trying to get a piece of Jim Rob's property. (And you are trying to turn Freerepublic into Freedemocracy, in my opinion.) If you have stock in FreeRepublic, then you have a right to see the books according to your contract. But you have no stock, because you are not a co-owner. Property rights are a SIMPLE conservative concept, not a great mystery. Why is it so confusing to you?

The abuse continues. Now, "Jim Rob" has a gang of stealth bullies I like to call the "Anonymoderators" to do "his" dirty work.

It's Jim Rob's company... Jim Rob can hire whome he pleases, or recruit whomever he pleases. He does not have to tell you their names any more than an employer is required to give out the home phone number of his employees to the public.

It may even be that, unbeknownst to Jim Rob, these "Anonymoderators" have abused the trust Jim Rob has given them.

Maybe, maybe not. That's his business, not yours. But they can be no more abusive than the likes of people like yourself, who admit and complain they know nothing about the way the site is run, yet who go about making accusations and inuendos about what they don't know.

The proximate cause of my last banishment was my attempt to bring to Jim Rob's attention...

Life's a bummer sometimes. Get your own site and stay on it, and you won't have to worry about moderators, will you? You just cannot stand the idea of property ownership... you think FreeRepublic is an ENTITLEMENT. You'd be happier if it was socialized, so that anyone could post on it and not be discriminated against in any way, as in, 'equal opportunity, affirmative action, equal rights act, federalization, etc.' Some conservative.

Whether I actually ever corresponded with the actual Jim Rob or not I cannot say, but, if I didn't, whoever was acting in Jim Rob's name that day made sure that I never would, for he banished me for the attempt.

You can reach Jim Rob in any number of ways. His email has been out there, even to people not registered. But you have reached him just now. Happy?

But, whatever the case may be, these "Anonymoderators", by virtue of their anonymity, are absolutely unaccountable to you.

And they can STAY that way. In fact, I think it is a good idea, so that kooks won't be harassing them like they do Jim Rob, or people who foolishly put their e-mail addresses up in public.

One thing's for sure: The carnage they have inflicted to this forum since their stealth appointment over one year ago ought to be unacceptable to all self-respecting freedom-loving FReepers.

Why? So far, YOU are the one who is trying to screw with someone else's freedom- their property rights, and their company's reputation. No one has violated your rights... not Jim, not the moderators, and not me or anyone else here.

I would urge you all to stand up this fundraising cycle and demand an end to draconian censorship, moderator abuse, and Soviet-style banishments.

NO WAY! I am against your attempts to coerce and berate others for using their property as they wish. I will stand up for Jim Robinson's freedom, his property rights and HIS free speech rights. That is what his site is about- his property. It's not some communal property. That is the essence of freedom- respecting other individual's property. It is time for you to respect his. And we'll respect yours, if you can ever figure out how to establish a web site of your own. We won't censor you on your web site, I gurantee it. No moderator can reach you there. (Tip: there are free web servers out there to help you get started.) You can take the communal BS there, and offer your web site to as many people like yourself as you want, and let them post whatever they please on it.

To see why, consider the last thread of mine summarily pulled by Jim Rob's rogue gang of "Anonymoderator" thugs:

It's all about you, isn't it? JIm Rob appointed a moderator, The moderator deleted your post. Live with it- obviously you still have a copy. Now take the copy and put it on geocities or buy your own domain name and put up a web where you can type to your heart's content. It is very easy to do. What is hard, is trying to get others to read it. You have to submit it to search engines and so forth, or get people to link to it. That's too much work for some folks, so they think they should have a right to be read here, because the staff here has already done the work and the search engines prowl the site frequently. You want to be able to freely take whatever advertisement and bandwidth you want, no strings attached. But you have no right to what you take.

THIS is what FReeping OUGHT TO BE ABOUT.

Well, go freep on your own site and them you can determine what 'it is all about.'

But, it's not. Instead, it's all about some small-minded "Anonymoderator" who, drunk with his/her own power to stifle debate and squelch views he/she can't understand, summarily flushes the entire thread right out from under us.

Repeat after me: property rights, property rights...build a forum of your own, and then YOU will have property rights to it.

Now, why on earth would I (or anyone) want to subject themselves to such abuse, much less pay for it?

Don't pay for it, don't come here, and you won't be subject to anything. Those who want others to feed them, must get used to the taste of other people's cooking. Comprende?

This is why FR will die unless it changes.

If it dies, it dies. But if you know what a good site is all about, go prove it by setting up your own. Demonstrate your knowledge of how to run a web site by outperforming Free Republic.

Only YOU can force such positive change by demanding it.

Why? What right do I have to dictate how he uses his web site? If I don't like his site, I don't have to come here. If I thought I could do better, I'd set up my own and outdo him.

I would urge you all to screw up your courage and do this, before it's too late for anyone to save FR from itself.

You are SUCH A LIBERAL. Hillary used the same sort of logic when she tried to socialize health care- to 'save it from itself.' 'It takes a village to overthrow a web site owner.' 'Save the suckerfish, the spotted owl, the starving artist.' 'Save the world from the imperialsit yankees.' Be like congress, coming up with Social Security to 'save us from ourselves,' but instead making people dependent on government and depriving them of opportunity to act as responsible individuals. Your motto should be 'moochers of the world, unite!'

Since, barring significant changes in FR's moderation policies, this will be my last post to FR, I leave you all with links to some of my censored samizdat advocating FReeper freedom:

Well, finally some good news from you.

There are no such things as 'group rights,' no 'freeper rights.' All 'group rights' end up in failure. When people dabble in 'group rights,' it is ALWAYS at the expense of individual rights. You are trying to assert 'freeper' rights over those of the owner. That's wrong. We're not stockholders, we are guests.

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