A Salute to "Old School" Freepers.

[md2576]

A Salute to "Old School" Freepers.

Where have all the great freepers gone?

I would like to take the time to give a thank you to all of the original few thousand members to Free Republic for continuing to stay a Freeper. My father has been a long time Freeper and has expressed concern about all the noise Free Republic now endures due to chatting and irrelevant posts. The web site has also been through many changes that has caused many great freepers to leave.

I have been here a couple of years and tried to mostly read instead of posting. Back then you could get your head handed back to you if you didn't have the information and education to back it up. It is now allot easier to just post whatever snide remarks you want and it gets lost among the archives.

This thread is to let the original Freepers know that their wisdom, bookmarks and class are still welcomed, embraced and extremely needed to keep Free Republic from becoming another chat room.

We know you have spent many years fighting the same battles and posting the same comments and now have to endure personal attacks instead of educated debates.

I am sorry that this has happened and I know you feel as if your outnumbered by tens of thousands of snot nosed kids but please do not leave! Do not give up! Your voice is heard by thousands of interested youth willing to listen and take over the debates some time in the future.

If the educated Freepers decide to leave due to the massive amount of personal attacks, irrelevant posts and unneeded chatter that should have been sent to someone in an email than there will only be chatter that the youth will hear.

Your internet investigating experience and references are an asset to this site that should be repeatedly passed on as you have done in the past.

Not to make it sound like I am not guilty of what I have mentioned above but I thought I would let you know that among the uneducated chatter there are posts from Freepers that have been here a long time. I suggest that the newbies listen to what they have to say before replying with a childish remark that has no place in a debate.

Many old timer Freepers are liked and disliked.

Thanks to all of them for their perseverance in war time atmosphere and their continued posts on Free Republic.

                                                                                                -md2576 (Son of an Old School Freeper)

[md2576]

Where have all the great freepers gone?

[Phantom Lord]

How long must one be here to be considered an "Old School Freeper"?

My original handle was Hetfield1 but I grew tired of it and switched to my current and much loved handle of Phantom Lord.

[Maedhros]

3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

"This thread hs been moved to chat."

[Seeking the truth]

Stories of "great freepers" gone are somewhat overblown, IMHO.

I've been here since Thanksgiving weekend in 1997 and FR is now over 90,000 registered names (or darn close to it!).

[crude77]

AMEN! I also try to keep my mouth shut as much as possible and have only posted a handfull of times. Have been conservative since I did a high school paper in 1976 on Ronald Reagan. It is amazing how much I have been able to learn by just reading some of the post here.

Greg

[HoundsTooth_BP]

I too prefer to read and sometimes put my two cents worth in. Thanks to you who do the leg work and post many things that I have learned over the years. For the most part I agree with most of you on many things.

[Publius]

I'm still here, but they're keeping me so busy at work that I no longer have much time to FReep. I miss it a lot.

[Pete]

A few years ago, things got pretty bad on FR so I ended up drifting away for about a year. Like most addictions, it never really lets you go.

[Kerberos]

"due to the massive amount of personal attacks, irrelevant posts and unneeded chatter "

Do you mean unneeded chatter like in vanity threads?

[IowaHawk]

Yo yo yo, kickin' it Old School, playa. O.G. Hawk, rollin' hard and gots my sh*t on point.

[FourtySeven]

Well, technically speaking, if you want to talk "old school", aren't "vanities" considered a product of the "tens of thousands" of "snot nosed kids" who've recently come to Free Republic?

I wouldn't normally point out miniscule "errors" in the ettiquite here, because I think those that obsess over such minutia are in despirate need of a life, but since you feel the need to assert some "old school status", I figured what the heck.

Bottom line though, no matter what you think of the "tens of thousands of snot nosed kids", just remember that FR would be nothing without its numbers. Do you really think that the latest mid-term successes across the country could've been coordinated with a few thousand posters?

Personally, I'm a little sick and tired of being put down, and my opinions brushed aside by some "old timers" simply because I don't have a sign up date of 1999 or before. If you really want FR to survive and prosper, I'd say all you "old timers" out there should quit with the belly aching, and start trying to get along with those that don't agree with you, 100%, even if it's their very first day of being here.

I mean really, what is this, a message board where intellegent ideas are to be exchanged, or friggin High School with the freakin' "cliques" all over again?

< /end rant>

[md2576]

You can see the difference in posts between an educated and experienced Freeper and the newbies. Some may call this chat but I think it belongs because it IS a Free republic issue. If not for the founding Freepers support there would only be a domain name.

[md2576]

Yo yo yo, kickin' it Old School, playa. O.G. Hawk, rollin' hard and gots my sh*t on point.

Accept my apologies if you thought I was dumbing down the description of an educated and experienced Freeper. I thought that phrase was known enough by both young and old to be able to understand the thread. It was also easier nicer than "old timer".

[Woodman]

Yah sure the old "My old handle was..." trick. My old handele was Tom, but Eschoir pissed everyone off so much I had to change it. BTW the original one was before regestration.

[teletech]

I have enjoyed Free Republic since March of 1998. I have watched FR grow to be THE conservative voice of the internet. Truth shines brightly here.

[Phantom Lord]

I had the old handle from 5/99 to 12/99 when i switched to Phantom Lord. So i didnt have it for a long time.

[leadpenny]

Thank you. There has always been, in the minds of some, some kind of pecking order based on sign-up date.

I say the power and meaning of the words posted on this forum should be the only criteria.

[borkrules]

IowaHawk bumpo-rama.

You gots some new shiznit out on the web, G?

[md2576]

Bottom line though, no matter what you think of the "tens of thousands of snot nosed kids", just remember that FR would be nothing without its numbers.

That is a BIG LAUGH!

Not that your opinion isn't heard but free Republic used to raise MORE money in LESS time than now. Their bandwidth is now more expensive as well.

So newbie, you were ranting about what exactly? Oh, you were bellyaching about old freepers bellyaching.

[crude77]

Now that I think about it, not only have I expanded my knowledge of politics, I am beginning to learn to be able to express my views a little better (convinced two people who were going to vote for Ron Kirk to vote for John Coryn instead). I have also gained a much greater appreciation of the other states in this great country.

I love this place.

Greg