I haven't seen any forum-wide new policy statement to date, and I read a lot on FR. This is the first time I've heard this, so I'll assume most aren't aware of it either.
I have been in the habit of posting the full article text whenever I come across an excerpt not on the LAT/WP list. Since you added the "excerpt" feature on the posting page, many people think they have to use it.
That has resulted in an increasing number of unnecessary excerpts. More than several times I have searched the archives for information, only to find the article in which I was interested had been pulled and was not available. Sometimes it has been replaced during the active life of the thread.
Now, I could continue expanding frivolous excerpts but I don't know what sites are currently protected, or, as time goes on, what new sites are protected. I've decided I'll just stop expanding the excerpts and not worry about it. If I come across an excerpt, I'll simply skip it unless the conversation of the posters themselves, in my opinion, call for comment.
Concerning JWR, before I found FR in mid-1997, I hit their site and read their articles often and for some months thereafter. Then the editor started posting fundraisers on FreeRepublic threatening the the site was going out of business, they needed hits from FR to keep their head above water, among other specious, as it turns out, reasons.
This was done more than twice. My subsequent examinations of their site revealed it's growth, while at the same time not very much excerpting on FR of their articles. Still they posted regular appeals using the same rationale. I don't mind helping a business out, but I object being lied to and courted by deceit, toward a policy that undermined the operational capabilities of a site I like (this one).
Of course, you have sovereignty on your site, and I support you and it's growth/influence 100%, but I no longer support or visit JWR because of the greasy tactics of its owners.