Some vanities ARE informative and fun. There've been a TON of 'em about cars, music astronomy and Lord knows what topic that haven't been directly related to politics.
Without a sprinkling of vanities we'd lose our personality and that's one of the main things that sets FR apart from other websites. Without allowing some personality to we'd become just another sterile political forum, and that's the reason I highlighted what I did in the text I excerpted from the FR front page.
Conservatives have enough to battle, and enforcing the stereotype of us being puritatinical, frumpy and anything but fun-loving folks doesn't help. I would wager the fun aspect and personality of this forum are two of the main reasons newbies keep coming back.
Tin-foil hats and rightwing-nuts banished!? God forbid! When I engage a leftie in conversation and they call me a rightwing-nut I come back without missing a beat, "Yup, I'm proud to be a rightwing-nut helping to hold the Constitution together as the leftwing loose screws fall out". Or, "I'm a member of the Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy" (aside - I can't remember which FReeper came up with that clever slogan but it's a classic). The thing is when I hit 'em back with something like that it might get a laugh...break the ice...and a worthwhile exchange might follow.
Perhaps the problem is like Topsey we've grown too big. Maybe FR should evolve into a FreeRepublic Nation...a disributed forum. Costs and responsibilites could be spread over a series of seperate but related websites. Kind of like peer to peer networking. I'm sure it would be clunky and ineffective at first, but with the correct software and participating sites it may eventually be justified. "Temporary inconvenience - permanent improvement", to borrow a phrase from PennDOT.
Just my 2 cents worth.
prisoner6