I don't assume that at all- FR need not continue any more than Ford needs to continue to sell cars. If FR folds, something else will pop up.
Free Republic is NOTHING like a corporation selling a product or service
Why not? An idea or ideology is no different than a car or washing machine- if you can't get enough people to buy it, it's a failure. If Jim Rob can't get enough people to agree with his viewpoints to such an extent that they're willing to donate to FR, his viewpoints and this site are a failure.
While a failure may be a plebiscite on those values, it does not cause Jim Robinson any hardship
Ummm.... so, why does he bother with this site, then? If FR serves no purpose to JR, whether material, spiritual or intellectual, why spend so much effort on it?
Neither does the site's continuation carry any benefit, especially if it runs counter to Jim's own beliefs.
This statement makes no sense. Why would anyone put so much effort into something like this if itheld no benefit to them?
No, I think you miss the symbiotic nature of FR and the Freeper community. Neither can survive as an entity without the other.
Precisely. Which is why Jim needn't accommodate anything he doesn't choose to accommodate. If his service can be procured elsewhere, this site is free to be what HE wants it to be. And the people who attend this site can be here because they agree with that, or they can seek their services elsewhere. Again, Jim has made that perfectly clear over the years.
An idea or ideology is no different than a car or washing machine- if you can't get enough people to buy it, it's a failure.
Jim is not "selling" an ideology. It is assumed that those who visit this site already "own" that ideology. That's the point you can't seem to grasp.
If Jim Rob can't get enough people to agree with his viewpoints to such an extent that they're willing to donate to FR, his viewpoints and this site are a failure.
See above. As Jim has said many times, Free Republic is not his life. If this site can't sustain itself, it folds. That doesn't mean that conservatism or Jim's values are failures, just that there wasn't enough money to support the site. Jim's life goes on.
why does he bother with this site, then? If FR serves no purpose to JR, whether material, spiritual or intellectual, why spend so much effort on it?
I didn't say there was no purpose, just that Jim derives no benefit from the site. By "benefit," I meant profit. Surely you can appreciate the paradox implicit in sacrificing one's ideological soul to sustain a web site that advances one's ideology. If the reward to Jim lies in advancing conservatism, how can he justify maintaining a web site that defeats his purpose?
Why would anyone put so much effort into something like this if it held no benefit to them?
By benefit, I meant profit. You were the one who drew a parallel with a corporation. Absent the profit motive, your analogy falls apart.
I think you miss the symbiotic nature of FR and the Freeper community. Neither can survive as an entity without the other.
The relationship is symbiotic, but FR existed before there was a FReeper community, at least as you know it.
The ultimate test of this argument will be which of us is around in (another) five years.