The first war occurred in 99. In 99 there were a number of media connected posters like Ann Coulter, Rush, Drudge, etc. The level of dialog was very good. Made one think twice before jumping in. Anyway, a rumor had it that Clinton was connected to coke dealers in Ar. And some said Bush 1 was too. Well, accusing Bush 1 of being a drug dealer or turning a blind eye towards it started one hell of a fight.
Now mind you there was allot of noise on the net about it and there had been noise for many years in Usenet news groups, so the story had legs, at least on the net.
In the ensuing debate hard feeling developed, one group (the pro Bush group) was lead by Trixy (Luceanna Goldberg) she got so mad that she left and started her own site (maybe that was the plan all along?) nd with her left allot of other excellent posters. Every day was opus day for weeks and weeks. It got so bad we started rating the opuses, Some were great fun to read, some were tear jerkers, others were just a quick FU I'm outta here. That was Freeper war 1. I was a newbe at FR and wisely stand out of that war, since I really did not know the politics involved. Anyway Drudge pulled his link to FR, stopped posting, trixy and her friend moved over to her new site.
Just as things started to settle down we had Freeper war 2. Freeper war 2 was an all out take no prisoners food fight. The fight was over who should be supported in the upcoming presidential election. We used to have a large number of Pat Buchanan supporters, Allen Keys supporters, a few John McCain supporters and of course lots of Bush supporters. Well it was an ugly your man can't win, your man is an empty suit, your man is a traitor, your man is a coward, etc.
Then it got personal, you are an idiot, you are a RINO, you a liar. Posters were being banned for personal attacks en mass. Mainly the Pat B supporters, and to a lessor extent the Allan Keyes supporters. The question of the day was "who got booted today?". Eventually the Pat B supporters left to start their own site (now defunct). And I guess Connie Hair (Clinton Is A Liar) got pissed, left and took the Keyes supporters with her. I have heard that she is now very much anti free republic but I have no first hand info on that.
After Freeper war 2 , management came up with the idea of admin monitors to try and keep the wars under control.
Hope that helps, that is my recollection but I am sure other will remember things differently.
Maybe I'd jaded from many years on the net, or perhaps it is because I wasn't there when this all went down, or perhaps it's the way you told it....but your descriptions of the wars is so amusing in retrospect.
FR sure has a colorful past. I'm certain the next primary will be memorable. LOL
Wow, sounds just like the CA recall threads! That might have been FRWar III.
As for conservative journalists getting bashed, I've griped about a few. I don't know. Hmm...here is my confession about who I've bashed: Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan, Jonah Goldberg, and Pinky (Pinkerton). But they've used their columns to bash issues or people I care about, so I feel justified. I try to use only recycled criticism (giving them a dose of their own medicine). When you're dishing out criticism for a living then you really need to be able to take it from others.
I saw Connie today at CPAC in Washington. As far as I can tell she is on good terms with Free Republic and she speaks highly of DC chapter.
Thanks for the synopsis on these matters. Good info. I started lurking in 2000 sometime and remember reading the 'Tranny' Threads but was too late for the early stuff here.
Hi jpsb. It has been a long time since we conversed. How are you? I must wanted to note that your post was cogent, well written, accurate, and had flawless spelling. What happened? :)
Thanks for your perspective. History is always so interesting. In the end, a business has to contend with "spin-offs". But the wars of political posturing add their own spice to the sauce. Thanks again for your post.
That was a good read, thank you.
LVM