What's Happening to Conservative Websites?

vanity | 3-7-07 | Bob J

[Bob J]

I have diligently watched the rise in size and influence of conservative websites, including Free Republic, over the last 7-8 years. I have been shocked and concerned over the drop in traffic at the most popular ones over the last year or so. There was good growth up until 2006 but since then there has been a steady downtrend that would crash any other market.

Anyone have any ideas as to what is happening? I'm out of explanations. The deficiencies in alexa.com are noted, but even if the numbers aren't accurate you're still comparing off numbers to off numbers so the decline is consistent.

[dan1123]

>>Also, it would be nice to have thumbs up/thumbs down/laugh/rolleyes buttons on comments to cut down on contentless "I agree"/"You're stupid"/"LOL" posts.

>I absolutely can't stand those things (and things like avatars). Can you imagine the number of useless no text, thumbs up or roll eye comments we'd end up with were that to be added? This site would look as unprofessional as DU.

You must have misunderstood. I'm not talking about adding them into the body of the comment, but as a way to "rate" each comment. So instead of typing a new comment saying "LOL!" You can hit the "rate as funny" button.

[conservative in nyc]

You must have misunderstood. I'm not talking about adding them into the body of the comment, but as a way to "rate" each comment. So instead of typing a new comment saying "LOL!" You can hit the "rate as funny" button.

Yes, I did misunderstand your point. That makes more sense to me.

[LibertarianInExile]

"Probably the widening gulf of inconsistency between the stated philosophy and the real-life actions of the Republican Party got to be too much for many people."

BTTT.

[carolinalivin]

My family experience has been different. On some subjects there are zealots who when you disagree with them have the support of the moderators even when a position is factually and respectfully presented.

Also, many newbies are quite polite, but are driven away for disagreeing with the owners positions. I would say about a third of the zot/kitty threads are like that.

Your experience seems to me to be the exception rather than the rule.

[Pox]

I admit I haven't had the time to peruse all of the posts in this thread, but perhaps the answer to your question is fairly simple:

The internet 'fad' is fading, and their are other things in life that are new and/or need explored, be it online or in the real world.

[snowrip]

ping for later

[Joe Brower]

"Probably the widening gulf of inconsistency between the stated philosophy and the real-life actions of the Republican Party got to be too much for many people."

Bingo.

FR is pretty much my hangout for "conservative" matters about 90% of the time, and in the last year my participation has decreased dramatically for exactly that reason. Not to mention my cutbacks of volunteered time and monetary donations to the RNC, et al.

[Tall_Texan]

In addition, Rove too often recruited "electable" RINOs to build his majority. I publicly bemoaned the loss of solid conservatives like Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms, men despised by the media for being what they were - conservatives.

When was the last time you heard the media pissed off over anything Elizabeth Dole or Lindsey Graham have said?

[Michamilton]

To pick up on Kristinn's point, if you compare the change in the percentage of users versus 3 months ago, Free Republic isn't doing as poorly as liberal sites, and with the exception of Redstate, other major conservative blogs are experiencing losses about similar to DU and Daily Kos.

A lot of that seems to be that the liberal sites gained a much bigger temporary boost in traffic from the runup to the midterms than the conservative sites. Here are the Alexa graphs for the top 2 conservative and liberal sites (according to the Hot Air story Kristinn pointed to):

(One side note: the Alexa figures are completely different than the Nielsen ones Hot Air quotes. Does anyone know how Nielson comes up with their web traffic numbers?)

[Bernard Marx]

Disillusionment because Republicans talk the talk but don't walk the walk. I think many of us feel manipulated for cash contributions then double-crossed on nearly all important conservative issues. Hashing such stuff out on websites is mostly a form of self-abuse. It can be fun but has no real-world relevance.

[longtermmemmory]

we should also remember that conservative websites, especially forums like FreeRepublic, get almost ZERO mention by ANY of the MSM.
NONE.

The MSM is dominated by those who would hang out with the DUmies and KOmmies.

They want to drive traffic to those places so they promote those places.

CNN was doing a "what is happening on the blogs" (continuing the MSM stupidity of confusing forums with blogs) and would never never never mention FR.

The ugly secret is much of the MSM uses Drudgereport as their home page.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

"Witness the fight between Rudy and anti-Rudy FReepers, exchanges like that tend to drive people away, especially lurkers."

I come here for the fights. Much more informative than polite chit-chat.

[mosesdapoet]

Whats happening to Conservative websites ? I started my website in 2002, as http://www.theusmat.com/ the slogan was "bring your problems to the mat" It was originally designed to uncover and expose haughty bureauacracy and corruption by politicians particularly in consumer issues which I feel should be exposed and corrected. As the national elections began to develop and the MSM bias became evident particularly toward Bush I turned to commentary. Right now my concern is immediate, its conservative, and its not about the presidency, the senate although I will lob at them, but the House which is where our laws originate and the American lifstyle. But its not part of the Bush bucket brigade.

At one time in my life I wrote for the penny National press, Tattler, Midnight, and submitted some stuff even to The Inquirer when it originated in Chicago.And I was paid well. I bring this up because penny press is an impulse sale item through pop displays at the checkout counter. Folks attracted by a headline I wrote on their way out would pick up my story wooed by my headline. It was nothing for me to learn my story were picked up by 100,000 (always much more in the 7 figures) readers

While you may wonder why there's a drop in conservative readership. Today the POP magazine rack is your search engines and unless you spend big bucks promoting it. Your nuttin honey. Especially if your conservative. But thats part of the problem. The other part there is no election going on just the prelims

Unfortunately the thread is about Rudy and anti-Rudy FReepers. As far as I'm concerned and I haven't really decided on any presidential candidate at this time. But if Rudy was selected by the party and the Clinton -Obama ticket selected as his opponent Rudy would take the country including getting votes from the New York firemen who recently trashed him and he'd get a decent black vote as well.

[conservative in nyc]

(One side note: the Alexa figures are completely different than the Nielsen ones Hot Air quotes. Does anyone know how Nielson comes up with their web traffic numbers?)I think it depends on which Alexa figures you look at. The chart you showed PERCENTAGE of Internet users who visit a site. I'm not sure that means much. Another available chart shows the PERCENTAGE of page views for a particular site (out of all pages viewed on the Internet). The Nielsen data is supposedly actual website hits FROM AUGUST. It's unclear if it measures unique visitors or actual page hits.

The closest Alexa equivalent would likely be the third tabbed chart - Percentage of views. But percentage of views can fall while actual raw hit numbers rise if there are more page views (i.e. if people spend more time on the Internet or there are more total Internet users). Here's that 1-year chart for Free Republic, Daily Kos and Huffington Post:



As you can see, in August, Huffington Post's percentage page views were about even with Free Republic. Unlike the Nielsen data, though, Huffington Post ranked higher in the Alexa data. In the run-up to the election, both Huffington Post and Kos' numbers were up. Let's face it - with the Foley scandal and all the bad news that came out in September and October, conservatives were demoralized while liberals were ecstatic. Now, Kos and Huffington Post are pretty much back where they were in August.

A lot of that seems to be that the liberal sites gained a much bigger temporary boost in traffic from the runup to the midterms than the conservative sites.

Yup. And things now seem to be returning to normal - although the Alexa data shows a marked slide for this website since the height of the Iraq war in 2003.

[mike_9958]

You've clearly been stuck in N.O. too long.... you've made my point as well by calling me names right out the gate.

I assume your credentials make you a leading authority on waging war.

Yeah, I woulda been happy to turn the deserts to glass but that's probably why I'm not a General. I'm surprised you fall in line with the MSM proclaiming its a mess. I find it interesting that one can have an extreme approach on the war and yet sound so much like any other liberal proclaiming its a MESS.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

"All the old folks who believe in God and country are dying off. A large portion of the younger citizens don't care.YET."

You Sir, are brilliant. Well said.

[mike_9958]

"He doesn't know how to lead."

I rest my case... I wish the world would work the way I wanted too - but I don't have the benefit of seeing the whole picture. We get our news and information from websites, talk-radio, and news channels, none of which has a direct line to the folks that make decisions. Everyone talks and the words begin to reverberate, and a sort of perceived truth forms, because we hear the same thing from multiple sources.

The Iraq war is a mess, global warming, drilling for oil is bad, the Bush administration is corrupt, on and on. In order for websites, and new channels to get ratings, and exist, they must draw attention to themselves. People actually believe 100% of what they read and hear without a shred of proof. I'm not saying that everything we hear and read is false, but have a little faith in your own judgment to pick leaders that hold the same principles as you do, and then have some trust in their decisions. And no, the choices aren't going to be perfect, but to abandon those leaders we chose we abandon our own principles. I wish everyone could see the world the way I see it, but it ain't going to happen. But I'll be damn if I throw out my principles by bad mouthing those I voted for, and not trying to gain a larger majority.

SS reform was probably the most interesting idea I've ever seen come out of Washington - too bad the American people couldn't see through the crap and Congress had no gonads.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

"Also, many newbies are quite polite, but are driven away for disagreeing with the owners positions. I would say about a third of the zot/kitty threads are like that."

Indeed. FR is stuck in the "troll", us vs. them mentality. Instead letting the forum convince a "troll" the error of their ways, it tangents into the Zot Kitty mentality of stupid cat pictures and a general beating.

[carolinalivin]

I have classified our reactions as juvenile. Of course, the responses to my comments proved my point.

It is hard to buck this practice. The owner and most everyone else seems to get off on it. We're too big and established to be ruined by some liberals or trolls. Some of the newbies we zot are not even established enough to figure out what they believe overall. We react to one thread and drive the person out or ban them.

Oh well! When I have my own site, I'll do it differently.

[caltaxed]

2/3 of Dem voters are angry with their leadership for being too liberal. 2/3 of Repub voters are angry with their leadership for being too liberal..

When the general population becomes dependent on entitlements from government, they are forced to put up with all the other crap government forces on them for their booty.

With more and more people becoming reliant on Social Security and Medicare, this situation will only get worse.