Who reads FR? [FReepathon thread 9.6]

Conservapedia-An Illustrated Guide ^ | Jan 18, 2011

[bezelbub]

At www.freerepublic.com, we find the question Who reads FR? to be answered in the following way:

Over 300,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic since inception in 1996 and our forum is read daily by over one hundred thousand freedom loving citizens and patriots from all around the country, and all around the world. We're currently delivering over thirty million pageviews per month to over one million visitors.

This number of 300,000 users is sometimes quoted (i.e., "On one conservative Web site, Freerepublic.com, some of the site's 300,000 registered users have recently used discussion threads to encourage votes for Bristol." - www.people.com), and adorns the front page of freerepublic since Dec 2008 (waybackmachine.com).
But it was wrong then - and it is still wrong now.

So, why aren't there 300,000 freepers?

When registering for posting privileges, any user gets an identification number. The user normally doesn't see this ID, it is only used for internal purposes. Jim Robinson got the number 1, the number 100,000 is taken by The 100,000th FReeper! Unfortunately, these consecutive numbers seem to have been assigned at the beginning of the registration process, not after a successful creation of an account. So each failed try to register increased the used ids, but not the number of accounts. Both numbers diverged pretty fast, but the bug wasn't mended until Feb 2010, when the new mile-stone of 350,000 attempted registrations arrived. By then, the two numbers differed by roughly 100,000. In fact, when freerepublic announced to have 300,000 registered users for the first time ind Dec 2008, the number really was closer to 230,000 - and today, it is less than 270,000.

And what has been done about it?

The way the powers-to-be have chosen to get the numbers right is obvious: they wait for the reality to fit the stated fact. The number of created accounts wasn't updated for two years, and probably won't be changed for another two years, until the number of registered freepers meets the announcement on the front page.

Just for the record: I think that the number of pageviews and visitors are correct. And I doubt that the makers of the site willingly inflated the numbers of created accounts. It seems to be just an honest mistake, and an easy one to make. But when they found the bug, wouldn't it have been the right thing to change the number, as they knew that it was false?

[dayglored]

> I guess I misunderstood... I thought this was a “post useless information that doesn’t really matter” thread. My bad.

Not at all. It did start out that way. But you notice it quickly morphed into something else entirely. "Thread Morph" can be a wonderful thing, when the energy is harnessed for Good.

[dayglored]

> ...would be like asking General Washington to order his men to stop fighting and count their bullets.

Awww, geez, there ya go, giving him ideas... ;-)

[1010RD]

They’re the great pingless majority.

[DJ MacWoW]

LOL!!!

[thackney]

That’s why we love you.

You’re one of us.

[Windflier]

It's gotta be some seriously fine grovelling, though. The Blogger Overlord has very high standards for acceptable grovelling.

If post #174 ain't the finest groveling you've ever seen, then you ain't been the royal court very long! LOL

[dayglored]

> If post #174 ain't the finest groveling you've ever seen, then you ain't been the royal court very long! LOL

That is indeed some mighty fine grovelling. I would say the Overlord will be pleased.

[DejaJude]

I’m curious. Why did you post this as a FReepathon thread?

[DJ MacWoW]

I’m curious. Why did you post this as a FReepathon thread?

They didn't. FR PTB added it. Everytime someone posts a complaint thread, donations go up. :-)

[Jim Robinson]

Woo hoo!!

And this just in:

$20.00 from Never Never Land
$20.00 from Pennsylvania
$100.00 from Arkansas
$20.00 from New York

Thank you all very much!!

[wyokostur]

Hu reads FR? Also, Hu visits US.

[wyokostur]

Hello??? {{tap tap tap}} this thing on?

[leapfrog0202]

1. Just by looking at the IDs and by counting valid accounts.
2. John Robinson should be able to check the numbers with ease. In fact, I’d rather appreciate if he takes his time for this task: it should be a simply query on Freerepublic’s database.

___________________________________________

When you donate enough $$$$ to pay for John’s time to do this research you can probably ask him to do so. I think it’s probably around $1,000 per day based on the number of attacks this site comes under, the number of server issues and the number of crazy things people want him to do.

[DejaJude]

They didn't. FR PTB added it. Everytime someone posts a complaint thread, donations go up. :-)

What is "FR PTB"? I get FR, but what is PTB? I lurked here for years before signing up. I guess I'm still a newbie. I go to many sites, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, etc., but FR is the only one that I've signed up for or donated to.

[DJ MacWoW]

Powers That Be. :-)

Don't know if Jim or a Mod modified it.

[Windflier]

That is indeed some mighty fine grovelling. I would say the Overlord will be pleased.

Whew! Hopefully, I'll at least get my email account back! LOL

[daniel1212]

Its helpful that you have paypal

[dixiechick2000]

Happy 13th Drudge/Monica Birthday!

I had been listening to Rush talk about FreeRepublic in late 1998, and he was referencing you re: Monica Lewinsky.

That’s when I decided to learn how to use the interwebs so that I could see first hand what he was talking about. ;o)

I owe you so much.........thank you!

[Jim Robinson]

Thank you very much, dixiechick2000!!

[dixiechick2000]

;o)