Noob. :-)
Seriously, I agree with the rest of your post. The quality has gone way down, as the best people have either burned out, or moved on. Some, like Iowahawk, have leveraged their talent into something bigger.
In general, FreeRepublic has become much less tolerant of differing viewpoints. It started with the elimination of obvious disruptors, but now anyone that dares to disagree with the groupthink gets zotted.
Yes I’ve noticed it (zotting) has become a game, in the old days you had to a serial trouble maker, a very oblivious troll, racist or really nasty individual. Primaries are always a dangerous time here at FR. Emotions run high, I don’t like all the zots but such is life. I’ll never support Romney but I would not mind hearing why others do. I’d enjoy the chance to maybe convert them to my guys. Romney supporter don’t scare me. That said I think management does a reasonable job here, which is why this is pretty much the only conservative web site that I am active in.