Is Free Republic a Fraud? Is it time for Free Republic to go away?

Free Republic | 11/28/01 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

Free Republic has had one helluva run over the last five years or so. We helped impeach one president and helped get another into office. We've been active in demonstrations and protests in nearly every city across the nation. We've participated in conventions, petition drives, activism campaigns and projects for dozens of conservative causes.

We've grown from a tiny web site with a few hundred posters and readers from the time of inception in 1996, to one with tens of thousands of participants today. Along the way we've made lots of great friends and, unfortunately, also made lots of bitter enemies.

We've grown from a small web site that I could manage myself on a part-time basis to a huge monster that has totally consumed all of my time and resources plus nearly all of John's time, plus the time and resources of many dedicated FReepers who volunteer or contribute large amounts of their own time and money.

The site is now consuming all of a 10 mbps dedicated line with two servers and we're still growing, and it consumes large amounts of money to keep all this running. In the early years, it only took a few thousand dollars per month to keep Free Republic on the air, but it is now costing over $20,000 per month to cover all expenses.

The major costs include approximately $8,000 per month for bandwidth, 3,000 for systems management and programming services, 7,000 for management, operating and administrative services, plus two or three thousand per month for miscellaneous office expenses, telephone, communications, repairs & maintenance, travel & lodging, postage, rentals, insurance, legal fees, accounting fees, etc., etc.

We anticipate a reduction in bandwidth costs next year as we renegotiate our contract (the market price for bandwidth has fallen recently), however, that will be more than offset by an expected increase in costs of our legal expenses. As most of you know, our pro bono attorney has left us and we've hired a new attorney to continue with our case, plus we have the suit against eschoir to pay for. My projections are that our regular monthly expenses for next year will be running in the neighborhood of $22,000 per month, or approximately $264,000 total for the year. This means we will need to raise approximately $66,000 per quarter.

Talking about making enemies, we've got several ex-FReepers and other detractors who are claiming on their anti-freeper web sites that I am ripping off the donors and that Free Republic is a fraud. Now, Free Republic is what it is, and it is definitely not a fraud. It is a conservative news discussion forum that encourages participation in politics and activism projects. It is not being billed as anything else. We are not selling or promising anything. And I am being up front about our operating costs. The costs of running Free Republic are what I've stated above and they are necessary to keep FR on the air. I do not have the financial wherewithal to operate this site without your help. If the majority of the FReepers feel that these costs are out of line or too much to bear or that Free Republic is no longer wanted or needed, then we will either cut it back or shut it down or do something altogether different.

I've also been criticized about not making our financials public. Well, the reason I do not want to do this is that I have been sued, both personally and as Free Republic, LLC. The people suing us want to bankrupt us and shut us down. They subpoenaed our financial records, but we refused to turn them over. The judge agreed that the plaintiffs have no right to the information, thus I have no intention of making any more of it public than I absolutely have to, until this lawsuit is resolved. You all know the amounts of money we raise if you follow the fundraising threads. It is all above board and out in the open. The totals posted by BadJoe are usually pretty close to the actual cash received and the amounts expended are pretty close to the amounts projected. No one is getting rich here and no one is being ripped off. The funds raised are being used for the purposes stated, and that is keeping this website on the air and that's it. Nothing fraudulent about it. Those who want to help fund us freely do so with nothing expected in return. Those who do not want to contribute do not have to.

There was a thread running this morning where people were making all kinds of accusations about Free Republic "hiding the truth" or whatever. These accusations are being made by Chuck Allan and others and fall along the same line with the accusations being made by some of the earlier banees or AFers including Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan, Arator, keep U.S. Sovereign, TKEman and others. Some of these people are existing FReepers and some are banned. I am going to reinstate Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan and Arator's accounts so they can join Chuck Allan, TKEman, K.U.S.S. and whomever else wants to get involved, and I invite them to come onto this thread and make their accusations public. As long as they do not go onto other threads and make a nuisance of themselves, I will let them have their say.

Like I said above, if it is time for Free Republic to go away so be it. Those who want to keep it going speak up. Those who want it to go away, tell us why. But if those who want it to be gone lose out in the debate, then I'd say they should just go away themselves, or, in the very least, shut up and quit whining about it.

Thanks,

Jim

[Woodstock]

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer...

Ah, yessssssss. Besides, how much more *FreeRepublic* can it be than to let them have their say?
I suspect the the folks here will crush their tiny heads and eat them for lunch. Chomp Chomp Chomp

[Geezerette]

FreeRepublic is my best friend every day. When I saw the words "go away" in the title, I got a panicky feeling inside, as I love FR and would miss it terribly. No other website will EVER take FR's place in my day!

Please keep up the excellent work, Jim and John Robinson and all of you FReepers who make it such a success!

God bless you

g

[OWK]

While FreeRepublic has become less conservative and more heathen libertarian over the last five years I still enjoy reading all of the interesting topics and different opinions and gain a lot of knowledge from it.

!#@$%& heathen libertarians....

[Democratic_Machiavelli]

Haven't read far enough into this post to see if anyone's said this, but please don't increase advertising. I suppose, since this is a conservative site, it could be done without hampering free speech if you only chose those advertisers with a political agenda close to FR's. However, the more money you take from outside organizations, the less freedom posters will have to post whatever they like.

All it would take is one advertiser saying, "I'd really rather not see this topic discussed," with a hint thrown in about decreasing profit margins for this board to change forever.

I'd much rather pay a monthly fee for being a registered user (I'm poor, so please be gentle). This place must stay alive, in spite of lawsuits and liberal mudslinging.

[Moby Grape]

Don't let the cry babies and whinners ruin what we have at FR...FR is almost the ONLY place I go to get breaking news...It is a fun place, although we do not all agree, the exchange of ideas, the info you can't get other places, make FR a national treasure.

[memsahib]

I vote to keep it. Charge a reasonable registration fee to cover costs. There is a price to pay to keep speech free (not only registration fees, but constant vigilance and willingness to defend).

FreeRepublic is only going through growing pains. The same thing happened on alt.religion.scientology. The truth was being spoken and the vested interests that didn't want their global scam exposed diligently tried to discredit and close down ARS. ARS for anyone who doesn't know is a Usenet group that debates Scientology. It gets fantastically wicked at times and flame wars abound. Sometimes, they even fire off viruses to critics (it happened to me).

Similar things have happened to www.xenu.net, run by a critic in Norway. It is primarily a site that hosts information about Scientology corruptness, but it also has a lively message board. Scientology has tried many times to close www.xenu.net and disrupt the message board using the judicial process (as its policies state) "not to win, but to harass and to utterly destroy" its critics.

Suggest you contact the webmaster of www.xenu.net (Andreas Heldal-Lund) and trade experiences and share advice. His contact info is at www.xenu.net. (He can be hard to reach, so let me know if you need help in reaching him.)

As for legal attacks, www.xenu.net has a non-U.S. (Netherlands, I think) ISP. It was legally attacked in the U.S. enough to warrant the change. It may be time to switch freerepublic.com to a non-U.S. country that still respects freedom of speech. (Good contact in that country is Karin Spaink, a writer who has dealt with freedom of speech issues.)

We, as Americans, are finally focusing on terrorism. I would like to take this opportunity to direct your attention to the domestic terrorism that is being conducted on American soil, against American citizens, and under the protection of the American constitution, by a fanatical quasi-religious cult. Please visit my website at http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/Scientology to learn more. As Arnie Lerma, a famous Scientology critic, has said: "What is Scientology? America's Taliban!"

[Bounceback]

This site is extraordinary. It must not die. The difficulty you are having is the result of your success, not your failure. Most enterprises fail because they continue to do business as they did in the beginning, not recognizing that the circumstances of their success have changed things. Mr. Robinson, you have a tiger by the tale - no other web site on this planet offers as much as Free Republic for so little. And I daresay, no other web site would be missed as much if it went dark. You will not, however, be able to continue if you rely solely upon sporadic donations and individual contributions. Sooner or later requests for donations are not heeded and become just part of the background noise.

My suggestions to assure that this site survives and thrives:

1)Make a concerted effort to obtain substantial and continuous funding by a conservative foundation or philanthropist with no strings attached.

2)Charge a monthly subscription fees for those who wish to post articles or replies, allowing non-subscribers to lurk and browse articles.

3)Institute organized fund raising at set times.

4)Find one or two substantial advertisers with conservative affiliations and display them on the home page.

5)Encourage the formation of local Free Republic chapters to organize and participate in fund raising on a quarterly or annual basis.

5)If you cannot become a not-for-profit organization allowing your contributors to take a tax deduction, then operate the site as a for profit business and take advantage of your enormous marketing power.

The uniqueness of this site -the sense of empowerment it gives - must not be lost. Don't give up when you are winning.

[ThomasMore]

But you are painting with an awfully broad brush when you claim that "each and every one of them" is bad news.

Callahan,
Not knowing much about the anti-freepers, just what is their beef with FR? And what got you banned?

[Ted]

I'm a monthly donor, albeit not large - keep it as is if possible, it's awesome! I would click some banner ads just to generate extra revenue, are they worth it? If so do it. Wow, what a huge thread...

Regarding cruise $ questions, I have no idea what that's about and don't have the time to sort through it all. In general I've seen consistent examples of openess from you for many years Jim. In other words, you have established the track record and I'm immediately inclined to dis-believe those who would question you. Good luck on it, and God Bless.

[SAMWolf]

You have to keep FR going.

I'm addicted, it'd be like making a junkie quit cold turkey.

[Old Student]

I used to know Michael Collins. He said they went. I believe him. Good enough for me.

I don't WANT to pay for FR, but I will if I need to. And I think my spouse, ChemistCat,(and ping to mama) would wither and die without it. Don't shut down, Jim. Maybe we could stand a "little" advertising? What say, folks?

Maybe you could have a discounted family membership? And discounts for Students? ;)

[ClancyJ]

I am interested in the FR budget as well because I help raise money here and am always concerned that I am not asking people to donate to something that I don't fully undersatand.

Very simple, don't help raise money if you have doubts.

[Inspector Harry Callahan]

The AF crowd isn't "using" me for anything. If you hadn't noticed, I take my share of flames over there. They think I'm a KooK because of my views on the '69 Lunar mission and my incessant posting of JBS-related material.

Not complaining, just letting you know that I'm not (nor have I ever been) Mister Popularity with the anti-freepers. I'm a member of the AF community by choice (and as I have been reminded a time or two) I'm NOT a "real" anti-freeper.

Whatever the heck that means...

Cheers!

[OWK]

Don't let the cry babies and whinners ruin what we have at FR...

Not to mention the loosers.

[Colt .45]

Free Republic is my source for all kinds of breaking news stories. I think that this is probably the one place in American society today where the Constitution and Bill of Rights are still upheld, and where we Veterans are appreciated with sincerity. I have made a lot of friends here, and I am deeply grateful to you, Mr. Robinson for this site and the use thereof.

In answer to your question of "Is it time for Free Republic to go away?" I'll just ask this ... has corruption and deceit stopped in the members of government and the leftists? The answer to both questions is a resounding ... NO.

[Ratatoskr]

Who the hell are you to pretend that your opinion is valuable, required, remotely intelligent, or that you are among some "need to know" group who needs to verify the funding of this site?

I'm someone who was a) just asked for my opinion and b) is continually being hit up for money, that's who the hell I am.

What the hell sort of bludnering, supine ATM machine are you not to want to know a little about the circumstances before you give to anyone? Are you happy with the United Way? The American Red Cross?

[Inspector Harry Callahan]

The AFers have various "beefs" with FR. Some don't like the censorship, some don't like the financial goings-on, some don't like a few of the Powers-That-Be, etc.

I was banned for asking questions about the lawsuit and posting the "substitution of counsel" news.

Hope that helps!

[blam]

I love FR just the way it is. (Except can you add a Science/Technology posting category?) I make monthly donations in excess of $25.00 a month and I'm getting a bargain. I trust your judgement.

[Native American Female Vet]

Jim, those same people have been given you crap for years and they are still around just to mess with ya.

Screw em. I trust you and I dont worry one bit about what you do with the money that is donated, never have never will.

[kevin]

Jim, This has been my only source of sanity for almost 4 years, Keep it Going!

Suggestion, if push comes to shove, I wouldn't have any qualms against a small monthly membership fee.