Posted on 06/25/2002 3:42:21 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
The following email is being circulated to our members by various disgruntled former FReepers:
Subject: The Future of Our Free RepublicDear Fellow Free Republic Member,
Many of us at Free Republic are distressed by the extraordinary level of censorship that has been so obviously going on. It is very obvious that individual posts, entire threads, and the entire work of members who have been highly regarded are disappearing into a Memory Hole.
Scores of us have organized an e-mail network that is independent of the communication controls presently, and sadly, being used at our Free Republic. We have carefully documented the unmistakeable evidence that most of the posts, threads, and posters that are vaporized completely are overwhelmingly targeted for their political stance on the Right. These are not Leftwingers. These are not even Middle-of-the-Roaders. These are not disruptors. These are not foul-mouthed delinquents. These are fellow patriots on the Right who disagree with the controllers of FR on specific issues that are now hotly debated by the Right. We have documented that FR will parade before you, as if to hide all of the great posters whose work has been destroyed, a straw-man delinquent that has been banned. This is deceptive.
Treating these fellow patriots on the Right so shabbily is not right. As shabbily as those banned into the Memory Hole are being treated, the most shabbily treated of all are all of the good folks on Free Republic themselves. We came here for honest debate. Free Republic advertised itself as a Forum for honest debate. Without that honest debate...everything at Free Republic becomes shabby.
We can do much better. As a measure of how intense the simmering feelings have gotten among members on this unjustifiable use of deleting, censoring, and banning please link to the following thread. You will notice that one simple and sincere plea from one of our finest members has spontaneously touched off a prairie fire of approximately 500 posts in a mere 18 hours. If it isn't Memory Holed this thread may shoot into the thousands.
If you would like to receive anonymous updates of information concerning the hundreds of Freepers who have networked via e-mail to restore the wonderful honest debate to Free Republic, just drop an e-mail of just one or two words if you like for extreme brevity to:
StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
And, here's that link back to the snowballing thread at FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/704701/posts
Thank you so much for giving your thought to this vital matter for our Internet home.
Sincerely, StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
I'm pretty sure nobody was asking dude.
You don't actually know that. Once you delegated the moderation to others, you can't know they're using it responsibly without cross-checking their every decision (in which case you might as well not delegate at all). Certainly, it's a hell of a lot more heavy-handed now than it used to be.
And, really, it is unfair to conflate that email with Liberty Forum, any more than it would be fair to associate Lucianne's with the Yahoo Antifreepers just because both were built by former FReepers.
You used to be gracious about alternate discussion forums. It was a wiser policy.
Oh, that's OK since Islam is an evil religion of terrorism. To call for genocide against them or the Palestinians is patriotic, biblical and just downright cool.Jim, there are many here who are allowed to stay at FreeRepublic after proposing that which IS AN ABOMINATION.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/705564/posts?page=119#119
your call, Jim, as always
Or is FR merely going to devolve into being a chat group for people whose beliefs manage to momentarily coincide with Conservatism.
Thank you for this website.
Oftentimes, I write things here that may be original, and yet I have, no I am grateful for the fact that I have been allowed to post opinions without censorship. I have oftentimes regreted my postings as they are far from the PC norm in circulation in society in general and used to worry about trouble.... But, never have I felt that FreeRepublic was anything but reputatable!
FreeRepublic is the best place for news and commentary in the World!
This pisses me off . . .
I'd been lurking on this forum for two years prior to registering here. I've seen the screen names come and go. I've admired some of the posters that have disappeared; some, however, will not be missed.
I can remember when the temporary suspension of posting privliges at FreeRepublic was referred to as being sent to "Purgatory".
I am continually amazed at the patience and tolerance shown by the moderators on this forum. There is no other conservative site that I am aware of that would put up with the invective spewed forth by certain individuals who would otherwise consider themselves to be intelligent adults. Admit it; if you're banned (not suspended) from FreeRepublic, you've crossed the line separating intelligent discourse from rectalgia.
If these personalities are the "Great Ones", I am more than happy to consider myself an FR Apologist Sheeple Shill.
Flame me if you must, but don't do so via Freepmail. Send the scat to BraveMan@wi.rr.com instead.
End Rant
OK, who blabbed?
Good question!
And the recent past here on FR puts an interesting light on a big issue from the past:
When Klinton was in office, a lot of people looked around the internet and asked, "How come more democrats don't speak up against Klinton?!"
It's possible democrats experienced something similar to what conservatives are currently experiencing. Here in our very visible forum -- where an outsider might look to see how conservatives react to Bush -- just about everyone who attempts to speak objectively about the sitting prez simply gets "disappeared."
You expect such stuff from the 'rats. They don't believe in principles, just expediency. It's very unsettling to see such activity from "conservatives"...
I observed in an email that FR, lately, is like a teen slasher movie -- every day, one or two more of us is gone....
-- KotS
He's over there.
Pick any Arafat thread posted today and the ONLY posts will be from the “Israel can do no wrong” crowd. Haven’t seen any of this crowd showing up on Liberty Forum complaining of being banned from FR. How about the name calling by pro-Bush supporters on threads that, oh my gosh, might question policy from Washington. Haven’t seen any of them on Liberty Forum either. Why doesn’t their name calling get them banned as well? Is this an example of healthy debate? Don’t think so.
I have made significant monetary contributions to this site in the past and I do understand that this is YOUR forum. However, might I suggest that the opening page of FR display the new posting rules:
Those who get booted are usually posters who post racist materials, posters who post anti-Semitic materials, posters who post Holocaust denial materials, those who spread the "Protocols" nonsense propaganda, those who post Marxist propaganda and attempt to pass it off as truth, those who deal in tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, those who condemn others based on race or religion, those who condemn religion itself, those leftists who pose as conservatives or right wingers but constantly trash conservatives or conservative policy, those who call for armed revolution or other violence, those who blame America for 9-11, those who excessively bash our president, our war effort or our military, those who post excessive profanity, those who aggressively engage in personal attacks, feuds and flamewars, those who register two or more accounts and use them as straw men or try to pass themselves off as different posters, those who post vulgarity or pornography, those who continually post off topic items, spammers, advertisers, trolls, liberals, anarchists, skinheads, nazis, communists, defenders of abortion, gun control, gay rights, peta people, etc, etc (Free Republic is not a liberal debating society).
BTW,
Thank You Jim for listening to us, and for addressing something the critics of this site wouldnt have the gall to do. It just shows this site, and we all, are bigger than that.
Youve fought the good fight, for all of us, and thank you for listening to us. Never quit, your the best.
Based on what I saw, it's also 50% Confederate wannabes. Wait, that's 150%. Well, you know what I mean.
Why is it that so many of these forums seem to be obsessed with FR?
Too bad it's as unusual as it is, though. Maybe that's why we keep parsy around - he really is rara avis in terra ;)
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