Posted on 08/10/2002 1:29:46 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
The anti-FReepers are on the prowl. As most of you know, there is a group of ex-FReepers who have been dogging us for the last several years. The anti-FReeper community was started several years ago by a group of disgruntled individuals who were banned from FR and then wanted to get back at us by damaging our reputation. This started out as petty name calling and rumor mongering, but they now appear determined to cause us as much harm as possible. Even to the point of attempting to get FR and FRN shut down and the owners and managers of the organizations bankrupted or jailed.
Some of the early members of the group include ex-FReepers Mojo, Aligyrl, Landshark, Z2, Headhunter, LindaM, and others who have come and gone over the years. The most recent additions to active anti-FReeping appear to be ex-FReepers Clarity, Clinton's a Liar and JoeEveryman.
There appears to be a certain love/hate relationship involved here. Some of these people hate FR and its PTB (that's "Powers That Be" in their lingo) with such passion that they cannot stay away. Some of the original members of the AF community have given up and drifted off, some have come back to FR, and some are as determined as ever to kill FR and have me and whomever else they can thrown into prison for whatever crimes they imagine us guilty. Their motivation is pure revenge. Their driving force is hatred.
Their current attack is centered around an attempt to break up the Free Republic Network and, through that angle, to cause as much damage to FR as possible. Unfortunately for all of us, there is a genuine problem with the ex-leader of the South Carolina Chapter. Apparently, there was some money collected for events that was never paid over to the vendors and the chapter leader is accused of taking off with the money. I am not going into all of the gory details here, but I understand that there is an official police investigation ongoing and the SC Chapter and the FRN are cooperating fully with the authorities. The anti-FReepers, led by JoeEveryman, are trying to gain maximum leverage from any fallout from this case and are attempting to use it to bring down FRN.
JoeEveryman ran an FR thread (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/728856/posts) last week on this subject. I eventually deleted it because it was turning into an anti-FReeper haven and I do not want that on FR. The anti-FReepers have plenty of their own websites to conduct their hate campaign. Those who are interested may find JoeEveryman (posting as "Panjandrum") on the LibertyPost.org forum, now appearing to be the latest home of the anti-FReeper community. I have undeleted the JoeEveryman thread for those who are interested in reading it, but have left it locked. I do not want any more anti-FReeping activity on FR.
JoeEveryman is now banned from Free Republic. It is clear on the thead that he ran here on FR and on this (http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readarticle.cgi?114+1485+0+1) thread on LibertyPost.org that his intent is to bring FR down and to cause us as many legal problems as he can. I cannot see allowing him to do this on my own website.
It appears to me that they are either preparing some sort of lawsuit and or are trying to entangle me, Bob J, FR and FRN into the SC case. None of us had anything to do with whatever wrongdoing may have taken place in SC. The South Carolina Chapter is an independent entity, as are all of the FR chapters, and neither FR nor FRN have any ownership or control over their activities. It appears that the anti-FReepers are trying to break that down. We'll see. FRN is cooperating fully with the authorities and I will too if they ask.
In the meantime, I do not want them scheming on FR so they are banned and will remain banned. I will also ban any other FR members who get actively engaged in this attempt to bring down FR.
A request to all. Please do not drag any of the anti-FReeper stuff to FR. I do not want it here.
Free Republic has withstood many attacks over the years, from both the left and the right and I am confident that we will survive this attack from this Free Republic Haters Association as well.
Thanks for your continued support.
Jim
Agreed. IMO, most of the anti-freeps share one characteristic - they have their own personal agendas, and, since FR turned out to not fully satisfy their agendas, they have decided to turn on FR instead of going out in the big, bad world of the internet and competing fairly in that thar marketplace of ideas. The irony is, if they had gone out and created their own websites based on promoting their own views instead of trashing JimRob's, JimRob probably would have provided links on FR to their websites, as he used to do with Arator...
I would ask folks to consider this one issue until it hits them. Do we care if Liberty Forum is successful if they are pushing conservatism? No. We'd want them to be successful. That should be all anyone needs to know about who's in the right here.
Your comments regarding personal agendas was right on the money. And way they go...
Sure, there are some lunatics over there, But there are also quality people there who used to(some still do) support FR (and you) whole-heartedly.
I don't think these people fit into the Joe Everyman catagory.
Like Anna and Senator Pardek said: "It's just an Internet forum".
Seems that every time a group of people get organized, someone's always got to be the Liza Minnelli of the whole show.
Problem with the anti-Freepers is that they've all got the Liza Minnelli gene.
I talked in brief with John rob about this as well, in private. He is a very cautious, fair individual.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and those who have had their lives publicly exposed to these maniacs. Great job running FR.
Given the virulence of the attacks on your character and person, not to mention the entire FRN, I want to take this opportunity to offer my appreciation for your forebearance in making that statement. It is a tribute to your character, compassion, integrity and honor.
It might be worthwhile to remind everyone that not one...none of the allegations, mischaracterizations, and petty accusations against you and FR have been proven which are so brazenly displayed by the maggots infesting their new playground.
Now, will you please, really really please not give those sons of bitches any more of your time or courtesy...none of you deserve the kind of abuse they heap upon you. There are still a couple of us tired old anti-antis who don't mind getting down in the sewer with those clowns.
Of course you realize that they insist we are your lackeys, but I appreciate the reminder now and again that you and I disagree on just about every social and economic issue on the planet.
One place where we do not part company is on the disgust we feel for those who seek only to destroy that which they cannot control.
I'm glad JR took the initiative here and got this out on the table. He won't get any slack from the beta-gammas at Hamster afSS HQ, but hopefully those who truly love liberty and freedom will quietly turn their backs on the punks.
I joined FR recently, and have found the network to be extremely informative and lively. Perhaps, after 9-11, there has been a greater degree of emotional release through this venue, but this is impossible for me to say for I was not a member then. However, I have used this venue for this purpose, to be sure. I have seen, participated in, and enjoyed both high-tone discussion and rough-and tumble, emotionally charged debate here. I do not believe that emotionally motivated debate is inherently undesirable. For example, hate can be a constructive motivating force, if used for good, wouldn't you agree?
I have not been a member of the club for enough time to understand the situations that Jim has outlined, but I believe, from what I have experienced of the character of most members of FR, that whatever challenges are on the way, that FR will survive and grow as a force for good. I for one hope that spritely debate, including the occasional Curley eye gouge, will not become a casualty in the fight to stay on track in promoting conservative causes.
And thanks Jim, for a job well done.
As well you should.
Will you check out post #4 by BillyBoy? Here we go again...its all of us Conservatives having doubts about Bush's policies in some areas who are now trying to bring down FR and ruin JR! Will you please do something about these people? I love FR but I am tired of being attacked just because I'm not a BOT! THAT is what will bring down FR, not anti-Freepers, not disruptors etc. Those are easy to recognize. It's the Bot crowd's intolerance for any but their narrow view that will do it. Long live FR and JR!
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