Independent Conservative

As of August 25, 2026, I have been a registered member of the Free Republic for 25 years, though I have saved articles in my possession going back as far as 1997. A few thoughts about my experience on this site follow:

There was a time when being a "Freeper" meant something. Topics of all kinds were researched and debated in grand fashion. I have several DVDs containing gigabytes of old threads that are a joy to reread.

Then the site was hit with the LA Times/Washington Post lawsuit that eliminated most full article posts, which happened a long side the ideological purges that gutted lots of 'provocative' discourse through the banishment of certain members and threads.

Innovative decay set in and the site now is a snapshot of the internet of the past. Although the software states it was updated in 2008, it resembles how the web would look if people still used Windows 95. Entirely text based, FR is a present-day Way-Wayback Machine, the upside being fast page response with no tracking or ads. Still, has a lack of new more modern features and a lack of exposure limited its ability to attract new members? I can't say.

That not being said, it proudly hangs on as a successful money maker, starting at $240,000/yr and climbing to as much as $360,000/yr, before being recently reduced again to $240,000/yr for its absentee, now deceased owner. The front page still encourages a visitor to send him an email or give him a call on his cell phone. Presumably, long distance charges will apply.

If you scroll down to near the bottom of the front page you will discover a Golden link to a Memorial Wall. Follow this link and you'll find a listing of members who have passed away in chronological order. While this is an endearing feature, it also speaks to the direction the site is apparently heading.

FR is only a shell of what it was and I'm afraid it exists now as an online rest home, where aged members dawdle about, engaging in toothless one-sided 'debates', wasting away until they are all finally added to the Memorial wall of death.

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(Note: Jim Robinson passed away in Oct. 2025, after a long illness. His son Chris Robinson has taken over.)

The wall hasn't been updated since 2021 and there's quite a backlog of names.

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(Note II: The Memorial Wall was updated on 8/2/2026.)