Once, a long time ago, if you were an individual seeking reasonable and intelligent political discourse in the Internet, from a right-wing perspective, there were few places as prominent and respected as Jim Robinson’s freerepublic.com.
The site counted among its members such luminaries as Tony Snow, Barbara Olsen, Lucianne and Jonah Goldberg, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, and Andrew Breitbart; even Robert Bork was rumored to post in FR.
The site’s users, known as FReepers, were considerable in number, dedicated, and passionate; Jim Robinson’s conservative brigades were able to launch either a spontaneous roadside rally, or organize nation-wide protests. During the Bush/Gore recount, FReepers organized rallies from Texas, to Florida, to Georgia, to Washington DC itself.
- It was a FReeper who ended Dan Rather’s career.
- It was a FReeper who coined the term Sore/Loserman during the Bush/Gore recount wars.
- It was a FReeper who posted the first known report of trouble with the Columbia, as it disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana on re-entry.
- It was a FReeper who photo-shopped the infamous image of John Kerry standing side-by-side with Jane Fonda in an anti Vietnam war rally.
A reasonable argument could be made that FR was influential in Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Those were the Golden Days of Free Republic, but the site shines no longer.
Today, Free Republic is a shadow of its former self, with vitriol lauded as eloquence, and bigotry held as patriotism, Mr. Robinson is leading a quixotic crusade against the GOP’s presumed Presidential nominee, allowing (even encouraging) unbridled, bigoted attacks on Romney’s Mormon faith to flourish in the forum.
Robinson, who proclaims himself a conservative leader, standing up for traditional American values, will banish anyone who disagrees with his version of conservatism from the site, but what Mr. Robinson fails to realize is that it was individual members of his forum that brought gravitas to the site, and not the other way around.
To be fair, Robinson created what could very well be the best software of its kind at the time of FR’s ascent, but it was the massive interchange of ideas between members, the FReepers themselves, all riding atop the e-wave of the late 20th Century, and driven by their animosity toward the Clinton administration, that brought the forum into the spotlight.
Alas, Mr. Robinson convinced himself that the message was the medium, when it was the messengers who raised the medium to glory.
Internet blogs are buzzing with reports of a massive crack up in FR, with anti-Romney sentiment standing side-by-side with open anti-Mormon bias, FReepers are abandoning Jim Robinson’s burning ship in droves, populating sites like http://www.gopbriefingroom.com to discuss the chaotic status of Free Republic.
In facebook, exiled FReepers stand amazed at the realization that Free Republic and Daily KOS, bitter Internet blog political ideology enemies, are actually supporting the same candidate for the Presidency this cycle, as FReepers openly support the idea of an Obama win, as such a victory will “teach the GOP a lesson”.
This post from FReeper “Leep”
“Crash and burn America. Hopefully, we can rebuild in 10 or 20 or 50 years…?”
The signs are visible to even the naked eye.
Check this statement by the site’s founder, Jim Robinson, just a few nights ago:
“Lastly, we’re having a bit of changeover on our moderator staff. At least two moderators resigned this afternoon after I flatly refused to rein in a so-called anti-Mormon “bigot” on FR.”
In today’s Free Republic, no one will be critical of anti-Mormon statements. Jim Robinson once again:
“This website considers the Mormon religion as false doctrine. Period.”
It’s nearly impossible to cross the line on criticism of Mitt Romney’s Mormonism at a site where the proprietor dismisses the entire religion as a “false doctrine”.
Robinson, in his refusal to support the GOP ticket seems to understand that he has become a minority within a minority, within a diminishing number of supporters, as he says:
“I doubt there are 10% of the FReepers in agreement with me on this.”
Ten percent of a rapidly diminishing number of posting members could spell financial troubles for Robinson, as some of the site’s most steadfast financial supporters quietly melt into the night.
Robinson himself acknowledged the sites diminishing contribution levels earlier this year, announcing that he was investigating other means to secure financial support:
I’ve checked with an ad agency. We can probably raise the funds we need to operate FR at our current level and at the current market price for online advertising if we run a banner ad at the top of every page and at least one rectangular ad in the above the fold body of the page and a couple rectangular ads in the sidebar. If that doesn’t generate enough revenue, we can also run pop ups or pop unders and we can even run audio and video ads if need be. But of course, if we go full bore commercial, we’d have to insure strict copyright compliance with very brief excerpting of all articles to avoid lawsuits. And the agency would require that we install a filter to censor out any bad or unacceptable words in our posts.
Robinson went on to repeat his commitment to go down with his ship, rather than support Romney, or as he puts it, “an abortionist/homosexualist/statist.”
Then again, even as Free Republic fades into irrelevance, Robinson’s legacy lives on in an unintended cottage industry of forums offering refuge to FReepers wishing to distance themselves from Robinson.
Sites like True Blue Liberty, Sweetness and Light, and others are all populated by dissatisfied or vanished FReepers.
As one of the founding partners of The Briefing Room quipped recently:
“The FR meltdown is good for business, people are looking for a sanctuary, and a place where sanity still reigns. Our membership rolls are increasing hourly, and they all come to ask the same question…”what in the world happened to Free Republic.”
Sad thing, that what was once such a great notion will crumble and fall under the weight of such negative and destructive actions as are being witnessed in the forum these days, and that in the end, the great things accomplished by the many, will be dragged down into the dust bin of history by the few.
Ring the bell, close the book, and quench the candle for Free Republic.
August 14, 2012 at 10:33 am
That is only the tip of the iceberg of the greats that left. Michelle Malkin, Lucianne and Jonah Goldberg, Matt Drudge. The list goes on and on. It is saddening what could have been if not for the pride of one man. It could have been the Huffington Post of the right. Instead it is ‘just another’. I was there from the start and have watched it declicne like a beloved grandparent slipping into Alzheimer’s.
August 14, 2012 at 1:34 pm
It’s sad to see what FR has become.
August 14, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Unfortunately … very well written and analyzed, Luis. You might add to your list of defectors from FR those of us at Darwin Central.
August 14, 2012 at 3:43 pm
The Romney purge simply follows an earlier purge of Giuliani supporters in 2008. Previous to that, there was a purge of those of us who believe in the theory of evolution (we formed the site DarwinCentral.org, still going strong). The nutcases (and we’re talking real nutcases here; one tried to perform a citizen’s arrest on a WA Supreme Court Justice) were always an annoyance, but they’ve now taken over the asylum.
Good to see you again, LG.
August 14, 2012 at 4:03 pm
It’s good to be seen.
I must check out DarwinCentral one of these days.
Jim Robinson’s runs FR like Josef Stalin ran the Soviet Union.
Sadly, he doesn’t see that.
August 14, 2012 at 5:09 pm
There is absolutely no possibility of FR running banner ads after this latest batch of insanity over the weekend. What company would want to be associated with FR now? Okay, maybe “Choke full o’Nuts” would advertise there…
I’m not opusing out, but will just leave, maybe checking in now and then – no donations. I suspect I’m not alone.
August 14, 2012 at 5:09 pm
It’s very sad that a once great website has gone downhill, that place is moderated by a bunch of Nazi’s who salivate over people being zotted. Jim can say it’s his place and he’ll run it the way he chooses, if so then don’t ask for donations, if you ask for donations then those people who have a vested interested in the place deserve a voice. I wear my zotting as a badge of honor, and Free Republic can now be compared to Daily Kos, Democratic Underground, and even Stormfront.
He’s also a hypocrite, this is what he said about Bush in 99
“So, it doesn’t matter if he snorted coke as a youth? It was a long time ago, a youthful in-discretion? Kinda like people who frequented sneakeasies during prohibition? Kind of a cute story, eh? Well, how about all the people whose lives have been destroyed by being arrested for the felony of drug possession? What about the millions of people who are rotting away in your filthy drug infested prisons at this very moment?
Well, by God, if you people insist on electing another cokehead as President, you damned well better throw open all the prison cell doors and free every man, woman, and child you’re holding on drug charges. And if you’re gonna elect another drug felon as President, you’d better rescind each and every one of your unconstitutional drug laws now on the books, including all of your unconstitutional search and seizure laws, and your asset forfeiture laws, and your laws that enable your unconstitutional snooping into our bank accounts and cash transactions. Well, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. You people are sick! Conservatives my ass. You people are nothing but a bunch of non-thinking hypocrits! You’re a shame and a disgrace to the Republic!
And, I, for one, am tired of taking orders from cokeheads and felons! Elect another one and I’ll tell you what. I’ll be ready for war! It’ll be time to take up arms and run the filthy lying bastards out!
Posted on 08/20/1999 03:19:31 PDT by Jim Robinson”
August 17, 2012 at 12:04 pm
I can’t say that I disagree with him.
August 18, 2012 at 12:08 pm
That would then put you in disagreement with him later, when he did a complete turnaround and became an enthusiastic Bush supporter.
August 14, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Just wanted to say thank you for stating so clearly what many of us who have left feel. We watch a site we once loved and supported going up like the Hindenberg and, even though we have left or been zotted, it still hurts.
Thanks for the name checks of alternate sites too. I prefer True Blue Liberty myself as vigorous debate of the issues is more my thing (plus I mod there, so come on over and shoot the breeze sometime), but am a member of GOP Briefing Room as well (mainly for Pookies toons – check them out!)
August 14, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Sadly it does little good to run a modern forum with reasonably free politically conservative debate. Can’t get a few hundred members, But thousands will happily congregate to talk about the death of FR, which has been in the toilet for nearly a decade when it comes right down to it.
August 14, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Because FR is dying from self-inflicted wounds, or perhaps what’s happening there is closer to suicide, and to the many people who contributed money, time, and thoughts to the site, and have been excommunicated, this is like watching your childhood home, now a whorehouse, burn to the ground because your father set it on fire to collect the insurance money.
It did not have to happen, but it’s happening nevertheless.
August 14, 2012 at 7:39 pm
I didn’t know Darwin Central was still active? There are basically three major spin off sites currently that I know of. Liberty Post for the Alex Jones types. True Blue Liberty for those who like drama and soap operas (and the daily antics of Quix). And GOP Briefing Room for those interested in politics.
August 14, 2012 at 8:50 pm
I am pleased to say that Darwin Central is alive and well.
I’m one of those who was banned in the Giuliani purge of 2008. If I do visit the site these days, it’s only because I did a Google search and a FR thread is among the results. It’s a real shame. I mourn for the FR I joined all those years ago, but I don’t miss its current incarnation at all.
August 14, 2012 at 7:44 pm
I’ve been told that Robinson has been hitting up what he calls Anti sites hard and anyone who shows up is banned or made to where they can’t email or post without it being reviewed. He basically considers being a member there a marriage contract “Until Zot Do Us Part” or a religious law “Thou Shall Have No Other Websites Before Free”. He spends all his time now obsessing about retaining ideological purity amongst his site and that includes killing any cancer that he sees entering. Mostly, that means if you post on facebook, join TBL or GOPBR, or even mention something along the lines of wanting to leave or take a break, he zots you.
August 14, 2012 at 11:32 pm
He zots people but they still have the ability to login and stats show them as members, so basically if he starts advertising on FR because the donors are gone? he has all these people listed as members even though they can’t post. If you get zotted your name should be removed and you shouldn’t be able to login.
August 15, 2012 at 9:53 am
Sadly – it is true, though I doubt he checks the other sites personally. What we refer to as the harpy brigade does that. On TBL we have had people zotted from FR for simply posting on the site. Not posting against FR, but on news stories or Op/Ed pieces.
August 15, 2012 at 1:26 am
It is a silly place.
August 15, 2012 at 11:30 am
Sad, sad, sad thing that FR is now the epitome of Animal Farm, with JR as Napoleon The Pig. When I joined in 2005 I was “between jobs” and the FRiends and frivolity (not to mention the political discussion) that I found at Free Republic was very special to me. JR is cutting off his nose to spite his face.
August 15, 2012 at 6:36 pm
it reminds me of the fall of Little Green Footballs..
August 15, 2012 at 7:32 pm
It sure does, doesn’t it?
August 16, 2012 at 8:07 am
Hatfields and McCoys. What you fail to focus on is that the bipartisan consultantcy class set this up. Their reverse h8ter argument has been brewing for 5 years to Balkanize the Christian base and they are winning. Let it all go. You don’t have a right not to be offended cuts both ways. Leave those set in trench warfare to it by themselves and don’t feed it with publicity.
August 16, 2012 at 6:05 pm
I may not have a right not to be offended, but I do have a right to comment freely.
You have an equal right to not read my blog.
What you DON’T have a right to do, is to tell me what I should write about.
August 27, 2012 at 8:41 am
Goodness, that’s not what I meant at all. Sorry.