I would be glad to ping you but I haven't learned how yet. If you could tell me how to do that, I will. Free Republic needs a tutorial to teach us how to post pics and ping and stuff. I just now learned how to copy and paste. LOL
Ah, but we do provide help.
Go here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/help.htm
If you go to the FR's home page, there is a drop down tab in the upper right hand corner labeled "HELP" (that's this link that I've provided) There are several topics listed there.
Pinging is as simple as adding a FReeper's name into the "TO" box when you reply to a post.
BTW, Happy FReeper Anniversary.