Posted on 10/25/2012 11:37:44 AM PDT by TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed
FreeRepublic is sometimes referred to as a news aggregator, but then, so are some other blog sites.
FreeRepublic is sometimes referred to as a conservative site, but then, so are some other blog sites.
So, then, what is it about FreeRepublic that we find of such value that we visit it and read it dozens of times each day? What do we get out of it that we can get nowhere else?
I will start with my two cents. Then I invite you to offer yours.
First, its mission is stated loud and clear. God. Family. Country. Life. Liberty. Conservative.
You won't get that from any of the corrupted media.
Second, I often find more value in the comments of dedicated Freepers than I do in the articles themselves. The comments help me to frame and understand how I should view any given news article. I may at times disagree with an opinion, but it helps me to form my own opinion nevertheless.
Third, I have the option of participating - to help shape the opinions of other Freepers and sometimes of the news itself. My two cents are validated, reviled, or ignored. It helps me to stay on a conservative track. I am not misled by liberally biased media.
Fourth, Freepers are immediately on top of important news items. We race to be the first to post. I have the important news of the world at my fingertips in a matter of minutes.
Fifth, I feel at home. FreeRepublic is a gathering of like-minded individuals. I am proud to be counted one of you.
You put it very well, I visit a dozen times a day easy. I would add Freepers have a good sense of humor as well, I can tell by the title of the article sometimes that Freepers will be posting funny pics.
I get a lot of my information from Free Republic. However I am having major problems trying to log on to articles as FR is very, very slow.
I agree——it’s actually timing out on me.
My favorite place too !
Well, I agree that debating of ideas-—in the sense of Socrates—is what has made the American experiment possible. Free Republic reminds me of that atmosphere which created Aristotle and made Cicero possible and John Locke.
The Freedom of Ideas and Debate is crucial to a prosperous, free nation.
Political Correctness which is prevalent in all MSM is to control the allowed perceptions and impose group think on the masses. It is orchestrated by the corporations which control most of our information and almost all of our sources of information. To be free and intelligent—you need to go to primary sources-—not that which is filtered through Marxist minds like MSM.
That being said-—public schools since Dewey (and really even before as John Tayler Gatto documented) have been taken over by Marxist ideologues-—so all curricula is filtered to create little Marxists by the time they graduate. Basically, it was transformed to eliminate all Classical Knowledge which allowed Logic and Reason (critical thinking) and became social science-—a means to control all perceptions and feelings in children. (To make them stupid and immoral).
Free Republic have people who understand the insidious evil of political correctness and how it is destroying Truth. They reject Mao’s invention of political correctness to control the masses’ minds.
It is very refreshing to tune out of MSM and find sanity.
OK, I’ll bite...
Conceptually, Free Republic is a Godsend. Through hard work and wise policy, JimRob has kept it pure and simple and coherent — the ideal gathering place for conservatives. Frankly, it’s my one-stop PORTAL for Web news and especially politics. I essentially don’t go anywhere else (yet) for news and politics unless I’ve been sent there by a FR post.
Practically speaking, through a combination of stubbornness and technical ineptitude, however, Jim has let FR degenerate to the point where it’s just about unusable. It took five page reloads to bring up this damn comment box. It’ll probably take five more attempts to post my reply. During all three debates, Free Republic was basically off line.
Astonishingly, there has been NO explanation for this technical mess, nor has there been ANY roadmap for righting this serious problem. We’re just left to twist in the wind, and those who mention the technical difficulties are blown off (when they’re not forcefully denigrated).
Election night is shaping up to be a gigantic JOKE, free-republic-accesswise.
The sad thing is, it doesn’t have to be like that.
If JR and JR don’t get their stuff together soon FR will cease to exist. (my prediction)
FRegards
P.S. Don’t whine to me about funding. I’m a monthly and I contribute more to FR than any other infotainment. My monthly FR contribution is more than my monthly cable teevee bill.
Thank you very much. We’re working on it. Hope to have it fixed soon.
Fifth, I feel at home. FreeRepublic is a gathering of like-minded individuals. I am proud to be counted one of you.
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We are a community.
There are other sites, other boards one can go and express opinions, but there is no other place with the strange assortment of nuts like Free Republic.
I’ll not mention speciific FReepers by name, but think now of those FReepers and the threads they post that make you smile - make you mad - or better yet, make you think.
Think of the prayer threads, the silliness threads, the Canteen threads, and a whole host of other personal threads that touch your heart.
And then there’s Lazamataz. (Oops, I just broke my promise not to mention specific FReepers by name.)
Thank you very much. Glad to have you aboard. God gave us life and liberty. Governments or rulers have been wanting to deprive us of both ever since. Many of them would like to deprive us of God Himself. That ain’t gonna happen no matter how hard they try. Totalitarians and tyrants all through history have tried and failed. These people have no idea who and what they’re dealing with. They will be crushed and returned to dust soon enough.
By the way, Free Republic is not a blog. Blogs came into being long after FR was established (1996). A blog is usually a personal website where the blogger posts his own opinions and sometimes allows others to comment on them. FR is more like a forum. An independent grassroots forum for like-minded pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-liberty, pro-small government, pro-America patriotic conservative activists.
I get a kick out of that cigar smoking spaceman. Bender?
Seriously, Free Republic is my favorite site by far. An immense amount of info, mostly politics but a little bit of everything (guns, not guilty teachers, cars, big Catherine Zeta Jones pics, zots, no ads, Jim Thompson, DUmmie Funnies, prepping, Ha Ha! boy, etc.)
And it just keeps coming. Often, by the time I get to the bottom of the page, there’s an hour of new stuff up at the top.
Just hope JRob gets a tanker of server fuel before election night.
Free Republic is a true forum. With it’s focus on current events and politics it is probably the best political news aggregator on the web, better even than Drudge in that users post so many different local or breaking stories so quickly and with a much wider scope. That said, the technical shortcomings are really killing it. Whenever the technical discussion of FR comes up some freepers always ask for a different platform, features or software. I am content with FR the way it is I just wish it was accessible. It was useless during all 4 debates and without a server change it will not be useful election day and night. There are dozens of great hosting companies that could deliver rock solid/scaleable hosting for FR. No matter what the traffic shoots up to on heavy news day FR would still be accessible.
FR is invaluable! I saw that Jim is working on the hiccups. Thanks and good luck Jim!
That!
There are few people who are more Conservative than I and over the years have expressed those views here.
Also over these years, I have made the error of not carefully reviewing my comments and how they might be viewed by long established members.
I would like to give a little advice to new FReepers...avoid vanities, although they may be your opinion, they are frowned upon by some members. (a lesson hard learned)
Stay civil and tread carefully when you reply to certain established members in a way which they may perceive as too argumentative. You run the risk of being colored ‘trollish’.
Other than that, this a great Conservative site for information and, as long as I am allowed, I’ll continue to post my thoughts and opinions with others.
God bless.
[Jim is working on the hiccups..]
Drink some Apple Cider Vinegar, Jim.
It works.
What browswer are you using? I switched to Fiorefox and it made a huge difference, even though I thought it wouldn’t.
FR can be infuriating, but still be the best collection of individuals on the net.
Now, *that* is unique ;).
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