Posted on 06/25/2002 3:42:21 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
The following email is being circulated to our members by various disgruntled former FReepers:
Subject: The Future of Our Free RepublicDear Fellow Free Republic Member,
Many of us at Free Republic are distressed by the extraordinary level of censorship that has been so obviously going on. It is very obvious that individual posts, entire threads, and the entire work of members who have been highly regarded are disappearing into a Memory Hole.
Scores of us have organized an e-mail network that is independent of the communication controls presently, and sadly, being used at our Free Republic. We have carefully documented the unmistakeable evidence that most of the posts, threads, and posters that are vaporized completely are overwhelmingly targeted for their political stance on the Right. These are not Leftwingers. These are not even Middle-of-the-Roaders. These are not disruptors. These are not foul-mouthed delinquents. These are fellow patriots on the Right who disagree with the controllers of FR on specific issues that are now hotly debated by the Right. We have documented that FR will parade before you, as if to hide all of the great posters whose work has been destroyed, a straw-man delinquent that has been banned. This is deceptive.
Treating these fellow patriots on the Right so shabbily is not right. As shabbily as those banned into the Memory Hole are being treated, the most shabbily treated of all are all of the good folks on Free Republic themselves. We came here for honest debate. Free Republic advertised itself as a Forum for honest debate. Without that honest debate...everything at Free Republic becomes shabby.
We can do much better. As a measure of how intense the simmering feelings have gotten among members on this unjustifiable use of deleting, censoring, and banning please link to the following thread. You will notice that one simple and sincere plea from one of our finest members has spontaneously touched off a prairie fire of approximately 500 posts in a mere 18 hours. If it isn't Memory Holed this thread may shoot into the thousands.
If you would like to receive anonymous updates of information concerning the hundreds of Freepers who have networked via e-mail to restore the wonderful honest debate to Free Republic, just drop an e-mail of just one or two words if you like for extreme brevity to:
StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
And, here's that link back to the snowballing thread at FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/704701/posts
Thank you so much for giving your thought to this vital matter for our Internet home.
Sincerely, StopCensoringUs@hotmail.com
I'm pretty sure nobody was asking dude.
You don't actually know that. Once you delegated the moderation to others, you can't know they're using it responsibly without cross-checking their every decision (in which case you might as well not delegate at all). Certainly, it's a hell of a lot more heavy-handed now than it used to be.
And, really, it is unfair to conflate that email with Liberty Forum, any more than it would be fair to associate Lucianne's with the Yahoo Antifreepers just because both were built by former FReepers.
You used to be gracious about alternate discussion forums. It was a wiser policy.
Oh, that's OK since Islam is an evil religion of terrorism. To call for genocide against them or the Palestinians is patriotic, biblical and just downright cool.Jim, there are many here who are allowed to stay at FreeRepublic after proposing that which IS AN ABOMINATION.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/705564/posts?page=119#119
your call, Jim, as always
Or is FR merely going to devolve into being a chat group for people whose beliefs manage to momentarily coincide with Conservatism.
Thank you for this website.
Oftentimes, I write things here that may be original, and yet I have, no I am grateful for the fact that I have been allowed to post opinions without censorship. I have oftentimes regreted my postings as they are far from the PC norm in circulation in society in general and used to worry about trouble.... But, never have I felt that FreeRepublic was anything but reputatable!
FreeRepublic is the best place for news and commentary in the World!
This pisses me off . . .
I'd been lurking on this forum for two years prior to registering here. I've seen the screen names come and go. I've admired some of the posters that have disappeared; some, however, will not be missed.
I can remember when the temporary suspension of posting privliges at FreeRepublic was referred to as being sent to "Purgatory".
I am continually amazed at the patience and tolerance shown by the moderators on this forum. There is no other conservative site that I am aware of that would put up with the invective spewed forth by certain individuals who would otherwise consider themselves to be intelligent adults. Admit it; if you're banned (not suspended) from FreeRepublic, you've crossed the line separating intelligent discourse from rectalgia.
If these personalities are the "Great Ones", I am more than happy to consider myself an FR Apologist Sheeple Shill.
Flame me if you must, but don't do so via Freepmail. Send the scat to BraveMan@wi.rr.com instead.
End Rant
OK, who blabbed?
Good question!
And the recent past here on FR puts an interesting light on a big issue from the past:
When Klinton was in office, a lot of people looked around the internet and asked, "How come more democrats don't speak up against Klinton?!"
It's possible democrats experienced something similar to what conservatives are currently experiencing. Here in our very visible forum -- where an outsider might look to see how conservatives react to Bush -- just about everyone who attempts to speak objectively about the sitting prez simply gets "disappeared."
You expect such stuff from the 'rats. They don't believe in principles, just expediency. It's very unsettling to see such activity from "conservatives"...
I observed in an email that FR, lately, is like a teen slasher movie -- every day, one or two more of us is gone....
-- KotS
He's over there.
Pick any Arafat thread posted today and the ONLY posts will be from the “Israel can do no wrong” crowd. Haven’t seen any of this crowd showing up on Liberty Forum complaining of being banned from FR. How about the name calling by pro-Bush supporters on threads that, oh my gosh, might question policy from Washington. Haven’t seen any of them on Liberty Forum either. Why doesn’t their name calling get them banned as well? Is this an example of healthy debate? Don’t think so.
I have made significant monetary contributions to this site in the past and I do understand that this is YOUR forum. However, might I suggest that the opening page of FR display the new posting rules:
Those who get booted are usually posters who post racist materials, posters who post anti-Semitic materials, posters who post Holocaust denial materials, those who spread the "Protocols" nonsense propaganda, those who post Marxist propaganda and attempt to pass it off as truth, those who deal in tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, those who condemn others based on race or religion, those who condemn religion itself, those leftists who pose as conservatives or right wingers but constantly trash conservatives or conservative policy, those who call for armed revolution or other violence, those who blame America for 9-11, those who excessively bash our president, our war effort or our military, those who post excessive profanity, those who aggressively engage in personal attacks, feuds and flamewars, those who register two or more accounts and use them as straw men or try to pass themselves off as different posters, those who post vulgarity or pornography, those who continually post off topic items, spammers, advertisers, trolls, liberals, anarchists, skinheads, nazis, communists, defenders of abortion, gun control, gay rights, peta people, etc, etc (Free Republic is not a liberal debating society).
BTW,
Thank You Jim for listening to us, and for addressing something the critics of this site wouldnt have the gall to do. It just shows this site, and we all, are bigger than that.
Youve fought the good fight, for all of us, and thank you for listening to us. Never quit, your the best.
Based on what I saw, it's also 50% Confederate wannabes. Wait, that's 150%. Well, you know what I mean.
Why is it that so many of these forums seem to be obsessed with FR?
Too bad it's as unusual as it is, though. Maybe that's why we keep parsy around - he really is rara avis in terra ;)
Shigure was being sarcastic.
Is FR going to continue to be a resource for Conservatism,
Or is FR merely going to devolve into being a chat group for people with identity politics and whose beliefs manage to only momentarily coincide with Conservatism.
My wife is a better student of the Bible than I, but she tells me that God instructed the Jews to kill every man, woman, child and domestic animal when they conquered a land. They didn't and were punished for their stupidity. Are you second-guessing God?
Provocative posts like the one at the top of this thread are part of the reason. The relationship appears to be symbiotic.
Hm.
Were you trying to make some kind of point?
As an administrator of a large hobby-site messageboard with many moderators I know how difficult it can be to keep the lid on the whackos and malcontents who believe that they have a constitutional right to post any kind of trash they please on another's website and are offended and haughty when challenged or outright banned. Too bad.
Your post explains a lot of the weird and nasty stuff we've been confronted with on FR lately and that has dismayed a lot of regular FReepers. Thanks for taking the time to lay it out for us and explain what's going on.
As a conservative website FR is always going to be a lightening bolt for the angry, the discontented and those who will not accept the slightest authority or supervision due to ego or other problems. That's been obvious for a long time and the urge to argue seems to be ingrained in many folks, anyway. This very thread is a demonstration of that inclination.
Thanks again for a great site and the answer to some questions we've all had.
Oh, yeah; I'll stick around, too.
SPOOK ELITE, EYES ONLY:
I never talk about our daily NSA briefings.
This encrypted FReepmail will self-destruct in five seconds.
cc: Amen Corner Hatchet Team, Lincoln-Worshippers, Fiat Money Fan Club
I would second guess anything claiming to be a "god", that instructed me to kill every man, woman, child and domestic animal.
Such a creature would be evil.
I'm not really sure why you felt it neccesary to even make this post. The internet has always been nothing but a series of conversations...some polite...some not. Sometimes, I feel like being polite, and at other times, I feel like being free to call an @sshole an @sshole.
To me, it is simply a matter of deciding in which sandbox I want to play at any given time. To stand in one sandbox and throw sand at others in another sandbox seems rather pointless, IMO...Regardless of which sandbox one is standing in, or who is throwing the sand.
I play in the sandbox that interests me at any given point in time.
There is a mirror thread of this at LF. So, people there are talking about FR as people here, are talking about LF. Pretty pointless...but everyone gets to spew.
Regards,
LOL
Where do you people come from?
Jim, you seem to have spawned "Welfare Freepers", those who think that you owe them a forum.
Grampa Dave add on: Then these clymers actually believe that we have to read and agree with the spew they post as Welfare Freepers!
To me, it seems more a matter of which catbox to play in at any given time.
The dreaded MØØK?
(Sign me up!)
Well he's a socialist. I mean how can one want to federalize education and NOT be? If it quacks like a duck it's a duck. But he's our socialist damn it! :-)
Not true; they were commanded to drive out those they conquered, "those of them whom you leave shall be pins in your eyes and a thorn in your sides, and they will harass you upon the land in which you dwell." (Numbers 33:55)
They were, however, commanded to exterminate the Amalekites (Deut. 25:17) because of the Amalekites constant waging of genocide against the Israelites, a command BTW which King Saul did not have the stomach to fulfill.
Which is exactly why I never joined. I don't think my nerves could handle jumping rebutting any more hate propaganda filled discussions than I already do...I know that forums like Liberty are exactly where defense is needed, and I feel guilty about not fighting the good fight there....but I have all the hate and propaganda-fighting I can handle on Arab forums.
The Taliban has a full wardrobe.
These people blaspheme without even knowingthat they are taking God's name in vane . . . ascribing Divine instruction to the convenient will of man.
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