I have been actively posting here since about 2004, and lurked for a year or so before that. I got suspended in 2006 for making some intemperate stupid comment; I can’t even remember what it was.
But, my trip to Jim’s woodshed was instructive.
Except for weather or other breaking local issues, FR is the first site I check in the AM, and the last I check in the PM. News Activism is as fast as anywhere in breaking a story that would interest me.
Most FReepers, like most conservatives, are smart, and they write well, too. Debate is usually fair, and when someone gets blistered, he or she most often earned it. I know I have deserved it when I have been called to task or even ridiculed over a poorly conceived comment.
This here (pardon the colloquialism) is not an emotionally-focused sing along kindergarten most concerned with members’ self esteem. Like LGF, FR is an intellectual gathering place; it's a conservative's watering hole. OK, I'm preaching to the choir.
Also, Free Republic has a pretty broad following across the conservative spectrum, crucial to lively commentary.
This is the only site I know of where posts often make me, literally, laugh out loud.
And I am a stern taciturn type. I don’t laugh or even smile much, at least on the outside. But, I find something pretty darn funny most days on FR.
I support FR and encourage others to do likewise.