The problem, as I’ve seen it, is those bloggers who are using FR as a free source of blog hits and NEVER participate in the discussions they post threads to start.
They are hit and run posters; just post a thread and never heard from again, even when people as them for comments or suggest they participate.
FR was not established from everything I’ve seen, as source of free advertising for people to use and not pay for.
Yes the hit and runners are a problem but even the ones that stay and discuss have been hit a lot. Some of them have been Freepers of long standing..
Well in any event, we see now that Freerepublic is starting to make itself felt in certain quarters, so even negative publicity is a good thing.