I too am somewhat disappointed at the level of scholarship and citizen journalism that FR has turned into. This after over 10 years here and many posts based on detailed research and explanation/translation, etc..
You should have been here in the early years. We had Barbara Olson, shucks, we had a bunch of folks whose names you would recognize. Before Jonah’s mom got in a huff and started her own website. I think we still have a bunch of folks who you would recognized. Sometimes I wonder if Sarah Baracuda ain’t actually her. For a long time I was pretty sure freerepublic was a regular, last minute stop for Rush.