Talk:Free Republic

Attacks on Obama family
This section seems to be unnecessary and not notable. It concerns a single thread on a site that has thousands of them. One effect of it, intended or not, is to demean the subject of the article. Unless there is some reasoned opposition, I intend to delete it. --Lou Sander (talk) 13:45, 7 June 2010 (UTC)


 * The incident received media coverage and can be kept in the article.&mdash;goethean &#2384; 14:17, 7 June 2010 (UTC)


 * And why should it be kept? And if it is kept, why shouldn't the material from the posts be included? --Lou Sander (talk) 04:51, 8 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Any material which was covered by the media (in this case, the Sun article) can be included in the article.&mdash;goethean &#2384; 14:32, 8 June 2010 (UTC)


 * The quotations in the Vancouver Sun give a taste of the tone (excuse the mixed metaphor) of the discussions on the website which is the subject of the article. I think that the article should include more quotations from the thread which were covered by the news article. The quotations give insight regarding the subculture which the website cultivates --- an angry, racist, irrational group.&mdash;goethean &#2384; 14:51, 8 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree with goethean that the material now in the article should remain. The site has thousands of threads but very few of them attract coverage in other media. This is an opportunity for us to give our readers information about the site by reporting the observations of a third party.


 * On the other hand, the coverage doesn't need to be extremely detailed. We now have one quotation from the Free Republic thread. I'm skeptical about whether additional quotations would add much; I suggest that proposed language be posted her for discussion. JamesMLane t c 15:03, 8 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Concur. --BenBurch (talk) 22:16, 20 June 2010 (UTC)


 * The author of the Vancouver Sun article, Chris Parry, is a member of a rival progressive website and has made extremely inflammatory and contemptuous posts there. His bias against Free Republic has been thoroughly exposed. If we're going to include his article as a reliable source, and quote from it for an entire paragraph, then we'll need to qualify all that with information about Parry's bias. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 15:03, 11 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't think it's necessary to talk about the author; it's not as if he needs to spin comments like "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds." Besides, if you were to document the bias of every writer cited in wikipedia in the very article, it would take years to do the whole wiki. 188.95.42.176 (talk) 17:42, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Cheap shot
"One thing that apparently won't result in a ban: using the site solely to boost Web ranking for your child porn site." Quite an accusation, given that an actual child porn site would be illegal. Sitting there in the article with little context, and effectively having the last word.

I'm no friend of Free Republic, but this is not appropriate for a Wikipedia article. - Jmabel | Talk 18:13, 25 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm going back on forth on whether to include it. I decided to leave it in, but am certainly open to a debate on the subject. I would ordinarily consider it a non-notable criticism, but it is likely more notable here when charged against a website full of "morality police." I also tried to make the statement a little less ambigous. I've removed the weasel word "critics" and named the specific critic. There may be other "critics" who have made a similar point, but the one I linked was where the quote actually came from. If we are going to include a direct quote, then we should definitely credit the quote in-line. The sentence has become a bit unweildy and someone with a better command of proper grammar may wish to take a look and rearrange it a bit. Sperril (talk) 17:07, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * This is an opinion, and we report facts about opinions. The mainstream media don't give much coverage to political message boards, so when they do, any such criticism is probably notable enough to be reported. The way to balance it would be to include anything that Robinson or some FR supporter has said on the subject. JamesMLane t c 00:57, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

The line is absolutely a cheap shot, out of context and placed without response at the very end to make it appear Free Republic supports child porn. Given that Free Republic is a Judeo-Christian site with a strong Second Amendment focus, the last place in the world a child pornographer would want to show up is on Free Republic, they'd be hunted down like vermin. If this is the quality of editing, I hope to be fair you will edit the Planned Parenthood entry to reflect they are child killers, and since the ACLU represents NAMBLA surely they must supprt child sodomy. I mean, why not add a throw away line claiming everyone on the right is a child molester (though sexual freedom has long been a cause of the left), why be fair when you can just make up some thin accusation to sully an organization's name for political reasons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.69.244.157 (talk) 05:38, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

If you think it's a cheap shot, take it up with the Salon article, wherein it is demonstrated that accounts linking to child pornography remain unhindered on Free Republic even while "RINOs" are banned en masse. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.242.54.162 (talk) 18:24, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree, while Free Republic is filled with troglodyte opinions, they aren't child pornographers. It should be removed. -GMcG
 * I also agree it should be removed. And I've belonged to DU since '03.198.228.228.27 (talk) 02:49, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

History of purges
I have not been to this article in quite a while, but I thought that I remembered once there was at least a capsule history of "purges" that have happened frequently on the Free Republic forum, often of high-profile "Freepers" or forum members. This is a pretty important topic essential to the understanding of Free Republic's history. The arbitrary nature of the Free Republic ownership in conducting these purges is noteworthy. B. Polhemus (talk) 15:49, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Removed some lead text.
"For each article, the forum's main page typically shows its headline, plus the first 100 words of the article as posted to Free Republic. Users can see the full article at its original source by clicking a hyperlink beneath the headline." This seemed to go against wikipedia's "what wikipedia is not" guideline; specifically, about a how-to manual type thing. 74.132.249.206 (talk) 08:49, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

Free Republic blacklisted by Wikipedia?!?!
My eyes widened in disbelief when I got the following "Spam filter notice" while making a link to a Free Republic page (dated 2001) from another Wikipedia talk page: "The following link has triggered a protection filter: www [dot] freerepublic [dot] com. Either that exact link, or a portion of it (typically the root domain name) is currently blocked."

FYI, the incriminated post, part of which is blacklisted by… Wikipedia, is the following, on the Vladimir_Bukovsky page, and perceptive readers will note that, ironically, it discussed… censorship!


 * I was amazed to see the use of the word "alleged" in the following External Links item:

"Voices of Dissent An expose film of alleged human rights abuse presented by Vladimir Bukovsky (2006)".

So now the KGB must be given the benefit of the doubt, not only during the period that the Kremlin's police did its (mis)deeds, but even 21 years (!) after the Soviet Union collapsed?!


 * In light of the — continued — whitening of the KGB, along with charges of Bukovsky lying, no wonder Pajamas Media published an article (The Greatest Subversive of Our Times by Michael Ledeen, 29 December 2012) speaking of the times that Vladimir Bukovsky "was subjected to the KGB’s infamous psychological and biochemical torments during his years in prison and the camps." And you still believe that "alleged" belongs in the description of that exposé film?!


 * Then, of course, it's easier to understand when one learns that the Russian cannot get certain books published in the West because they reveal [the following five words linked to www dot freerepublic dot com /focus/f-news/536808/posts] Soviet support of Western leftists [a direct redirect link being impossible on this page because a conservative internet forum is… blacklisted by… Wikipedia!!] ("Vladimir Bukovsky has written a richly detailed, heavily documented account of how the Soviet Union aided Palestinian militants, Latin American revolutionaries, and even America's Black Panther movement. Based on materials unearthed in Russian archives, 'Judgment in Moscow' also discloses Moscow's clandestine efforts to manipulate public opinion throughout the West."). Asteriks (talk) 13:34, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Arbitration motion
The Arbitration Committee are reviewing the discretionary sanctions topic areas with a view to remove overlapping authorisations, the proposed changes will affect this topic area. Details of the proposal are at Arbitration/Requests/Motions where your comments are invited. For the Arbitration Committee, Liz  Read! Talk! 20:45, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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Racist site
Shouldn't Free Republic be described as an overtly racist site? The things people write about minorities, especially Muslims, is extremely racist. (2A00:23C4:6384:FE00:5075:628B:59FB:3143 (talk) 10:33, 5 September 2017 (UTC))

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070929144338/http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/04/02/blue/index.html to http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/04/02/blue/index.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080112021723/http://home.att.net/~alanj.hall/BushInaugural/PhotoPage3.html to http://home.att.net/~alanj.hall/BushInaugural/PhotoPage3.html
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Pro-Russian and Pro-Putin bias
Starting with the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the site has noticeably demonstrated a prevailing bias in favor of Russia and in favor of Vladimir Putin. While some posters are tolerated for pro-Ukrainian stances several pro-Ukrainian posters have been banned from the site. Many of the pro-Russian posters state consistently anti-American views which would seem to be at odds with the founding principles of the site. While unsubstantiated there have been recurring allegations that some of the pro-Russian posters are paid 'trolls' due to apparently coordinated messaging among the pro-Russian posters. 2600:1700:C870:4950:3599:9F2D:AA93:CE01 (talk) 21:22, 22 January 2023 (UTC)