Owner of Free Republic, Jim Robinson, Tries To Make Sense Of The Site''s Dwindling Membership

Who reads FR? How many accounts on FR? What does FR stand for? Where is FR going? 01/19/11 | Jim Robinson Posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:00:05 PM by Jim Robinson Edited on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 1:21:38 PM by Jim Robinson. [history] I'm placing this in breaking news, because there have been several breaking news complaint threads recently. Guess there are a lot of people not understanding the facts about FR, or what we stand for, where we're going, etc. First of all, who reads FR and how many accounts do we have? I honestly have no idea and the exact number does not concern me. We currently have over 369,000 registered accounts on FR, but as someone pointed out yesterday, not all of them are active and I have no idea how many are active. Many years ago we had less than 30,000 accounts registered. Then we hit a hundred thousand, a hundred fifty thousand, then two hundred thousand and three or four years ago we approached and went over 300,000. Every few years as we hit a major milestone in registered accounts, I updated our home page with the current number of accounts on FR. I'll probably do it again after we go over 400,000, then 500,000, etc, and maybe I won't. The number of registered accounts doesn't really mean much. And our growth in the last few years has tapered off anyway for various reasons. Who actually reads FR? Again, we have no idea, but there are hundreds of thousands maybe even millions of readers. All kinds of people read FR. News hounds, liberals, conservatives, politicians, talk show hosts, religious types, atheists, you and me brother and everyone in between. We serve over 1,000,000 pageviews per day. So why has our growth tapered off? Well, probably the primary reason is we've narrowed our point of view lately as we've moved away from just talking about the issues and have actually started becoming constitutional activists. The time for talking is over. Now we need to walk the walk. Our focus has become closer to working on our primary goal which is a return to constitutionally limited government and a full restoration of our God-given unalienable rights. We can't do that by being big tent, all things to all people, non-principled, two-talking politicians. If we are truly interested in advancing our traditional conservative pro-God, pro-family, pro-life, pro-country, pro-liberty principles and positions then we must reject the politicians and people supporting the other way. As an organization, we cannot be both for and against homosexuality, abortion, big government, border and national security, etc. I don't know about others, but if we must choose, I choose to be on the right side of each and every issue. Why should FR use its limited resources to allow liberals, homosexualists, abortionists, big spenders, big taxers, big government solutions advocates, gun grabbers, pacifists, isolationists, environmentalists, open-borders lobbyists, etc, ply their trade on FR? Well, more and more lately, we don't. And, apparently, that has pissed off a lot of big tent, true blue RINO types and the herd is stampeding. Let them go. We who share our common traditional conservative principles, values and goals will be better off in the long run. We need to build on our strengths and attract more traditional conservatives to our viewpoints than to water down and weaken our own. It just doesn't make sense to me to support politicians like Giuliani, Romney, Gingrich, et al, who have RINO/liberal track records. It doesn't make sense to allow abortionists, homosexualists, gun-grabbers, big-government solutionists, etc, to have free rein on FR to target and lambast us daily with their repugnant bile. Let them go. FR will continue on the traditional God, family, country, life and liberty path. If it means fewer accounts or less growth, so be it. If it means we receive fewer in donations, so be it. We will adapt, improvise and overcome and I believe prosper (God willing) in the long run. And, hopefully, someday we can say that we helped restore our beloved republic and our Liberty!

http://home.granderiver.net/~capnjim/fr/sarah_jim.gif



• People are leaving because the man is an unhinged loon. \ \ One of the exiles has even set up a splinter site.

  http://www.freerepublik.com/

• To show what side of the spectrum they truly are and how crazy Conservatives have truly become, they refer to NewT Gingrich as a RINO/liberal!! ''\ \ \ Wow, just...wow!\ \ \ Twenty years ago, he was considered a far Right Wing Conservative!!! and he still is!!!

• How many fat, disabled, angry white men getting disability and social security does the idiot think there are in the US?

• [quote] and I believe prosper (God willing) in the long run.%0D\ %0D\ Boy, did you read me wrong.

  God

• I bet Robinson has a good idea of how many accounts are active. A majority of the accounts have most likely been banned from posting.%0D\ %0D\ Free republic indeed.

• Aa freeper former employee just emailed me recently and told me she has had to file for bankruptcy. I wish I could feel bad for her, but I don''t. She was probably a subscriber, and I''m sure that''s an expense that had to go.

• He probably alienated everyone by banning any dissenters.

• They are dying of old age or they''ve lost their homes and thus computer access.

• Half of them are probably dead. They were 65-80 years old when they registered.

• Wasn''t the site being heavily monitored by law enforcement at one time? That''s enough to scare some of them away and also incentive for Robinson to weed out the most extreme of his extremists.

• freak republic

• Is he in wheelchair?

• How is this new?\ \ I remember posting on FR 8 years ago and mildly questioned Jeb Bush''s child rearing skills (when his daughter was turning tricks for crack).\ \ I was banned almost immediately.\ \ There is nothing free or constitutional about Free Republic. Just a bunch of old, angry, bigoted white people angry that life has passed them by and everyone else seems to be having more fun. \ \ NEWS: Only idiots with no options join the military.

• Jim Robinson is going to be 66 years old this year. The guy be getting old, and pretty soon he''ll be worm food. I wonder where all the Freeps will head to once he''s dead. Probably DL.

• Jim Robinson with some tatty-assed drag queen...

  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1pINz6H54Ys/TQ1HQCg6ulI/AAAAAAAAB80/DRsH6ceRWcc/s1600/jim+robinson.jpg

• Do the Freepers tend to be old? I always picture them as pencil-neck college boys with greasy hair.

• R15: Dogs shouldn''t wear hounds-tooth. It''s overkill.

• Wait, there really is such a thing as a "freeper"?

• [quote]I bet Robinson has a good idea of how many accounts are active. A majority of the accounts have most likely been banned from posting.\ \ I was just about to post that...I call bullshit on him not knowing the statistics for his own site, and not caring.

• Yes, R18.%0D

• "It just doesn''t make sense to me to support politicians like Giuliani, Romney, Gingrich, et al"\ \ So basically he''s turned Free Republic into a fansite for the most hated woman in America (aka Sarah Palin).

• Sounds like RimJob is heading off the cliff...

• There''s a lot to know about Robinson and Freeperville.\ \ First: he''s in a wheelchair and draws a gov''t check for it... but he''s not like those freeloading welfare leeches, because he deserves it. Or something.\ \ Second: he has these Freepathons to raise money for the site every quarter, but it seems like they''re nearly constant now. He claims that he''s broke and his webhosting costs are $70,000/year, but the FR website still looks like Geocities 1997 and people are sending in tens of thousands of dollars. \ \ Third: he''s gotten more unhinged than even many of his insane commenters, and has gone on giant banning campaigns that have turned off some of the most faithful. Sean Hannity, for Christ''s sake, has criticized him and the site publicly, which has led to Hannity to be considered a squishy liberal Republican in Freeperland. Robinson is batshit crazy.

• [quote]So why has our growth tapered off? Well, probably the primary reason is we've narrowed our point of view lately as we've moved away from just talking about the issues and have actually started becoming constitutional activists. Well, that was easy to decipher: He's gone from Republican to Tea Party. On a thread about a month ago, someone posted links to articles and blog posts outlining how Robinson changes political directions every couple of years, tossing out the old advocates and friends and getting new ones. Then he announces this on FR with an upbeat "I'm the wave of the future" kind of post -- just like this one. It's no surprise he's doing it again, but this time, I think he's a little late. The Tea Party is on the downswing, not gaining traction, and he's going to find himself losing even more members. These things go in waves. On the so-called liberal side, DailyKos was huge a few years ago but has been tapering off since 2007 or so, ever since Kos' conservative, slightly sexist and homophobic nature was revealed. The same happens with Republicans; they find out their online forum is hosted by someone who doesn't agree with their own personal brand of conservativism and they move on.

• When things get too boring and predictable over there, just throw in a "Mormons are true Americans" comment and watch the fur fly.%0D\ %0D

  RimJob''s Medicare-issued diapers

• Does anyone have confirmation that Jim is on Medicare?

• "Americans will NEVER tire of a steady diet of hate, stupid, and crazy," declares Rimjob Robinson.

• Most of his users have migrated over to Datalounge.

  ShinjukuBaby

• "We currently have over 369,000 registered accounts on FR . . . not all of them are active and I have no idea how many are active."\ \ What an idiot. Any website software today worth having will tell an owner how many accounts are active.

• [quote]Any website software today worth having will tell an owner how many accounts are active.%0D\ %0D\ Can you even get software that doesn''t? %0D\ %0D\ Of course, a convenient feature is that you don''t have to look, that way you don''t have to admit that over half of the accounts haven''t been accessed for over a year.

  Myspace

• Anyone have seen this video? I cried.\ \ "GAY = SIN"

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Dpcq2fZmc

• RimJob is in full meltdown mode now:\ \ 1) I support a woman''s "right to choose," therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 2) I support "gay rights," therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 3) I support "illegal immigration rights," therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 4) I think guns are dangerous and so support "reasonable" gun control, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 5) I support government provided health care, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 6) I think we should all pay our "fair share" and so support higher taxes for the wealthy, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 7) I think many times government can provide the best solution, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 8) I think the constitution is fine, but when more government control is needed it just gets in the way, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 9) I think all this talk about God-given rights is fundamentalist extremism, therefore I cannot support FR.\ \ 10) I support MY free speech rights and FR won''t allow me to post my support for any of the above, therefore I cannot support FR.

  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2716648/posts

• Reply #23 said: "First: he's in a wheelchair and draws a gov't check for it... but he's not like those freeloading welfare leeches, because he deserves it. Or something." Reply #26 asked: "Does anyone have confirmation that Jim is on Medicare?" Thank you for asking. I’m a Freeper and have been since 2006. I contacted Jim Robinson of Free Republic to ask about this. He is a Navy veteran, he is treated by the VA and has been since a leg amputation, and he purchased his wheelchairs himself before he was on veteran’s care. The wheelchairs were **NOT** paid by Medicare. We may disagree on politics, but let’s agree to get our facts right when we criticize people with whom we disagree.

  Darrell%20Todd%20Maurina

• It took you almost 2 years to get that info? It must've weighed heavily on your mind all this time.

• There's a special place for people like Jim Robinson.

• For #34 -- no, I got sent an email this morning with a link. I asked Jim Robinson today and he answered quickly when asked. When we disagree on politics, our disagreements need to be based on real facts, not misunderstandings. Too often, liberals and conservatives talk past each other instead of to each other, and I'm afraid that's what happened here with a valid question getting asked to which nobody had an answer. And yes, we do this on the conservative side of the fence as well.

  Darrell%20Todd%20Maurina

• This thread is two years old. However, as a former managerial employee of a state veterans home, I can tell you that every wheelchair in that veterans home was donated. That is, every.single.patient.in.a.wheelchair. got that wheel hair free of charge. Veterans organizations (like the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association, Wounded Warriors, etc) raise tens of millions of dollars a year and wheelchairs and gel cushions are bought for veterans by these groups. We were up to our eyeballs with all kinds of things from the organizations -- socks, sweaters, blankets, winter coats, etc. We also had former vets volunteer once a month to take patients out to dinner. The dinners were paid by the veterans groups. The sad thing was that none of the money could go towards staffing the place. We were chronically understaffed and what the veterans really needed were more nursing assistants and nurse to deliver hands-on care. But the veterans home was run by the state and the veterans organizations were not allowed to give money to the state; they could only give it directly to the veterans.So here were these veterans with tons of donated clothing and wheelchairs, etc, but they had to wait half a day to get properly bathed and have their dressings changed and treatments done. Anyhoo, there was no need for any veteran to buy their own wheelchair.

• So everything is paid for by the government except the wheelchair. Okay then!

• Thanks, Darrell. Nice to see civility in political discussion. You've helped.

• Thank you to #39. Have a good night.

  Darrell%20Todd%20Maurina

• Jim Robinson is worse than Hitler.

• I took a peak at FR earlier, and right now they are tearing Joe Scarborough to shreds for daring to point out that Sarah Palin is over, and calling Scott Brown a disgusting RINO who they're glad is not running for Kerry's seat.

• Peek.

  o deer

• CUnts are Cunts

• This thread obviously turned up on google.

• How so, R45?