I just could no longer deal with the freepers who's only purpose in life is to thwart "blog pimps" like it was some high crime. Nobody else gave a damn, and I would often hit the blogs anyway just to spite the self appointed hall monitors.
That's why I left, after having read freerepublic almost since its inception in 1998.
For years, I had "blog pimped" on freerepublic--freerepublic after all has a special forum for blog pimping, which I used--with nary a complaint from anyone, until near the end.
I assumed the blog forum on freerepublic was a public service, so as to help get the various conservative and moderate viewpoints out, since the mainstream media ignores them. conservativecave has a forum for blog pimps too, but conservativecave being pretty small doesn't offer the exposure freerepublic does.
Also, I had assumed I was doing readers of freerepublic a favor by posting only excerpts from pieces, which they could check out at the original sites if they so chose. I mean, come on, some of my stuff is pretty long, two in particular surely book-length.
I dunno how long it's been--in July 2011, I think--that I left freerepublic, after suddenly out of the blue getting nasty comments from grouches about "blog pimping" (even though such were posted in the blog pimping forum). The last straw was when I posted an except of a most-excellent piece from TVDOC here, after which I went back no more.
If freerepublic didn't want blog pimps, freerepublic wouldn't have a blogging forum.
I suppose some of the grouches there might have assumed one takes away readers from freepublic by guiding them to different sites, which is bullshit. I've always read various sites, and reading those sites didn't steer me away from reading freerepublic. In fact, it probably increased my reading and appreciation of freerepublic.
I should've seen it coming, when some months before, some hysterical lady there posted a long vanity rant about how she hated, hated, hated, hated, hated bloggers on freerepublic. I was astounded by the ferocity and vigor of how much she hated, as if bypassing blogger articles presented a Great Burden, a Great Nuisance, a Great Inconvenience, a Great Bother, to her.
And the chorus of grouches singing approval was large.
I thought wow, what's wrong with these people?
Jim Robinson can take great and justifiable pride in that freerepublic was the first, the biggest, in getting the conservative and moderate viewpoints out there in public, and for that one must salute and respect him, but it's all very different now.
