I think it was all really stupid, both Skins and Jim Robinson of freerepublic.
There was never at any time any need to have Elad (in the case of Skins's island) and Jack or Joe or Jerry or whatever his name is, the son of Jim Robinson (in the case of freerepublic) to waste any time designing a unique message board format.
They could've just as easily swiped SMF or somesuch other software and used that. And because such are in common use, if there's a problem, it'd be easy to get the solution.
These are the sorts of idiots who instead of buying a car off the assembly-line in Detroit, insist upon "custom-making" their own vehicle, including the screws and nuts and bolts--and then when the thing breaks down, well, nobody has replacement parts on their shelves.
I just never got it; why was it so vitally important to have one's unique one-of-a-kind format? What does standard stuff that's available lack that Skins's island and freerepublic don't have?