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Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum, activist and chat site for conservatives, primarily within the United States. It presents articles and comments posted anonymously by registered members using screen names. Due to copyright restrictions (see below), posted articles are often excerpts from originals.

For each article, the forum's main page typically shows its headline, plus the first hundred 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. Registered members post a continuous flow of new articles to the forum.

Local chapters and forum policies

There are local chapters "unconnected with Free Republic", organized through ping lists, e-mail, and Free Republic mail. Some are only "ping list" groups, members who include their names in a list to be "pinged" on news articles of a certain nature. Some cover presidential events (daily picture, prayer, and speech threads), some focus on conservative principles such as the Second Amendment, the pro-life movement, or opposing gay marriage. The more active chapters organize live protests, which they call "Freeps." Since the 2000 election, these are often counter-protests, responses to protests by opposition groups , or small rallies.

Free Republic has an official policy which allows authorized moderators to remove postings identified as blatantly violent, racist or bigoted.. Postings deemed to support "liberal" points of view may also be "moderated" per official policy, expressed in 2004 by the owner as: "we feel no compelling need to allow a platform to promote their repugnant and obnoxious propaganda from our forum. Free Republic is not a liberal debating society." The owner reserves the right to revoke posting privileges and exclude any individual without recourse.

Chronology

1996-2000 - Anti-Clinton

Founded in September 1996 as a sole proprietorship by Founder, Chairman and President James C. "Jim" Robinson of Fresno, California, Free Republic opened to the general public in February, 1997. Robinson filed for LLC status on September 11, 1998. It has always been a for-profit company and donations have never been tax exempt.

Free Republic gained popularity during the Clinton impeachment controversy in 1997 and 1998, a time when it was linked on the Drudge Report as "Whitewater Archives," when protests and write-in campaigns were organized through the website. Many were also introduced to the site through an impeachment rally in Washington, attended by over 500 participants, called the "March for Justice," broadcast live on Halloween 1998 (a Saturday) by the C-SPAN channel. Featured speakers were Alan Keyes, Bob Barr, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson of B.O.N.D. and Larry Klayman. Ann Coulter, Lucianne Goldberg and Matt Drudge also attended. Other Free Republic events over the years have also been televised by C-SPAN.

Drudge dropped the link to Free Republic by February, 1999, "because they were doing racist stuff over the ." Drudge quickly restored the link, but later dropped it again for unknown reasons, and currently does not link.

In its early years, Free Republic generally allowed its members to post copyrighted news stories in entirety to its forum, regardless of whether permission had been granted by content owners, until the site was sued in 1998 by The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times for copyright infringement. The newspapers obtained a permanent injunction, although stipulated damages of $1 million were reduced to $10,000 during settlement negotiations which allowed the defendants to drop their appeal. The case, often cited when arguing cyberlaw, is called L.A. Times v. Free Republic.

From 1996-2000, the bulletin board was virtually unmoderated. This policy was central to the website's Fair Use defense in the Copyright Infringement litigation, wherein it stated "(t)he website operated by the defendants, www.freerepublic.com, permits anyone who wishes to post news articles or other items and to post commentary about the article as well ... no censorship is made and all views are permitted." Salon.com's Jeff Stein observed in 1999 that: " swelling number of haters have turned up the volume of death threats, gay-bashing, name-calling and conspiracy theories tying the father of Republican front-runner George W. Bush to drug-dealing by the CIA." Robinson "famously blasted George W. Bush's presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket's biggest supporters." These shifts signalled internal battles comparable to the nomination controversies of 2007 "as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support."

Leftists began to infiltrate the site, posting articles or posing as conservatives to act as agents provocateurs.. — Sean Scallon in Chronicles magazine, describing pre-2000 left-wing infiltration at Free Republic.

White House Press Secretary and former Fox News commentator Tony Snow was a registered member from April 23, 1998 until the day after the White House announced his consideration for the post of Press Secretary on April 23, 2006. When he accepted his position with the Bush administration his account was "purple screened" (suspended), and the account was reactivated on September 14, 2007 when he resigned his post with the administration. Snow was not afraid to 'mix it up' with the Freepers who sometimes disagreed with his political philosophy and who called him a "pansy".

Free Republic had been criticized during the pre-moderation period for the actions of a few of its members. In 1999, after FReepers heard that Julie Hiatt Steele, the woman charged with obstruction of justice by Kenneth Starr during President Clinton's impeachment trial, was taking credit-card donations to help pay her legal bills, they flooded her Web site with fake donations. Hundreds of "donations" listing fake credit-card numbers (a form of wire fraud) ended up costing Steele around $4,000, since she had to pay her e-commerce service company 25 to 35 cents to process each one. Some threatened to assassinate former President Bill Clinton, like this from February 2001: "If he keeps on he's going to make me come up there. There is only one solution to the Klintons, two 45 rounds and a nice little spot in Marcy Park." .

When the bar manager of an Austin restaurant called 911 to notify authorities that an underage Jenna Bush had attempted to purchase liquor in June 2001, her personal information including her home address, date of birth, driver's license number and physical description was posted on FreeRepublic, along with calls for punitive action. The Clinton threat and some of the bar manager's personal information were removed by Robinson when brought to his attention, and the authors' posting privileges were revoked. He said that the site had had to "delete relatively few posts" over time for violations of its "no-violence" policy despite Free Republic's popularity and ease of registration.

Both Free Republic moderators and external sources have described the persistent presence of left-wing trolling on the Free Republic forums. One such case, the MD4Bush Incident, received a modicum of publicity. In another case, a South Carolina state employee was forced to resign after allegedly engaging in disruption of Free Republic forums from his workplace computer. Moderation was later added to the site in an attempt to combat disruptive posting, but conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly suggested in July 2007 that left-wing vandals were still creating "planted" posts to discredit the forum.

2001-2004: Bush's first term and Killian documents

In January 2001, the forum organized a "Free Republic Inaugural Gala and Count the Silverware Ball, with orchestral entertainment provided by the sitting governor of Arkansas (Gov. Mike Huckabee) and his band." Among the attendees were James Golden (a.k.a., Bo Snerdly from Rush Limbaugh radio broadcasts, an early investor in Free Republic), and the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson of B.O.N.D.

During the 2004 U.S. Elections, Jerome Corsi, a Swift Boat Vet and co-author of the book Unfit for Command that attacked the Vietnam war record of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, apologized in the national media for comments that he made on Free Republic under the user name "jrlc."

Free Republic posters, notably "TankerKC" (later identified as active Air Force officer Paul Boley) and "Buckhead" (later identified as Atlanta GOP lawyer Harry W. MacDougald) contributed, along with members of the blogs Powerline and Little Green Footballs, to breaking what Freepers called "Memogate", the controversy surrounding CBS News' use of allegedly forged documents during the 2004 US presidential campaign.

MacDougald may be the first Internet user to post assertions that the memos were forged. In a post on Free Republic the night of the broadcast, he mentioned the memos' proportional spacing and made the claim that such printing was "not widespread until the mid to late 90's" . His posting spurred discussion spread across the Internet via blogs (attributing Free Republic) and the Drudge Report (attributing the Power Line blog, which credited "Buckhead" at Free Republic). The Associated Press later picked it up. Though the Investigative Panel "was not able to reach a definitive conclusion" on the documents' authenticity, the final conclusion of document expert Peter Tytell in Appendix 4 of the Panel's final report is noteworthy:

Tytell concluded ... that (i) the relevant portion of the Superscript Exemplar was produced on an Olympia manual typewriter, (ii) the Killian documents were not produced on an Olympia manual typewriter and (iii) the Killian documents were produced on a computer in Times New Roman typestyle ... he Killian documents were not produced on a typewriter in the early 1970s and therefore were not authentic.

This resulted in the early retirement of Dan Rather, and the resignations of Mary Mapes and three other news division executives at CBS. According to Ivor Tossell of the Globe and Mail, Free Republic "was central to the network of websites that uncovered the forged memos about Bush's Vietnam service that appeared on CBS News and ultimately cost Dan Rather his job."

MD4Bush Incident

In October 2004, the "MD4Bush" account was created to investigate the source of false rumors that Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Martin O'Malley had committed adultery. These rumors were suspected to be coming from the camp of Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. O'Malley was a likely (and eventual) opponent of Ehrlich in the 2006 gubernatorial race. Using this alias, MD4Bush allegedly lured Joseph Steffen, aide to Ehrlich, who had a Free Republic membership as "NCPAC," into contact. MD4Bush then allegedly brought up the O'Malley rumors, and baited Steffen into giving responses on the FR "private message" system, appearing to take credit for spreading the rumors.

Ehrlich fired Steffen when the contents of these messages were published in the Washington Post on February 9, 2005. "Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, said Ryan O'Doherty's Democratic Party address was one of at least three used to operate the identity of MD4BUSH." Some Republicans and Freepers have charged that Post reporter Matthew Mosk's access to the MD4Bush account constitutes complicity to the alleged entrapment of Steffen, and a violation of the privacy of Free Republic users. No legal remedy was sought by any of the parties.

2005-now - Bush's second term

It's scary how much power they do have. They can take down someone singlehandedly and I don't think Americans are aware of that.. — Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, speaking about Free Republic.

In January 2005, Free Republic organized an unofficial Inaugural Ball at the Washington Plaza Hotel to celebrate the reelection of President Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney and to honor the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. The event was promoted to feature then Arkansas Republican Governor Mike Huckabee and his rock and roll band called Capitol Offense.

The band Dixie Chicks and lead singer Natalie Maines claim that Free Republic was instrumental in fueling a nationwide boycott of their music, which was organized by some former fans and radio stations after Maines made some anti-Bush comments in 2003. In their 2006 documentary Shut Up and Sing as well as in interviews, the Dixie Chicks have often mentioned Free Republic in reference to the boycott, which sharply reduced sales of their CDs and concert tickets.

Maines was quoted as saying: "It's scary how much power they do have. They can take down someone singlehandedly and I don't think Americans are aware of that." Kristinn Taylor of Free Republic's dominant Washington D.C. chapter attended the screening of the documentary, hosted by the liberal advocacy group Center for American Progress. He was invited to join in a discussion after the screening and complimented the director on the film.

Allegations of unfair treatment of Giuliani supporters

In 2007, moderators removed the posting privileges of many members who supported the presidential campaign of then current Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani. The New York Observer reported:

     Starting in April 2007 ... members sympathetic to the former mayor's candidacy claim to have suffered banishment from the site. They were victimized, they say, by a wave of purges designed to weed out any remaining support for the Giuliani campaign...

Influencing online polls

Media web sites, including newspapers, television networks, and America Online, run occasional "polls" that do not use the sampling methods of formal opinion polls, but instead invite all Internet users to respond. Some Free Republic forum messages, usually captioned "Freep this poll!", urge Free Republic members to vote en masse in these polls. Members are also urged to "'Freep' C-Span's 'Washington Journal' with telephone calls pointing out media bias."

"Whenever a poll is posted on Free Republic.com, everybody goes and votes the right way, and there's nothing wrong with that," says Marinelle Thompson, Freeper and founder of gun rights group Second Amendment Sisters. "We just do it for a laugh. It doesn't really mean anything." The polls can also be manipulated, said Vlae Kershner, SF Gate News Director (and poll writer): "People are finding a way of getting around our system that only allows one vote, and they're voting hundreds of times. It's not thousands of people voting one way; it's one or two people voting hundreds of times."

Occasionally, if the current results of an online poll are unfavorable to them, Freepers will "reverse freep" it, voting against their own views to pad the opposing vote to the point where it loses credibility.

References

1. "Conservatives 'fed up' with protesters". USATODAY. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
2. "Free Republic's Reply Memorandum." Los Angeles Times v. Free Republic. U.S. District Court, C.D.Cal., Case No. 98-7840. November 1, 1999.
3. Paragraph 55
7. Freerepublic.com - Registration Registration and User Agreement
8. Freerepublic.com Help (Guidelines)
10. Events-driven Moderator Activities by Admin Moderator, September 21, 2001.
11. Robinson, James C. Biographical Resume
12. California LP/LLC Search Number 199825410007 Free Republic LLC
13. Morrow, Margaret M., J. Tentative Order Case No. CV 98-7840-MMM (AJWx) Los Angeles Times et. al vs. Free Republic et. al
14. Political Research Associates The Public Eye Spring 1999, Volume XIII, No. 1
15. , fetched 2006-12-30
16. York, Anthony April 2, 2001 [http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/04/02/blue/index.html Katherine Harris, woman of the year? ] Salon.com, fetched 2006-12-30
20. "Free for all at Free Republic". Salon.com. July 13, 1999.
21. ^
22. ^ Scallon, Sean. "Letter from the Upper Midwest Blizzard." Chronicles magazine, Dec. 1, 2002.
25. Free Republic homepage of "tonysnow"
31. "A poster crosses the line on Free Republic forum". Salon.com. Feb. 9, 2001. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
32. "The jihad against Chuy's". Salon.com. June 6, 2001. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
33. Free Republic homepage of "Admin Moderator"
34. Ward, Eric Kenneth. "Politics Can Be Dangerous For State Employees." Free Times, Aug. 22, 2000.
35. http://mediamatters.org/items/200708010014 The O'Reilly Factor July 31, 2007
38. Anti-Kerry book author sorry for slurs
39. Pein, Corey. "Blog-Gate." Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 2005.
40. Wallsten, Peter. "Blogger alleging CBS memos as frauds is GOP lawyer." Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2004.
41. Pein, supra.
42. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts?page=47#47
44. " '60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake." Drudge Report Archives. (Retrieved February 5, 2007.)
45. http://powerlineblog.com/archives/007760.php
46. Dobbs, Michael, and Allen, Mike. "Some Question Authenticity of Papers on Bush." The Washington Post, September 10, 2004.
47. http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/complete_report/CBS_Report.pdf
48. Tossell, Ivor. "Free Republic: glass ant farm for zealots" The Globe And Mail, 20 October 2006.
49. "Democrat's e-mail address tied to postings." Baltimore Sun, Dec. 16, 2005
50. Sprueill, Stephen. "Did the Washington Post Violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act?" National Review Online, November 10, 2005.
51. ^ Haysen, Kirsten. "Not Ready to Make Nice." Adelaide Now, October 7, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "Haysen" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
61. "FReep This"
62. Langer, Gary (August 28, 2007). "Online Ballots: Let the Clicker Beware". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-08-30.

External links

• Official website
• Official Yahoo Backup website
• 1996 Archived homepage
• 1997 archived homepage
• 1998 Archived homepage
• Whitewater Archives
• Raimondo, Justin "Corporate Liberals Target Conservative Web Site" Nov. 12, 1999
• Stein, Jeff. "Free-for-all at Free Republic: Lucianne Goldberg, Matt Drudge and other friends abandon the Clinton-bashing Web site over its attacks on George W. Bush" Salon, 13 July 1999.
• Lauerman, Kerry. "They're here, they're mad, get used to it." Salon, 24 June 2001.
• York, Anthony. "Free Republic defends Salon." Salon, 18 July 2001.
• Not So Free Republic. Gheen, William. February 11, 2005
• Another Yahoo FR Group
• Texas Group
• Maryland Group
• Song Parodies with a FR Focus
• The Free Republic Lexicon, a glossary of terms used on the site

• Internet forums
• Political websites