One of the things I liked about Free Republic was the diversity of opinion.
Sometimes I would read a news item or an opinion piece in the MSM or elsewhere and think, "there is something wrong with that" without actually being able to put my finger on what the exact problem was.
So then I'd go to FR and look through the topics, and sure enough I'd find a discussion going on on the same issue and there would be someone expressing the same concern I had and there would be someone else answering that concern.
It was a great path to learning about an issue. From all sides.
At the moment I am most interested in the battle for the Republican nomination. If I read something from either party, I would normally be going to FR to check out the different views.
Except that nowadays, I know that is pointless. No good at all in going to FR for a variety of views on that particular issue. FR is being censored and controlled worse than any LW site and its a shocking thing to behold. All the goodwill built up over the years destroyed in one futile display of arrogance, intolerance and intellectual cowardice.
Great I have discovered the Briefing Room. When I want what I used to get at FR, I come here.
Nothing like the free enterprise system, freedom of speech and competition. Long may those principles exist.
Shame that the site that once stood for them for so long has succumbed, and now provides an environment almost Stalinist in nature.
Rock on the Briefing Room.
FR, that I supported for 16 years, can die in its own excrement. And good riddance to a place that treats loyalty with such contempt.
Unfortunately, what you just described is exactly what happened here at GOP briefing room.
Opinions here were once varied and exchanged respectfully and with good cheer toward others.
But once Donald Trump entered the race, any support or even mention of him, brought out hordes of posters hurling non-stop insults toward Trump and -- here's the bad part -- and personally against his supporters.
Many Trump supporters began noticing that dissimilar civility rules applied to them. Many felt hounded and began leaving, including myself.
As I look around these pages now, I see very little balance. There are just a handful of Trump supporters left. This has become an anti-Trump website, with most of the recent explosive growth coming from free republic, where the same thing happened only in reverse, with Cruz supporters feeling put upon.
So, if that's what you're looking for in political discussion -- an echo chamber. Then, welcome to TBR!