I think the Freep movement is about as serious or important as the old John Birch society; you can always find a cluster of nots if you walk around in the forest long enough.

From the Wikipedia article on the Freeps:

"Free Republic, like many politically oriented sites, does not seek to be a board that represents all political viewpoints, but those to the right of the political center, on issues concerning America. Articles posted which contain unwelcome reports or views (usually liberal) are customarily ridiculed and tagged with the words BARF ALERT after the headline. The "BARF ALERT" has two purposes: to warn readers in advance of news or opinion articles running counter to the prevailing perspective of the site's intended audience, and to protect the poster by distancing him- or herself from those views or news reports. [10]
Another common term is ZOT! which refers to the banning of a user for posting unwelcome material or for making comments which a forum moderator then uses as a reason or excuse to ban. The moderators on Free Republic often ban, without warning or explanation, posters who criticize Israel, the 2003 invasion of Iraq or the operation in Afghanistan, Catholic complaints about the Catholic Church (on the religion forum), or who express any opinion which diverges from the site's political purposes, or that of a particular forum moderator. Ample examples exist of criticism of the President and Congress for not being sufficiently conservative or living up to the group's ideals. Generally, the amount of latitude one has to express his views expands significantly as he becomes better known on the site, establishes relationships with other users, and provides evidence of adhering to the rules and stated goals of the site and its owner, although this is no guarantee against a banning if one runs afoul of a particular forum's moderator. If banned in one forum, the member is banned from the entire site. There is no warning system on Free Republic, and no explanation is required to ban a user. It is not a 'democracy', and there is no provision for appeal. A poster becomes aware that he has been banned when he attempts to post or reply on Free Republic and is instead presented with the notice: "Your posting privilege has been revoked."[citation needed]
Free Republic was virtually unmoderated (with the exception of the efforts of Robinson himself) in its early years, but they alledge they are frequently targeted by "moles" from rival liberal talkboards, such as Democratic Underground [citation needed]. As a result of this, Robinson asked several of the more trusted long-term members to volunteer as moderators in 2002. The moderators have the power to delete offensive content, including entire threads, and to suspend an account's posting privileges -- pending review and possible banning by Robinson."

A