There are a lot of places on the internet to talk or, more likely, yell incoherently. Yet there are very few places left for us to think together.
One trend we kept noticing at The Free Press was that our readers didn’t just want to engage with our stories. They wanted to engage with each other. Honestly, some of you seem more interested in the comments section than the articles themselves. Which, okay. Fair enough.
So we built The Free Press Forum: a members-only digital space built right into The Free Press website and app, where subscribers can go from reading a story to talking about it with other Free Pressers.
In other words: the comments section, but better.
Inside the Forum, you’ll find spaces for:
News of the Day
Introductions
Networking
Parenting
Dating
Recommendations
Letters to the Editor
Ask Me Anythings (AMAs) and conversations with Free Press staff
And more to come!
Want to debate whether the David Mamet cartoon in this week’s TGIF was actually funny? Go wild! He can handle a bad review.
Want to share your own parenting advice that differs from Abigail Shrier’s? (We dare you.)
Need to hire a hardworking, critical-thinking Gen Zer for your startup? At the risk of exaggerating, this might be the only place on the internet to find such a person.
Want to recommend the podcast episode that had you fired up at dinner with your family? Then bring it to your other family. And, by that, I mean your fellow Free Pressers.
Did you read a book so good you immediately texted three people about it? This is where you can get the word out. Maybe it even makes the bestseller list because of you. Who knows?! Give it a shot.
Go ahead and post about it. You can make it weird. Just keep it kind. There are Guidelines. We’re trusting you people. I’ve been ranting about a comments-section expansion for years now. I finally won. Don’t make Bar regret it!
The internet can feel strangely lonely. We hope this feels different.
A place to think for yourself, but not by yourself. Come and reason together, my friends. It’s practically a civic duty as we make it to America’s 250th birthday.
The Forum is now open to Free Press paid subscribers.
Not a paid subscriber yet? Become a paid subscriber.
Actually most of us "are more interested in the comments section than the articles themselves," because that's where you are more likely to find truth and substance, This especially applies to the vacuous TGIF.
I’m a big fan of TGIF, but very disappointed with the FP amount of audio/video content w/o transcript. Lots of subscribers just want to be able to scan something in a few minutes without having to use up an hour. AI can generate transcripts easily, so what’s the hold-up?