My problem is when people use it to attack DU members.

And when DUers object to those attacks, it's disingenuous to respond "Well, just don't go there!" as if that would solve the problem. And it's not as if there is nowhere else on the internet to interact with people like that. DU would be much better off without that place.

I have fun using facts over on this board. Conservatives are too stupid to deal with facts

And many people do and have changed their minds over time. To assume people are all the same, unable to change, would be denying reality. Many people have changed, once they got information they did not have before.

Otoh, if the Left considers itself too elite to mix with the other half of the country, things will remain as they are, a country divided. My opinion, for what it's worth.

Yes I would also differentiate between stupid and ignorant. I have an interest in the affects of neurochemical imbalance and affects of toxic metals with criminally prone people ...or what I call victims.

There have been a number of threads started on the Discussionist based on false premises or GOP talking points. These threads are fun in that the OP run away from their thread after the premise of the thread is debunked. While the conservatives may not admit they are wrong, they do abandon sinking ships when confronted by sufficient facts

changing his/her mind over at Discussionist? Or even admitting they might be wrong? Please, link me to it. I would love to see it.

to be very proud to be entrenched in their stupidity and ignorance. they wear it like some weird badge of honor. trying to change people who are proud of their stupidity and ignorance is an exercise in futility and one that i simply will not engage. they are not young people who are still living at home under the influence of their parents/guardians. these are full grown adults who are capable of seeing different points of view, but in their stupidity they choose to remain willfully ignorant. it's not an assumption, as these types prove who they are every single time. so, if your belief is that the left is too elitist to mix with the other half of the country, a half that seems to be determined to hold onto their stupidity and ignorance no matter what, you're correct. i don't have time to "mix" with them. it would be an incredible waste of my time. as the saying goes: "once someone tells you who they are, believe them."

No amount of discussion or facts are going to change their minds. They are racists. They hate the black and brown people in this country. Hate is powerful and blinding.

They only cement my disgust of filthy Cons

DU is its own separate website. Different rules, different policies. Don't like it -- don't go there. People on here talk about the free republic all the time. I have never been to that site once.

and doesn't have nearly the membership overlap. Discussionist is affiliated with this website and has a large overlap in membership. Both places are affected by the other. Saying "don't go there" doesn't change anything and only blames the victims of those who are attacked by members of the other site.

here that don't go there DI

It's Disneyland for RW arguers. No better place on the internet. A little rape threatening isn't too high of a cost, is it? Some people just want to ruin all the fun. Those people should shut up. Not the RWers who are so fun to argue with. They must be protected. These RWers they claim to hate so much and looove to argue with.

I have been raped When I find out someone is being threatened with rape I can't ignore it.

I notice a trend in just who is objecting to the tragic maligning of Discussionist. It's also telling that is what they're upset about, isn't it?

I may leave soon but I'm not ready to leave my loved ones behind yet

I'd said earlier in anger that it was just a force of habit but there really are still a lot of good DUers here I care about and would miss and there's still enough of the good things about DU that make me want to come back. For example, I found out about the Market Basket fight here before anywhere else. But there's no escaping the fact that it's declining rapidly and I hate that

if more people would ante up a few bucks to be a star member (it can be a very small amount), there would be no need for that disgusting site. Just what the net needed, another hate fest.

cared. And what else would you have the posters at that forum do about it? They all can't be blamed for one nut case.

The decision of seven random anonymous online people is proof there's no problem. Gotta love that reasoning.

I'm not blaming an entire website for one nutcase. I'm talking about those here who are more concerned with the reputation and existence of that website than what happened to a DUer. Their response is to circle the wagons and go into defense mode, attacking anyone upset about the incident. It says a lot about them. That's my point.

And the poster was banned. There are trolls here too.

4 unanimous juries? It requires four juries to remove one post?

in about his first half hour there. Each post was alerted on and unanimous juries voted to hide each one. With four hides the account was suspended. The suspended individual came back with a sock and was banned permanently. All this took place in less than an hour.

Its noteworthy that juries on Discussionists are also open to conservatives, so there must have been some on the juries. They voted to hide too.

It wasn't just the sock that got the poster banned.

So, yes. That was the reason he was banned. EarlG doens't care enough to change it and in fact thinks the victim should shut up about it and it's her fault people are mad about the whole thing. I see now that it was four but that doesn't change the rest of it.

by several Discussionist juries by 7-0. Clearly even though the makeup of those juries probably included non DUers, they got it right and did care. It's also 'telling' whatever that means, that you have not acknowledged the fact that the Discussionist juries acted swiftly to remove the perpetrator. Why are you not willing to do that?

Look, you're free to think the posts being hidden means Discussionist is just the bee's knees. I prefer to hold my standards a little higher.

posts and that the perp is gone from the site. There is no reason to try to 'think' when the facts are available. What that says is that the people on the site, a total of 32 at least, got rid of someone they agreed did not belong there. Not sure why you are constructing other scenarios when the facts are right there.

Well, never mind then. But that kind of shows it isn't random, doesn't it?

Conservatives. Again, I posted facts. Sorry you don't like the facts which is pretty sad really since you should, if getting rid of trolls quickly is what you want. Discussionist members did just that pretty quickly.

My dad is a conservative and he'd be appalled at someone making a rape threat.

and they are very principled people who would also have been appalled by those comments. And that is why I object to broadbrushing any group of people and have no problem interacting with people with whom I disagree politically, so long as they remain civil. And on Discussionist I have had that experience. All of the Conservatives there with whom I have differences of opinions, have been FAR more respectful to me personally, than many of the DUers here who rather than disagree on issues, launch personal attacks at the drop of a hat. I am about to respond to one perfect example of that right after I finish this post. An attack that would probably be hidden on discussionist btw, but would not be here.

Which is why I would not in any way support shutting down that site, among other reasons.

That's not the issue. The problem is harassment and trolling. You're okay with taking the extreme harassment and trolling along with the disagreement, or you down play how bad it is, or you flat out ignore it or deny it exists, however you cope with it. DI's close affiliation with DU and shared ownership makes the harassment and trolling a problem that bleeds into DU. It isn't about disagreement. You want others to ignore it and endure it so you can continue to have fun disagreeing. I'm sorry, but I'm with those who want something done about it. There are other places to go and fight with right wingers.

How does that 'hurt us'? That shows something that rarely happens here, four unanimous juries, consisting of 28 jurors, and four alerters, a total of 32 Discussionist members voted to get rid of the perpetrator and that was done pretty quickly.

I wish we could get some of the right wingers hidden here by unanimous consent, but it has take sometimes YEARS to get rid of them here.

Quite honestly I doubt your assessment of what EarlG's 'thinks' based on your other assessments of what people 'think' and since I did not see it, I will assume he had reasons for whatever his response was.

A website full of trolls that organize and attack DUers, particularly focusing on one group of them, does. The rape threats getting hidden doesn't change that, and EarlG's dismissal of it only emboldened them. I don't give a shit that they were hidden. Sorry.

It gets brought up here and linked to enough and I know enough about some of its members to know I'm not interested. But, thanks.

from a distance or through the lens of others' opinions of DU, I've seen some of them also, could possibly know unless they were a member who had participated. That is clear from your comments which is why I asked if you were a member.

I am a member there. So I know what the site is about. And I know that there are and will be trolls on every site on the internet. Both DU and Discussionist handle these trolls better than most sites. Do you have an example of your perfect site regarding handling trolls that you could point us to, as an example?

But you somehow know what I know, a stranger on the internet you've never met? That's typical of those who claim people can't know things not immediately in their sphere of existence. Of course that doesn't apply to themselves. Well, maybe you're a bit self absorbed and think you can only know things you've immediately experienced, but plenty of people are more curious than that.

about that site? Do you get PMs there? I have, from Conservatives as well as Dems. Do you know what is said among the members there from both sides of the aisle in PMs? If you're not a member of a site you simply do not know ALL there is to know about it. That too is a FACT. I eg, would never claim to know all there is to know about any site I am not a member of. That would be extremely presumptive of me.

You sure are bad at it. It helps to be able to correctly interpret the arguments others make. Point out where I'm claiming to "know everything about it" I'm not and never have. Am I mistaken and it's completely closed to all but members? I don't think it is. I think it's possible to go and read the site even if you aren't a member. You just can't post, vote in juries, send PMs etc. Just like DU. Therefore it is possible to glean some info. I also read about the experiences of others. Like rape threats.

How one goes from that, to everything, I don't know.

have been banned from here. I remember a few who were here for years, attacking DUers, even getting DUers banned before they themselves were finally shown the door. Should we shut down DU because of that?

For one thing, for all its faults it does have some good things about it, one of them being that the poster being discussed would have been banned for the actual rape threat and not just for being a sock. DU itself isn't the spinoff site created for whatever reason that has in reality turned into the rw/disgruntled DUer cesspit that causes aggravation for DUers. While I would be sad to see DU go, I have no problem with Discussionist disappearing and think it's a valid argument that it would only benefit DU. I think admins should seriously consider it.

go to the admins with your opinion. I have no say over either site but would oppose if it were put to a vote either site being shut down.

A few bad apples are going to try to troll even the best sites.

I have had excellent and productive discussions on Discussionist just as I have had here. I have also been attacked here, lied about and smeared.

So far that hasn't happened yet, other than a few snarky comments from both DUers and Right Wingers on Discussionist.

I have no problem confronting detractors anywhere. When they are wrong, it is easy to expose them. If you feel you are being wronged on Discussionist then you are free to do the same thing, demonstrate where they are wrong. That is far more effective than just trying to shut down a whole site because a few bad apples who get tossed pretty quickly as we have seen.

Has posted several threads over this weekend encouraging people to go after women here on DU. All of those threads were allowed to stand by juries, that poster remains active, and someone who went there to tell him off was banned.

if what you say is true, then alerting should solve the problem. I haven't been there in a while, but can still alert but need a link to do so.