i just want to say thank you DU
i have only fairly recently taken up to posting on facebook and don't have many fb friends (which is exactly what i intended--i can't handle too many at once--but that is beside the point).
i realize i have learned some very valuable things from posting here for all these years such as sourcing what you post, doing a little fucking research to make sure what you're posting is not a load of shit, and providing links to prove your point.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
the last several years i have mainly posted in the bereavement group here--and it has been my solace. but valuable lessons learned from this site--in general discussion, politics, lbn, & from so many of my fellow duers--are impossible to unlearn. (which is a good thing)
i am amazed by all the crap/rumors/heresay etc that gets posted on fb.
i find myself fact checking tons of things that fb friends post--some political, some liberal & some conservative. my tendency is to zero in on the con crap but, unfortunately, there is also some dem/liberal posts i've come across where i think: really? (so off i go--fact checking and clarifying and linking. old habits die hard)
randi rhodes used to tell people to do their homework, their research; posters here demanded links to everything.
there are few political discussions on fb--mostly it's the like and share crap. it's pretty black & white. and i don't really post political stuff there--i have du for a political fix & outlet (and thanks again!). it doesn't really allow for nuances, or the mentality doesn't allow for it. whichever way it is, du is such a valuable place. it always has been.
and all the people that have come and stayed or come and gone have all been important parts of making du what it is.
i am so lucky to have found du so long ago.
i am so thankful du is still here.
i am so grateful for everything all of you who make up du have given me through the years.
you have been my solace too.
so i raise a glass to toast du 
thank you.
all of you.
i love you.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Having said that, I realize that I'm now going to have to up my member contribution. 
Mr. Dixie is a news junkie. He gets a lot of news from his puter ( we don't have tv or radio or any decent newspapers here).
and in the evening when we sit down to dinner he says..." did you hear about............?"
No matter how obscure the news bit is, I have always been able to say...."yep...read about it on DU today".
So he started to spend more time here also.....
"Yeah, read that on DU last year."
and damn-well administered and moderated (all of this as a general rule, and not necessarily 24/7, of course).
sorry, couldn't help myself.
Just a coupla months ago my husband and I were trying to get basic facts to his Faux News watching parents about things
(like Obama not being a Muslim) when they got these all-knowing looks on their faces and proclaimed, "you can't believe everything you read on the internet", yet everything they believe is word of mouth or non-creditable source.
Couldn't cite a creditable source if their life depended on it.
So yes, DU has been a real life line for critical thinking and sources.
and then had fun taking it to an absurd level by requesting links for things that didn't necessarily need a link (stupid example but gets my point across, such as "they are building a 7-11 by my house." "link?"
i'd laugh when i was doing it for dumb reasons--i probably just annoyed other posters but i thought it was funny.
but fb is, like i said, this fairly new experience for me. and it's just so amazing how people find something that speaks to their viewpoint (which not only encompasses politics but racism, bigotry, guns, etc.) and they don't check the crap out to make sure it's true--it's like & share & spread the bullshit, the lies, etc. they just puke it right out there. there are times when i feel like a school teacher correcting memes.
here we couldn't get away with posting such bullshit without being called out for it.
Miss her. It was a very educational time period. I'm not on FB. Not sure I'd have the patience you do for trying to correct the idiocy. 
K&R!
OS
And, tho I don't do FaceBook, I very much agree with all that you've said about DU.
to DU and its inhabitants!
