Often after battles with MRA types, who, surprise! Are now strongly associated with the so-called "alt right"

But there maybe new ones, I suppose.

who nitpicked every single post to death. I left "Feminists" years ago for that reason.

The MRA types were no problem, just get their number and put them on ignore. I've cleaned out my list recently and only a couple of them on it were still active.

I'm active in a few groups and those groups are still active.

Which groups are those?

had nothing to do with "MRA types" and everything to do with the fact that the now-banned DU member that had run the place for years as her own personal fiefdom with an iron, word-policing fist was also a raging transphobe.

If we could access the long-defunct meta forum, it's all still there.

I was taking a DU hiatus--when I came back there was the "History of Feminism" group, and whatshername had been banned.

But I'll say here and now I'd rather argue the dubious merits and obvious flaws of pornagraphy with you, WD, then be in the situation we are in now.

Nor was it even possible if it was.

I never underestimate RW hypocrisy. Kind of OT, but I have a male Muslim friend who will discuss just about anything with me. We have come to the conclusion that what really pisses off the RW about Muslim women who, say, wear the Hijab is their inability to objectify them. They're not showing enough skin. Because it sure isn't any human right violation that zealots may be committing--not with the compassion deficit and hypocrisy combined with bigotry the infests the entire Republican Party.

In the long run it might be better that they don't. A unified global army of fundamentalists would be truly terrifying.

and whoever blew it all up was sitting safely in the ignore pit, so I wouldn't have seen it, anyway.

I miss all the good stuff that way. I can cope with that.

No liberal feminist should have anything to do with TERFS and I'm glad they're not welcome here.

The word jumping and nit picking and censorship through alerting on every word she didn't like got me to back the hell out of that group fast. If that was what feminism had turned into, no thanks.

There is still a lot of that going on with her gone, nasty people leave a stink in the area even after they've been kicked out.

...I am going to speculate it may be the same person who got me my one and only removed post.

One of the things that first attracted me to DU was the colorful and uninhibited vocabulary with which DUers express themselves.

I was totally surprised when i expressed my opinion that Ann Coulter was a "cold-hearted b!tch." The post was voted out by a jury, and there was some rather pedantic and righteous lecturing about my use of the word disrespecting all women everywhere because of it's history. I could see the point, in theory, but I find the term rather generic/ neutral.

As is no doubt obvious from my screen name, I am a woman. The word does not particularly offend me, for the most part, and I stand by my opinion of Ms. Coulter.

I have since seen any number of posts using that word, without anyone melting down over it.

by their appropriate names. I also regret not having the use of a lot of descriptive language because some pissy, prune faced word jumper will be simply outraged that I used it because somebody else might be offended by it. Well, sorry, Prunella (and Prunetto), but that word might aptly describe the group of people I'm going for and no amount of circumlocution to protect your tender feelings will do as well. I'm a potty mouthed old broad and I'm not going to change because some sweet young thing wants to make DU safe for two year olds.

I left DU for five months because of that shit, came back because I realized what a tiny minority the troublemakes were.

because we all know I'd fucking well tell them where to fucking shove that prissy shit.

...all it many parts of speech, a regular feature of my vocabulary. At least when I am alone.

You both have m chuckling tonight, which is always welcome.

since este pendejo got into the White House. I was shocked and gratified to find out people here cuss as much aw we Irish do in Boston, only they do it in several languages here.

Some pc battles far exceeded the ones over silly stuff like Olive Garden and babies in restaurants. And those approached epic.

There certainly are members who might get offended by random words etc, and maybe some of the more tiresome SJW self-policing might go on in some of the Groups, where individuals might want to enforce their own little agendas. I hold dear being able to just speak my effin' mind openly as I would for the most part in a conversation among friends.

I agree with your stance, the word "bitch" is not particularly offensive to me either as a woman. In fact, I use it freely and even as a term of joking endearment. (Oh my stars and garters! Get the smellin' salts!)

I don't worry too much about it overall though, it seems like the few who get their panties in a twist (potential "triggering" phrasing intended😈 are not worth my time or concern.

I think most of us here are grown ups who know what is really important, and it's not bitchin' about trigger words and self-aggrandizing petty internet forum virtue signalling.

We gots bigger fish to fry! LOL

Now THAT is a hell of a turn of phrase. Bravo! I hope I get a chance to use it myself.

If something "offends" me here, and not much does, I just shrug and move on.

The lady who lived in a "glass" house is long long long gone, did she do that much damage?

for 3 years.

easy to spot, since he openly called child support "male enslavement." He didn't like being called out on it, either, and had his minions who would then come after those of us who called him on it. I couldn't believe he was still allowed to post here, given the misogynistic shit he'd spew.

and the nastiness to other posters tripped the trap door to the ignore pit. I don't remember the name but if he's still an active poster, he's still sitting there.

I can tolerate disagreement. Gratuitous nastiness gets you gone.

There've been some real goofballs here, over the years, no doubt.

Lost a few overly aggressive and antagonistic ones, I suppose.

Plenty of great groups with other special interests here.

I just don't do it here as much.

Then I will let you know if I am one.

I stand up for womens rights, after my last divorce no man tells me what to do...so what else?

is the radical idea that women are human beings.

Pathetic that in 2017 that is still an issue.

And with that definition I am one!

I am so sickened by Trump and his crew I feel like throwing up every time I see his swarmy face on tv. As if things weren't already a fight he is taking us way way back.

And the confused Tea Party types that are voting for what will hurt them.

Abortion stopped....but if their daughter got preg at 14 or raped...they would be at doctors office secretly of course asap!

I just have to add that while looking through that link I literally peed my pants from laughing at MRM.

Poor little fellas.

I love that website--he's been making fun of them for years

...often was the automatic response, deserved or not, for any disagreement with the kind of people who ended up getting banned from DU a while back.

Much to my relief. At least one notorious one is at JPR--again, not surprising

Most of them are pretty quiet.

The Photography Group is probably the most active, and I really enjoy being there.

I stroll through the others now and then to see if anything's happening. They are all worthwhile.

... how many "core" users are there? How many users are actively participating at least once every day?

That would be interesting to know.

But, I think that type of information (ie: daily average traffic, and the number of "core" users) would only be available if the administrators/owners were to provide it to us. It would be hard to estimate that sort of thing.

that there's little energy left for anything else. I know that is the case with me. I come here multiple times daily, but participating beyond keeping track of the day's events is just more than I can manage most of the time. Finding time for the pleasant side of life has been difficult since 11/8/16. That may be the case with others as well. I think we are HERE, but are having difficulty relaxing enough to post in, or even​ read, our group communities. That's not a good thing, but it's how it feels to me.

I hardly even go into the Lounge these days. I probably need to spend more time there. It might make me less cranky.

I've never visited the pet group

You've helped me keep my sanity!

according to your profile.

I read in some groups, though.

But I rarely see any traffic. As an Etsy seller and producer of pussyhats, I am trying to drive more traffic to my store.

If you're in the market for handmade jewelry or pussyhats, I can help you out.

I bought 4 pussyhats and our family, (2 daughters, 1 wife, me) has worn them already. We will be wearing them April 15th for the Chicago anti-Trump demonstration. The quality is excellent and we have been complimented on our choice of hats.

I'll be wearing mine to the NYC tax day rally (as well as subsequent ones) and selling them there.

I got slapped around twice for not posting proper so I said heck with it..

but!! I used to own a very popular specialize message board in the past with millions of hits daily.. It started to die out once facebook took hold.. just a sign of the times to see other message boards slowly die out..

I really enjoy reading the general political post here.. ty

ADDED - Also Twitter is cutting into the message boards also.. like I said.. sign of the times for message boards..

for improper use of the word whom on DU

I had a hard time at first. One well-known member posted a large photo of a sock in response to one of my comments, evidently implying I was a returning banned member, a sockpuppet. Someone got mad at me for using the popcorn-eating emoji. I was offended when someone called me "cupcake" and "pumpkin," maybe thinking I was really young. All sorts of assumptions! I kept posting for spite. One thing that helped me was to remember to click on the "rec" button of a post I liked so that if my comment seemed ambiguous, the OP could check, see that I recommended the post, and give me the benefit of the doubt.

Certainly the subreddits for banjo and guitar playing are way more active than any other forum I know of. Gaming too.

but I'm just Lookie Lou and don't subscribe to any. Guess I just don't get the purpose of subscribing.

I don't post in them much but I read them quite a lot. I will agree with the poster above who said the Pets group is wonderful. It is. I love all the groups.

I would say a sometimes chaotic free for all.

but not much recently.

kept the faith, MineralMan!

Last edited Sun Apr 9, 2017, 03:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Does a great job in posting interesting tidbits and links in the various state groups-particularly Texas. We owe him a debt of gratitude. Every state, and indeed group, should be so lucky to have a dedicated sleuth like Towelie.

It's interesting to read about things happening in places. I enjoy TT's posts a lot.

It started out with Texas, then I started covering the adjacent states and now it is countrywide. I have a lot of various interests myself since I was a state government employee so I know how the administrative and legislative processes work. I also try to include some issue and human interest stories for an entertaining mix.

and I noticed that the views in the state groups have increased over time. I hope that stirring the pot occasionally keeps more people involved between elections so that they have an easier time organizing when necessary.

This place has become an echo chamber.

Can be posted All day here. But criticize that criticism and watch out.

Your proof is a post by Skinner who admits it's not necessarily meaningful?
Frankly I get sick of the jury bashing

Because I say so!

I get sick of lots of things. Since we're sharing.

what is being determined as bashing, and what is being determined as being sympathetic to one candidate over the other? Voting a certain way? That hardly seems meaningful in itself without knowing the content in each alert.

Basically I get nothing out of it as it stands. It would truly blow my mind that that there are that many more Sanders supporters, or were, than Clinton supporters during the primaries, here. As a Sanders fan myself, I would take that as promising in some regard, as much as I respect Clinton, but the posting balance during the primaries certainly didn't give me that impression.

But how does that counter my point anyway? We can't go back over the last few weeks and pull out OP's criticizing Sanders because they tend to get alerted on and yanked? That's a falsifiable claim, and if nothing else, the evidence will definitely prove that there are plenty of standing threads. Hopefully very few or none got nuked in that time, though the thing about the alert system and this whole process is, if I didn't see the thread get locked, or post it myself, how would I know? that's the problem with assumptions based entirely on one's own lens and experience.

It was pointed out to me that talking about hides is some violation, which is strange, but there are people on both sides of the remaining Sanders Clinton chasm, that could talk anecdotally about how often they've been alerted on or had their posts removed. I assure you it happens all around. And if people don't see it when it happens to the other guy, well bearing that cross in an echo chamber of support is I'm sure, a powerful burden.

didn't come back (as themselves) once they had to agree to support our nominee, message boards are not as popular as other social media such as Twitter and FB.

And lastly, trust was broken between members during this primary, I think more than any other primary. Not interested in criticizing the party to assist the agenda of BoBers still posting here. It's sort of like how you can criticize your family among family but not among strangers.

you vote for Hillary? Are you as willing to criticize Bernie as you are to criticize Hillary and/or Democrats? Were you particularly nasty during the primaries and now act like it's just water under the bridge?

It's not just about criticism, at least for me.

motives are good even if I disagree with her strategy and possibly at times(though who can say), her ideology. I've occasionally agreed with a criticism of Sanders and offered up my own, though truth be told, I generally agree with him, and as a Democrat, I am not offended by his criticism of my party and think we do have an obligation to tend our own garden, without ever ignoring just how bad the Republicans are, or how clearly bereft of social obligation, or for that matter, governing obligation, they tend to be.

From experience, my attempt(failed or not) at a measured position is met frequently enough with accusations, some of which go to my Democratic affiliation itself. Some just suggest I'm playing a game or have an agenda. It's the business of targeting motives of other fellow DU posters, I guess because we aren't all family, but it sounds to me like people have decided who they count as family and who they don't based upon that break-down of opinion.

and twisting people's words (lying), unable to accept any criticism of Democrats, that DU died a long time ago (because DU members are so self-righteous, full of bullshit, and don't hate Democrats?). Why is this post still here?

And we should keep bashing the party by spamming RT links and telling everyone at DU where REAL news comes from.



Do we really have to keep seeing this stupidly ridiculous meme that somehow standing up against sexism, misogyny, racism and other bigotries ruined DU? That squelching obvious propaganda somehow ruined DU?

Cuz I can assure you, you've got that 180.

is tough to take as a steady diet. Investigations are moving at a snail's pace. People need a break to recover.

Last edited Sun Apr 9, 2017, 07:22 AM - Edit history (3)

There's nothing to analyze in it. There's not any retrospection to do. It's not subtle, it's not dog whistles, its not even strategic or maneuvering in any sense. Its just fuckery.

People may be reading but not contributing. If I'm in agreement with everybody, I rarely post my agreement unless I have something I think is worth adding to the conversation.

Getting ticked off by 45 and keep breaking....things and have to replace it to get back on line.


To 45:
You owe me a new tablet you two faced, orange slug! Lying right there in Congress....

-LFR.

Could be put in a group instead, it might get fewer views but the discussion is usually better.

I try to use the groups as much as possible.

My wife and I have one, adopted through the Beagle Freedom Project. An ex-lab beagle. We have a beagle/basset as well. Sam and Dude. Good doggies!

Brock (below) is our current dog. We adopted him through a Beagle rescue group.

Beagles are just plain good old dogs, I think. They're sort of the prototypical family dog.

Does your "lab" beagle have any brown or black? I can tell from his head that he has good genes.

Brock is very "athletic" he's way bigger than a standard beagle, he also has some issues, but the good news is that he is great with other dogs we meet on our walks, some people not so much.

has well-defined brown markings, along with a diffused black saddle. When we first took him to the vet for a checkup, he said that Sam was a "near-perfect beagle."

He's still a bit shy and nervous from being in a lab for three years, but has turned into a great dog. He's done better than some of the lab rescued dogs, for which we thank Dude, who lived with us before we got Sam.

He learned to be a beagle from Dude, our older lemon beagle/basset. Both are friendly, stubborn and completely nose-oriented. They both love children and have made tons of friends in the neighborhood. We also have two cats. Everyone gets along famously, and they all four often sleep in a messy pile of four-legged critters.

For better or worse, it seems there is a lot less activity in general.

but the site is friendlier, too, overall. There's less backbiting and attacking of people these days. That's a good thing and will encourage additional people to join us, I believe.

Environment & Energy

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1127

Believe it or not, I am an optimist. I think we can crash land this World Civilization 1.0 without burning.

But worst comes to worst, this Earth has seen many innovative species come and go. We humans are not the first, and we won't be the last.

I subscribe to 28 groups and I don't have the time to read all the latest posts in them, much less post in any of the them myself.

There have also been many changes in my life in the past few years which preclude me from pursuing my hobbies and posting about them in one of the groups. The grandkids, who take precedence over everything and range in age from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 and who I babysit 4-5 days a week while the parents work leave me pretty well exhausted!

I mainly stick to GD and LBN because that is where most of the activity is happening. You post something in one of the groups and no one ever responds to you. It would be nice to get more people going to them again.

Now it's dead!

Come on gamers I know you're on here! I need companions in FOR HONOR on PC!

The Rural/Farm Life group is kaput when I subscribed. Last posting I think, was 2014.

But I guess, like a lot of people here, I spend too much time going thru LBN and GD, just seeing what the latest political catastrophe is.

The first page of GD used to have every post with hundreds of replies and sometimes thousands of views. You had to click fast to keep up. It was the most trafficked liberal website, way ahead of Kos, FDL, TPM, etc. Now, after myriad purges of various flavors, it has become what its owners want: a vapid echo chamber which brooks no dissent from the Party approved talking points.

I'm sure it's just as profitable, though.

posting here at all...

Actually, the level of discourse here has improved quite a bit, I think. I suspect that will attract new members to the site who were put off by the previous argumentative and unwelcoming level of discourse.

Your mileage might vary.

Last edited Mon Apr 10, 2017, 01:48 PM - Edit history (1)

I agree that traffic is down, but it is hardly a dissension-free zone.