Is DU Dying?

One of the chief complaints heard (briefly, as they often quickly disappear) about the banishment of Election 2004 topics from the GD board is that it has had the effect of fracturing the dialog, sucking the life out of what had previously been a joyously chaotic and creative process. Another complaint heard is regarding the lack of recognition on the part of those who administer this site that the real life of DU is in those who contribute, not those who decide which remote and peaceful locale to place posts.

But whatever the complaint, the consensus among those who are opposed to this process is that it is little more than another step toward the approaching denouement of the DU site.

So how do you feel?

The rancor of the primaries was going to do it in as well. Apparently not.

posers spamming the site with "My RW cousin said X about Kerry. Is it true?" posts.

:(

DU seems like it's as fit as a fiddle to me!

he and i get along very well....
oh -- we're not talking about that are we?

Things have gotten moved around on the site before. DU isn't dying.

:P

<.< >.> O.o

hadn't even noticed any new regulations, guess that's a brainfart on my part.

P.S. <.< = looks left, >.> = looks right, O.o = cockeyed look (been hanging out with too many Japanese Internet users, their emotes beat ours hands down)

Mods can you move it?

LOL

...and I find your 'poll' question to be insulting to our hosts.

- I wonder if you understand how difficult it must be to serve so many threads, posts and posters? Having a free-for-all in one forum (months before a national election) can stress even the greatest of servers (and moderators).

- BTW...didn't bother to 'vote' in your stupid poll....but added a comment instead.

the site and how it's run. Even if the admins and
mods are wrong about some particular issue - and that
does happen - they do a hell of a job.

I have always had a difficult time hanging out in one place for very long. People always end up saying or doing the annoying or stupid things that remind me that the journey truly is the best part of the process. Your claim that longevity somehow bestows credibility being a glittering example. If that one was true our national nursing home archipelago would be a shrine to sagacity and hope rather than the hellish reliquary of death and fecal stench that it is.

The only thing that really keeps me here is that I can't seem to get my fucking donation back.

There really should've been a "none of the above" (just like there should be when you go to the real poll). I'm a newbie, and I love this site. It doesn't seem that hard to keep campaign talk on the campaign board, you can always just click "my posts" to keep up on the dialog in which you are involved.

I am sure you are sincere in your distress over this change. I will not try to explain to you why we did it -- I have already explained the change twice on the message board, and additionally in the Ask the Administrators section.

But I would like to take issue with your contention that those who administer this website lack the recognition that the life of DU is the people who contribute. I consider this to be a seroious insult against me. I am deeply grateful of all the members who come here. Without all of the great people that post here, Democratic Underground would be nothing. You are the lifeblood of this website and the source of my monthly paycheck. Everything that we administrators do, we do because we want to make DU better for the people who come here. We would never deliberately do something to make DU worse. We have, in the past, made plenty of mistakes, but we have never been too proud to undo those errors when it became clear that they were not good for the message board.

I consider your comments about me to be particularly untrue in light of the manner which we instituted this change. Before we did anything, we posted a very clear announcement and explanation to our members, and invited people to comment. I previoiusly provided you with a link to that thread, when you posted another one of your public complaints about this change. The responses in that thread were overwhelmingly in favor. (I would like to note that you didn't bother to take advantage of the opportunity to express your opinion at that time, even though you had three days to do so.) When we started to implement the change, our enforcement has been as respectful and non-intrusive as is possible in such cases. Since enforcement began, this change has been discussed in the The Administrators forum, and I have made it clear that the purpose of this change is to make DU better for our members, and that I have no intention of keeping this change if it does not improve DU or if it makes DU less pleasant for our members. I am already on record saying that I will probably put this up for a poll after people have experienced it for a while -- not because people are complaining (almost nobody has), but because I want to make sure that the changes we make actually make this place better.

For months, our approach was to let people post wherever they want. I know people like to believe that the moderators and I simply do stuff because we enjoy going on power trips, but the truth is that I take little joy in inserting myself into the discussions of others, and I would much rather let people do whatever the hell they want. It would certainly make my life much more pleasant and simple. But I have a responsibility to the members of this message board to do what is necessary to make this place better, more useful, and more pleasant to visit. I believe that DU has been so successful, in part, because this is a moderated board, and we occasionally make small tweaks in response to perceived problems. Ironically, just yesterday, I got attacked by someone who accused me of ignoring members concerns becasue I did not enforce the split between the two GD forums sooner. Apparently, it would seem that I am ignoring members concerns no matter what I do. Of course, I am -- because no matter what I do, there are going to be some members who disagree and feel that I am ignoring their concerns.

So, please, all I ask of you is this:

Give it a try for a week. Click on the GD: 2004 forum occasionally, like everyone else seems to have figured out how to do, and you'll see that it's a very popular and useful forum, not DU Siberia. Stop posting threads in the GD board, trying to convince people that this change is a mistake, or that the the administrators don't give a shit. And an apology might be nice, but it is certainly not required. After all, you only want what's best for DU, and insulting the admins is understandible if your intentions are good.

Now, I am locking this thread.

-Skinner
DU Admin