What year did you join DU? Please read instructions.

Please reply to the reply below that has the year you joined in the subject line and share the story of what brought you to DU and anything else you'd like to share.

I'd also love to hear if you left for long periods of time and came back and what brought you back.

Thanks!!

Edit: You don't have to follow instructions, I just thought it would be cool to see all the people grouped together by year. :toast:

...like a lot of people, I really needed a community that saw the things that I saw and was concerned about the things I was concerned about. Also, I had a website at the time called Partisan Witch Hunt that dealt with the war on terror, the ICC, corporate power and the need for media reform. It was really gratifying to share my site with people here.

I ended up spending almost all my time here in the Lounge. I just loved the people here, the old Day in the Lounge threads, random questions, ask me anything, and the really uncommon fellowship that was going on here, especially the amazing and real support we offered to each other during hard times in our lives. It's moving to see a lot of that still happens.

I left after having a baby and advancing in my career at the same time. But I found myself stopping in from time to time. Recently I've had some big changes in my life and found myself drawn to the Lounge to post about stuff.

Most recently, I was just shamelessly self promoting again: http://rbouchard.viviti.com/

Thanks for reading this and sharing your stories.

It was my birthday, 9-12. I had just cancelled my party ( my mom's response "But I made you a huge cake!") I was casting about looking for a website besides Bartcop and I opened my desk drawer for some notes I had taken looking for an ex-cop I knew who I had run into during my time in Nicaragua. He gave me his email and I wanted to call him and ask about his take on things. I saw a cocktail napkin, with tear stains(mine) from the Democratic Party reception for the inauguration of W. There was a website scrawled on it as well. I had seen David and Earl while watching the inaugural parade ( partly to see if there was going to be an insurrection) waving what looked like a sheet with "DemocraticUnderground.com" on it. I said to my companion , "those guys will be in jail by nightfall" and scribbled it down. I signed up that fateful day, instead of having a party. I had a different user name then, a handle that was a shared DARPANET thing which seemed appropriate. I changed it during the 2.0 ramp up-when was that again?


Edit: yes, the ex-cop was Mike Ruppert.

...I'm pretty sure I found this place thanks to Bartcop. Which meant I spent a lot of my time in the Lounge and the old National Security (is that what it was called? Memory = gone) forum.

Just a lot of good minds, I remember, drew me in. Dingbattery ensued.

I joined after the 2000 selection - was very angry, and looking for a community. I found DU through Democrats.com. A lot of people who were here back then are gone, some have died, some were TS'd, some just left. I've made some friends (real life, in the flesh!) on this list, and have gone through two presidential election cycles. The 2008 primaries nearly drove me out, but I tried to keep my head up. I post mostly in the sports forum now.

A link on some other democrat site I was reading, back in the early days of the bush nightmare. DU was a great find, and I've been here ever since ...

Someone posted Conservative Idiots on the newsgroup I hung out on.

;-)

There were times, in those early days, when this felt like the only sane place left in the country.

Everyone around me was so complacent and "rah-rah, Bush" and "If you disagree, you're a traitor." I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone!

I don't remember what it was--boniface or jobycom or plato were the ones I used most back then--and I don't know if they deleted them back then or if I just can't find it. So I signed up again in 02 under Jobycom.

In 01 I came here because I was furious and was trying to find some way to express it. I went to a lot of sites, political and general, and picked fights with every conservative I could. I didn't like DU because there weren't any conservatives to fight with, and I didn't see the point of fighting liberals, so I stopped hanging out here. I was active in a couple of real life political groups at the time, so I didn't really need it as much.

In 02 I got involved in Rolling Thunder a little (just handed out fliers and stuff), and one of the local activists mentioned the site, so I came back to try it out, and stuck. His handle here was El-Gato. Don't know what happened to him. I've been around since. I used to hang out in GD exclusively, but sometime during the 04 primaries I got too angry and had to leave for a while. I was still in politics then, so I had other things to do, anyway. When I came back I hung out mostly in the Lounge, not liking the constant fighting and wailing and gnashing of milk teeth in the GD forums.

It's all been a life of obtuse contrarianism since then.

I think I signed up as Bunny, but I rarely posted and eventually lost my password info and couldn't log in. I had to re-join as bunnyj, and when the name change amnesty happened in 2004 I changed back to Bunny.

I used to hang out in the political TableTalk threads over at salon.com, but when they announced that year that they were going to start charging subscriptions, someone mentioned DU. I decided to come here instead, where my contributions are voluntary, not coerced.

Started lurking in May or so after a friend sent me a link to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots list. On September 24, my employer went belly-up a result of investor panic after 9/11. While searching for new work and finding myself with plenty of free time, I finally dived in on October 6. There were times I took voluntary breaks, but I have been more or less a constant over the years.

I was banned in August of 2003, and reinstated in October of that year. I've outlasted most of my enemies on here. :evilgrin:

I came to DU through Buzzflash and Democrats.com I believe I was 6,400th or so to register here.

Left Salon when they went pay to post and went to BKP a site run by a guy named Ferguson Foont (another Salon refugee.) I was reading there one day and saw a link to a thread here. I poked around the DU site a bit, joined, and started posting straight away.


Laura

I started reading DU from I think a post at Democrats.com. I wanted to see what else was out there in liberal talk boards. I got hooked reading but was very intimidated at first. Everybody seemed SO SMART and SO WELL INFORMED. And people were debating what to do with * WITH PASSION. Wow, I thought, these are people who really give a damn!

It felt like home. :D

I wouldn't start posting til in the spring of 2002 though. It was a silly lounge thread between GOPisEvil and dweeb about power tools. :P

I have had periods when I didn't post and just read. I'm in one of those phases lately. I've also gone away because I'd had computer issues for periods of a couple of months. But I always come back.

Good to see you rbnyc! :hi:

I lurked for a long time and finally took the plunge in early 2002. :hi:

I joined in March-ish, then DU had a server crash, and I had to re-register a few weeks later.

:hi:

Joined in 2002. :toast:

I used to be waterman back then. But with H20man and Nancy Waterman, I hardly stood a chance. Plus, I was infrequent with my postings because I didn't know then and still don't now, shit about politics.

But I still have an opinion, and that counts for something.

I remember Waterman! I fear many may seem newer to me than they are due to the name change thingies.

Keep on contributing your opinion because it DOES count for something! Thanks for the Howdy fellow old-timer! :hi:

Julie

And thanks for the remembering.

I always thought you were just fine in my book.

Cheers and have a great year, Julie.

I most certainly remember you!

:hi:

You never write, you never call.....sigh....I suppose you're really busy these days....

n/t

A used Mac with a dial-up connection opened up my world beyond my expectations. I followed the scandal from my California perspective, reading and absorbing everything I could find. I noticed a trend; all roads led to DU. I found the best original researchers were all posting and exchanging information here. Some of these fine minds are still around.

Enron brought me to the party, I felt comfortable and stayed.

I don't think I ever went back to Bartcop.

If anyone was gonna be hunter here, it was gonna be ME!

I discovered DU through a message board on AOL.

I lurk way more than I post and have taken several breaks from DU when General Discussion got too ugly for me. I mostly post in the Lounge.

I lurked for a while. I found the link to DU
on another dem site - I couldn't find one I
wanted to browse on a nearly daily basis until
I found DU.

DUs gotten me thru some horrible times. :grouphug:

No wonder I'm so bitter and paranoid. :freak:

That's seriously funny.

I don't post a lot. I finally joined so I could use the search function. I found it here because a friend kept sending me links. The latest breaking news here is unbeatable. You can find it out here first. I used to go to Commondreams.com all the time....it's still a great site, but is more commentary. Here you can find latest news.

I found it through my husband, he just lurked for a long time before joining. I didn't hang around much then or for a few years. We were always gone in the evenings after work organizing for our local peace group, doing protests, speaking events and films. Then a couple of years ago, I couldn't take it anymore. It was really starting to get to me, physically and emotionally, so I had to take myself outta the fight. This became a diversion.

:hi:

Right before the war

havent watched TV in that long either

DUers WeToldYouSo and morningtheft turned me on to this site. I finally registered in the spring of 2003, IIRC, to discuss whether Richard Perle was technically a war profiteer.

BTW, good instructions. ;-)

I used to debate politics a lot with some coworkers on a union message board we had. A good many of them are wing nuts. It used to amaze me how ignorant they were and how easy it was to counter them with facts and information.

Anyway, one day I got a PM from another pilot saying he wanted to jump into the fray, and wanted to know where I got a lot of my information and wanted to know what political websites I visited. I told him I read a lot, but didn't spend any time on political sites.

After answering him, it occurred to me to start looking around at politically oriented websites.

DU was one of the places I found.

a young friend of mine told me about it. It reminded me of the importance of my political values after becpoming a parent had made me distracted and tired - and it re-energized my liberalism. I also made so many good friends here, and learned a lot. And I am very glad.


Wow I can't believe it's been so long! :crazy:

I had lurked for months after my brother told me about this site. I read the Top 10 Conservative Idiots and the front page. Finally, I got up the nerve to add my voice to the proceedings.

:hi: I lurked for a while, too, since I really was shy about the whole "internet" discussion thing...

Finally decided to join in November 2005 for no particular reason I can remember except that I had fully "de-converted" from radical Anarchism by then.

A few months before DU 2.0 was launched.

:hi:

for some reason, I forget why, I created another account in Feb 2004 and that's the one I've used since.

When Bush started making the case for war in Iraq, I started to look online for information. However, since I was out of a job for much of the last half of 2002, my internet surfing was pretty limited. Once I got a job at the end of the year, I started my search. I quickly found DU and loved it. A haven for similar-minded friends.

I left after the 2004 elections, mostly burnt out on the ugliness of politics. I would check in periodically, but didn't get back into DU heavily (well, heavily for me) until early in 2008 for the primaries. I've been lurking ever since. These days I spend as much time in the Lounge as anywhere.

along with Talking Points Memo (which I read from it's very first day after the 2000 Election).

No real amazing story, just googled liberal forums.

Feb 08th 2004 (Originally)

Bartcop in a long time. Wow.

I used to see DU links posted occasionally and began visiting and reading. Didn't sign up until after the election. Been here since then.

Lurked in late 2003. Found DU via a link on a Howard Dean website. Was, and still am, a big Dean fan.

Many of my friends from said generation are no longer with us.

Friend of mine and fellow Deaniac told me about the place.

Hence my screen name.

We're almost twins! :D

:silly:

I learned of it sometime in mid-2004 and found myself coming here more and more because of my dissatisfaction with the corporate media. I was just agog when the corporate media said Bush did what he needed to do in the debates, when he couldn't even string two coherent words together. They also scoffed at the questions liberals raised about that pack on Bush's back.

I finally came to the realization that the corporate media was not stupid or lazy; they were biased.

This site has been a godsend for me.

during the election. i was looking for a way to cope with the anxiety. i lurked for a long time.

This is a totally convoluted story, but it is true. I am a teacher. One day I was gone and my substitute used my computer. She had typed in this weird website: democraticunderground.com. ;)

I read the Top 10 for about two months before I realized how much more was available on the website. I was incredibly busy at that time, too, so I needed Labor Day weekend to find the time to explore and register.

edit to add: My original screen name was WakeMeUp - I changed during the last amnesty period.

I found this site through Bartcop and MediaWhoresOnline. Lurked for a quite a while.

I remember being so lost, what with that incomparable sociopathic motherfucking bastard piece of shit in office and my daughter was being deployed to Afghanistan. DU was my refuge then, although I've never been a prolific poster.

I lurked on the invite of a friend and then after a month there was something I had to respond to.

found DU by first reading the Top 10 Conservative Idiots that I found by googling Ann Coulter. I was looking for dirt on her at the time because I was arguing with wing nuts on a small local forum and this one clown claimed to know her and was in awe of her latest book at the time. I hadn't had a teevee in years so had no clue who she was.

The top ten cracked me up, then I read all the hate mail, and Bob Boudelang. He is who pretty much won me over:rofl:

Joined a few months after that.

I watched the US elections unfold and was so appalled that the Bush government was re-elected. Didn't/couldn't believe it possible, went looking for answers and I think it was either on DailyKos or Smirking Chimp that I found the link that led me to DU.

But had lurked since 2000. After the Bushites did it twice, I decided I needed to start posting!

I decided to take a look, and I stayed.

The thread that brought me here (and my first post): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x601765#602934

there of a piece by by H2O Man and followed the link here. I abandoned SC for DU. I never go to SC any more.

I was very new to the internet, and I honestly didn't know what I was looking for.

Whatever it was, DU had it. Within a month, I'd found the Lounge, and was busy and happy making friends...

It has been one hell of a ride, many great friends here and off the board too, plus the discovery of my poetry and photographic skills...

DU has my heart...

That sums it up. I'm so glad you're here.

Never left but I have been tempted to. The BOG now keeps me here.

Is when I joined. I lurked since W won the re-election the previous November. After Kerry lost I didn't know where else to go online for D/LW/Progressives, and a friend at my wife's work recommended DU to me.

I came here the night Kerry lost, and read a ton of OP's/Archives and finally joined in May of 2005.

After that it took about two years to get one hundred posts. I actually posted about my hundredth post, I was so happy to break 100. Peace, Kim

I went to the United for Peace and Justice march in Washington DC with my daughter who is a DU member. We marched with the DU group. I joined DU when I got back home.

Stumbled drunk one night into the Lounge a couple years later. :)

It was in Dec. of that year. I had been lurking for a little while but it was when I got own lab top and the freedom to have my own private computer that I joined. It was also during this time that my health improved enough that I could stay on the computer longer than a few minutes. I had a family member who belonged to DU and that is how I knew where it was. ;)

Before joining the DU, my only involvement on a political web site was in 2004 on the General Wesley Clark site. I was only on it when my daughter was not using her computer. After that it took me over two years to get back involved on a political site.

So I guess that's about right. I started with another name the year or so before though. I forgot my password after posting once or twice so rejoined with this name. After a few strong years, I've drifted back into oblivion.

I joined right before the 2006 elections. I read every day, but obviously, do not post often. I am trying to change that.

:hi:

A friend told me about DU back in 2001 or so and how great it was.

It's still great.

followed the link to DU; signed on a few months later.
---

and always showed up for the top ten. Read an article about guns in Alter Net which actually had some intellegent comments and thought, "Hey, I wonder about Democratic Underground?" It's been fun.

First heard about DU at the Kerry/Edwards forum in 2004 and lurked here often that year.

I was asking friends for progressive links after starting my blog, and this was recommended. Had I known about DU sooner I would have been here earlier.

But I'm here now so it's all good.

...grouped by year. But whatever...

;-)

***I don't know how to follow directions*** :rofl:

I put my response above under the correct year! Sorry, this is kind of a cool idea. Sorry for f'ing it all up!

Thanks. I do think it will be fun to see how many posts end up under each year.

get progressives elected. I got run outta here on a rail, but not before I was tarred and feathered. LOL

I did eventually get brave enough to come back, and I learned that the Lounge was a safe place to be. I :loveya: me some Lounge!

I was feeling very disenchanted, totally disgusted by the Supreme Court installing bush; was looking for people who felt the way I did - I had lurked on DU from the beginning

Hey! :fistbump:

Saw and essay by Pitt on Smirking Chimp and followed the link to DU.

But I know I joined after the 2000 election. I don't remember what happened to the 5 years in between. :shrug:

it's all a blur. :eyes:

My oldest son, then in high school, found DU and told me about it. DU made me feel a lot less isolated.

I was having some ongoing political discussions with a guy I worked with and I was googling for some information and DU came up. I lurked for a while... three or four months... then I joined and started posting.

Found it by accident off of Salon or some other moderately "liberal" website.

Different user name.

I checked it out and got hooked.

will reply in the right year

Although I'd been a lurker since 2001.

I was a SmirkingChimp.com regular up to that point who just saw a more lively venue with more kindred spirits.

But I didn't join until March 2005. (I wasn't really...into posting on discussion boards until that time.)

My first thought: oh, thank god, Kerry supporters. Then--hey, people here actually seem to know what they're talking about (mostly ;-) )!

Joined today, after lurking for years, actually since the beginning of 2003. It took a bit of courage to work up to this step, which is the only one of my New Year's resolutions I've kept so far. Saw some great people get flamed, shredded, pulverized and finally turned into wallpaper glue. Well, here I am. Must be a sucker for punishment. Then again, I've seen so much love and empathy toward fellow DU'ers who had suffered from illness, loss and bereavement.

DU: You're wonderful!

Under TOhioLiberal. Started this new acct when I got to San Antone.

It was an interesting walk down memory lane when I looked up my old postings. Kinda sad too.

I'm definitely one of the newest members. It's a little intimidating when everyone has over 1000+ posts. I feel like the new kid in school.

I think I was googling "liberal" or something. Then this came up. I was like "OMG Where have you been all my life?!" Haha. It's like we were made for each other. I'm a regular on CafeMom, and it's SWARMING with conservative women in their 40's...IE, bitter old shits. It makes you a little jaded after awhile.

Gina Marie (Maria? sorry) had a post that went from DU to other message boards about Bu$h encountering protesters at the St Patrick's Day parade in Chicago. Followed the link and made myself at home.

I seem to remember you, rbnyc, responding to one of my first posts (it had to do with Kristin Hirsch)...or I could have dreamed it all up. :-)

:hi:

On a generic BB where I posted my opposition to all things *bush, RW's were yelling that I should go to DU.
So I did. Been here since. :)

Hi Rene:hi:

Tikki

I was search engining political stuff and ran across "Top 10 Conservative idiots"...I was hooked...

December 24th, 2003

Leave it to me to have an odd numbered year. Something about odd numbers bugs me. I don't know why.

I thought something was fishy with the election - I had a gig that night, and when we got on stage Kerry was winning, and 45 minutes later somehow Bush flipped it miraculously despite the fact that most precinct were already in. I was skeptical and started googling for more info on the results and found this place. I don't think I signed up right away, as I was mostly reading and digesting at that point.

After 9/11, I started browsing liberal sites because I was so angry with what was goping on in the country. I had find reassurance that I was not losing my mind, that there were others who felt the same way (distrust of W, etc.). I found BartCop, and through him I found DU. I thought, "At last!" I've been here ever since, never left.

ETA: Whoops - According to my profile, I joined in 2004, but I was lurking for a long time before then!

Found DU through a link to Conservative Idiots.

I found my way here based on a random comment from a gun board. I was sick of all the valid gun/self-defense discussions being held on what I considered to be mainly conservative sites; and was thrilled to find that there are other democrats/progressives who feel the same way that I do.

From there, I got hooked on the political/news/social discussions, and I can't imagine ever leaving!

I was hanging out on Free Republic causing trouble and they started going apeshit about this other website. I figured anything the Freepers hated that much must have something going for it.

On edit: I defied René and did not follow instructions. :o

Thanks. Good to see you.

Because my sweetie at the time was thinking of being a Mod in LBN. It was a great time and place to get real news.
Geez. I'm OLD. Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!

Haele

from BuzzFlash or Democrats.com.

Just curious.

Just after the election. I was devastated by the election of GWB and I think I found DU through Buzzflash or Bartcop. I have never left DU and as you can see I am still mainly a lurker. DU brought me through the horror of Bush with my sanity intact. I was and am amazed by the information and knowledge I receive from all of you. I will never leave.

I heard about the site from Smirking Chimp and Table Talk just before the first Bush swearing-in...

Written on the wall of a public toilet: For a good time...then the URL. :P

during the oil embargo