We have abandoned this forum. WHY?

:evilgrin:

but I do use it as a resource. The forgotten bits of history thread is particularly good - I was just wandering over to grab something from that.

:hi:

:loveya::hi:

maybe just a tad neglected. I plead summer vacation, kids out of school and the inability to construct a coherent sentence when the ozone pollution goes above orange alert. B-)

:hi:

When there are a lot of people posting in a forum it stays active. When few post, a forum can go into a downward spiral. I often check here, but because no one else is posting here, I also don't do so.

Sorry!

On edit: About a week or two ago, someone posted a link to a statistical study of DU's membership by income, age, race, etc. There are very, very few people of color on DU. Although most DUers were shocked by how few, I'm sure most of us were not surprised. That also helps explain the lack of action in this forum.

...shows this forum had more activity, once upon a time. I honestly believe that some of DU's members of color left, disgusted by the lack of sensitivity shown on this board in regard to issues of diversity. There've been several major media events where (sadly) too many DU'ers weren't kind toward diversity issues, including:

Immigration issues
Hurricane Katrina (people of color, poverty, the south)
Women's issues (choice, Supreme court decisions, language about women on the boards, rape and assault, etc.)
Duke Rape trial (involved a black woman)
Issues of poverty
Michael Richards incident and the n word
Tookie Williams and the death penalty (I grew tired of calling people on the insistence that blacks would "tear up their communities" because Tookie was being put to death)

Mel Gibson incident
General ethnocentrism
GLBT issues (snickers, various people announcing they disliked gays, etc.)
Imus incident (comments involving black women)

Sadly, I was here for most of these and the unsupportive, insensitive comments were overwhelming. I totally understand how anyone would have experienced any one of those incidents and decided to move on. Or even those that are burnt out for any combination of the above and is in "lurk to occasional post" mode. :shrug:

and I've often wondered what happened to many, many posters who have dropped out of sight. ;-)

Hi Bliss! :hi: Hi Hamden! :hi:

:hi: Always good to see you! We're either die hards, crazy or refuse to allow the bigoted to pass freely without challenging their ideas. Of course, there's always the "all of the above" option ;).

There are very, very few people of color on DU.

Does anyone have a link to this study??

ETA: I've also noticed that the Race/Equality forum is quiet too. What's happening, people??

of some very icky characters...

It's a shame because I'd love to see the Race/Equality forum and this forum be much more active. I don't want to post too many OP's here or else it starts to look like I've got some God complex. :)

who post regularly.

I have no idea why the number of overall posts has fallen, but I hope it's only a seasonal thing, and I hope everyone who does post here is aware of how truly helpful the work they put into this forum actually is.

Mostly as a lurker nowadays, and sad to say I'm bipolar as hell...I spend equal time flaming morons in GD and expressing good wishes to people in the Astro group. :crazy:

I look at DU and I don't recognize it anymore. I used to balk at people comparing DU to FR but honestly as time goes on, DU turns more and more into just the flip side of the coin. I find the older I get the less patience I have with willful ignorance, stupidity, and angry hetero Christian white males who refuse to acknowledge privilege and have the narcissistic need to make any kind of consciousness raising about them. The only real posting of substance I do anymore is in the groups.

it seems to have gotten worse over time, and the oversight seems a lot less.

For me, the added pain is that the firewalls at work have been updated to exclude most blogs, and my posting has fallen way off. I'm mostly in the groups, too. :hi:

There are now more than 105,000 which exponentially increases the precentage of "typical Americans" ;-) on this majority white board.
I find myself lurking for info in LBN and Editorials and less willing to engage. Nor do I relish the idea of the recent influx of yahoos cutting, pasting and spinning the words they discover on this group forum.

I hear ya...they have us on lockdown at my new job so I can't go on anything but the bank's website. :(

Maybe it's better cause I'd be flaming people all day then. :silly:

I have to post when I'm home, too. :hi:

I paid a membership just to be able to post on this forum. When I did I didn't realize that I had wasted my time responding to an instigator.

There is so much I want to post but I've become amazed and disappointed at the level of insensitivity on this board. It definately has become the flip side of the coin to FR.

I do have a desire to post more in this forum but I read some of the ignorance in General Discussion and just step away from th computer.

I can't lay all the blame on other people. I can still post in spite of others and will make an effort to do that.

And maybe a lot of DUers figure it's just for African Americans. I hope not. I post in all the groups. But mostly in the GD as does most DUers. Skinner mentioned in one of this threads that we live in GD too much.:)

If you are like me, I've been reluctant to get out there and mix it on racial issues, preferring other subjects.

This forum by its nature, doesn't exactly attract people who want to be diverted like say, the Lounge, or people who want to check out the current goings on like say, Breaking News or some of the political boards. Not to mention that we're in a Presidential Season, and a lot of people want to find out who's going to be the next President.

And coming out on race is an identifier like coming out on gender is, and some people would rather not engage on a physical level some of the trolls we have here.

a "hostile environment?" ;-)

But more like real life in redstate America. But yeah, I'm not worried here. I think I've already said enough for people to guess I'm black, even though I rarely comment on racial issues.

:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1561876

:hi:

Hello all

<eom>

like an above post noted, it's not easy when the majority regularly show incredible ignorance and venom IRT people-of-color issues.

And would likely use any post as reference for their blinded eyes.

I've been a DUer for five years now, which surprises even me. My participation fluctuates, but I always come back. The hostility level overall does seem higher, and much more directed within than before. Not everyone wants to deal with that. This forum should be a safe space, but you have to decide whether you want to enter DU at all to get to it.

the trolls don't take holidays and weekends off. :hi:

:hi: It strikes me how horribly the "Race/Equality" and "Interracial" forums are infested. It would seem we here prefer silence and documentation rather than making ourselves a target...

I found DU... I don't know how many years ago. I stuck with the political and avoided any personal or lifestyle threads. But recently had to branch out because if I read one more "The Sky is Falling, Obama Fooled You" screed, I was going to scream.

Not much of a poster. Figure I don't have anything really new or insightful to add. But like to come over and see what's going on here.

and then I stopped.

I will start again. Promise!

been checking out everyday.

:hi:

:hi:

forums. We're doing GREAT!!!

All this digital clusterfuck does not allow for taking time to consider issues. Our threads here reflect events over time. Bliss set the standard.

I haven't tried to cut anyone since everyone knows that Mes'kins hate AAs. The only thing that binds us is our collective desire to deny marriage equality (as we're told so often on DU).

it's amazing how much power we have to make things happen...or not. :eyes:

The only thing that binds us is our collective desire to deny marriage equality (as we're told so often on DU).

Man, I don't know whether to :spank: or :cry: or :rofl: at the abundance of free-floating stupidity that covers this place like kudzu.

I look forward to your postings.

I know I discovered AAIG in January of this year and there were threads from the middle of 2007 practically at the top of the damn forum.

It weren't pretty. :)