How did YOU discover DU???

[LynneSin]

Poll question: How did YOU discover DU???

Ok, there is no way I can cover the 10 million different ways so I'll cover the most commonly heard reasons people discovered DU.

Me - I found it from the Top 10 conservative Idiots list that someone posted on a democratic yahoo group

[GOPisEvil]

1. The Buzzflash link to the Top 10 list.

I'm so very thankful, too. :-)

[mac56]

24. The Buzzflash connection for me, too.

nm

[MaineDem]

2. Maine Mary told me

While we were out campaigning for her re-election. :)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Since I'm one of the "old-timers," it's hard to remember, but

I had been subscribed to American Politics and visiting Democrats.com since the summer of 2000.

After the Selection, I followed the links from one of those two websites (can't remember which) and found DU. :-)

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. I was surfing the net for * jokes,

and found Top 10 Conservative Idiots". Think it was about week three, though I did not join until the following October.

[Raven]

5. From Will.

Now sometimes checking in here is the only way I can keep track of him!:-)

[Caution]

6. WillPitt's Book.

Read about it there, which i bought after seeing an ad in The Progressive. So not only do I have Will to thank for being a loud voice in the wilderness, but also thanks for alerting me to this wonderful forum (for all it's faults and constant bickering, DU is far and away the best information clearinghouse I have ever come across).

[lcordero]

7. whatreallyhappened.com linked to DU

[Tyler Durden]

8. A rabid NEOCON told me I belonged here.

And guess what-he was right (I mean CORRECT) for a change.

[molly]

9. WillPitt's website

[Webster Green]

10. January 20, 2001

A large Democratic Underground banner was visible at the *presidential inaugural parade.

[Crewleader]

28. webster_green nice to meet you

On January 20th 2001
I too seen the banner and have been posting here ever since! :hi:

[rppper]

52. same here....i'm an old timer

i was watching in awe as all of those people were protesting, bush had that sour look on his face, then i saw the banner and found the site that evening. been posting ever since.

[Qutzupalotl]

54. Likewise!

Never has one web address changed the political landscape so much, IMO.

[THUNDER HANDS]

11. from Oreilly-sucks.com

I can't remember how I found that site though, I haven't been there in ages.

I kept sticking around though, even after I was banned (TWICE) for being a disruptor. I guess I'm just persistent.

:)

oh yeah, I found Oreilly-sucks from an article on progressive websites in The Nation, I believe.

[Cornus]

12. * motivated me!

Although I was never a political activist, I did usually support democratic candidates. Considering what * has done to this country, I decided that I simply had to become more active. After doing a search for democratic sites I just happened upon this one a couple of months ago. I've chosen an *almost* candidate (guess who that might be?) to support and I am working actively to persuade him to declare and to be elected as our next president.

[GainesT1958]

13. One of my buddies over at algore04.com linked to it...

LYNNE--In one of his posts early in 2002. So, I checked that link, and then noticed others at the alogre04.com site were saying they regularly posted at DU. After visiting the first time--even BEFORE the next edition of Top 10, but right in line with the latest edition of Bob Boudelang's column--I was, of course, hooked! Couldn't stop guffawing at that one, and at the way it really DID sound like the typical Rush Dittohead's reaction to things.

But the posts, staunch activist fervor--and insight--of DUers kept me here. Especially after seeing folks like WILL PITT, LIBGUERILLA, MATCOM, UNDERPANTS, SKITTLES, SOCALDEM, DEMOTEX, KHEPHERA, NAMBE, NEWYAWKER99 and CATWOMAN, to name but a few. And, of course, one LYNNESIN!:-)

AND...later on, ALL the folks I had the priviledge to be a monitor with this summer!:D

Couldn't tear me away now with a neutron warhead-tipped cruise missile!:7

B-)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

14. i don't recall the specifics

but i was looking for info on the then upcoming war in iraq. been here ever since. the late breaking news section i find to be quite nice.

[LynneSin]

15. Website VS. Forum

They seem similiar but they are different.

Website should be any site that has a list of links and this is included

Forum should be if someone posted in another forum you belong to that folks should visit this site.

They seem similiar, but they are different. I found it when someone posted it on a Yahoo group forum that I belong to!

[dani]

16. from usenet...

someone in a newsgroup linked to an article in DU. I had never heard of DU before that.

[bandy]

17. found DU in

Janet Reno's champaign web site and so glad i did. Been here every day since.

[zizzer]

18. My boss...

My boss turned me onto DU. I saw him slacking reading the forums and asked about it. Now WE slack and follow the news and make rude comments about the Repugs.

I love my job...even if I'm not a network jock any more.

Zizzer

[Aristus]

19. It was linked to BushWatch and Hated.com

I clicked the link, and found my liberal Paradise! I don't even visit BushWatch anymore!

[maxanne]

20. someone

on Michael Moore's old web forum (no longer in existance) mentioned it, and I checked it out. Here I am - for a couple of years now.

[Cocoa]

21. I don't remember exactly

It might have been Mr. Rove who gave me this assignment, but back then it might also have been Ms. Hughes...

[lpbk2713]

22. From another "alleged" non-political forum.

It's supposed to be about fishing but in the "off Topic" area they are overwhelmingly conservapukes. One day someone sarcastically recommended DU. Tried it and liked it ever since.

[Cha]

23. Read about it in "The Nation" mag before I even had a

computer. And then when I got a computer I went back to find the mag with all that info in it, but couldn't find it so I went to "THe Nation" online and looked up "alternative news scources" and found "bartcop", "buzzflash", democrats.com, and democraticunderground.com!

Who knows how I would have found it if I hadn't have read The Nation!

But I would have found it! :-) :kick:

[_NorCal_D_]

25. I found DU

by going accidentally to whitehouse.org then to bartcop.com then to DU.

[cmf]

26. Someone on another message board

There was a poll and one of the questions was "What is your favorite message board other than this one?" and she put down DU. I searched it and here I am!

[Booberdawg]

27. Not sure but I think

I did a search for Democratic sites and eventually found a link to DU

[Zomby Woof]

29. reason # 1

The Top 10 List is still my favorite non-forum feature on DU.

[gyopsy]

30. Taylor (TSias) told me about it

And I signed up. The website is pretty good but the forums are far and away the best on the internet imho.

[TSIAS]

46. Yep

Agree completely. The best political message board out there. The Lounge is awesome as well. If you just want to chat casually, it's the place for you. We have quite a few "Lounge Lizards". I prefer to stay mostly in the Lounge, as well.

[Hubert Flottz]

31. Gina Maria sent me here!

From the Freedem board! ****** Where's Gina???

[Birthmark]

32. That great (and scary) patriot...

...Jan Michael led me here. Well, actually I stalked him, but it works out the same in the end.

[Kat45]

33. My ex, who has been banned from this site more than once

told me about it. I think he was sick of hearing me constantly go on about *, so he told me about this site where I could go on with like-minded people. He's not a repuke, he's an equal-opportunity troll who will try to stir things up on both sides of the fence--just a troublemaker. I'm so glad he did tell me about this site; I love it!

[tarheel]

34. I actually thought at one time that I was

a Libertarian, believe it or not. I still do agree with much of their platform, but I cannot get past their embrace of Laise Faire capitolism and an unfettered free-market.

I believe that human nature being what it is, business must be regulated by government or it will and does do anythng necessary to reap maximum profits, by whatever means available, whether they be legal, ethical, moral or not.

Anyway, I used to read the old Capitol Hill Blue page until I figured out what the Libertarian party was really promoting and there were some posters there who made comments about DU and I checked it out.

I knew immediately that I was home ! The rest is history ! (OK, maybe not history, but a matter of record anyway !)

[SiouxJ]

35. From a "friend" who has since been banned

I was having a sort of e-relationship with a guy who turned out to be a total ass but he did turn me on to DU and I will be forever grateful for that.

[dolo amber]

36. Fate

I was purposely apolitical for the last few years. The whole Monica thing just really did my head in. That we were wasting SO much time and money on something right out of a bad episode of Springer was so far beyond absurd to me, something inside snapped. Not to mention the *sElection* that shortly followed. That was THE FINAL straw. I can remember watching the results come in, then they announced that Gore was the winner, only to come back a couple minutes later with "Wait, there's been a mistake"...I felt utterly nauseous.

And so, I stuck my head in the sand and remained blissfully ignorant.
Somewhere inside my conscience started to nag, and I started (unwillingly, to be sure) to pay attention again. I started doing a lot of surfing political sites after Sept. 11th. My mother (love her liberal soul, but she has a tin-foil hat collection you wouldn't BELIEVE ;)) was convinced from the get-go that Dubya and Co. were involved, so I started trying to find out if she was as loony as I thought she was or if she was onto something. To make a short story long, I'm fairly sure I stumbled across DU whilst reading some other site, tho which one I couldn't begin to guess (as I don't so much frequent the whatreallyhappened or buzzflash). What I DO know is I could not POSSIBLY be happier that I did. I feel better about things than I have in a long time, merely be hearing other voices that echo my own. I'm starting to re-discover who I am and what I really feel simply by spending time with all of you.

And so, thank you, DU. :)

[goobergunch]

37. Google (n/t)

[ScreamingMeemie]

38. Detroit underground would be about salt mines. Buzzflash for me.

:hi:

[sexybomber]

39. Buzzflash

[VOX]

42. Buzzflash here, too.

Lurked for too long (a year or so), but then dove in. Glad I did.

[zekeson]

40. From a friend

sez he has never registered, just a lurker.

[never cry wolf]

41. Freeperville

i discovered bushwatch over a year ago and some of the links there led me to Bernard Weiner, truthout and then buzzwatch. there was a buzzflash link to a freeperville thread where they were bitching about something or another. one of the posters said something they didn't like and they suggested he go back to DU. i had no idea what that meant and neither did that poster until they explained farther down the thread.

i joined that day and the rest is history.

THANK YOU FREEPERS!!!

[5thGenDemocrat]

43. Googled "democratic+underground"

Twenty-five months ago.
John
I wasn't here at the very beginning, but I got here pretty early.

[proud patriot]

44. Other.....I saw the Banner on T.V.

and Skinner and EarlG freezing their butts off in D.C.

[qb]

45. bartcop

http://www.bartcop.com has a permanent link to DU at the top of the page.

[geniph]

47. My husband found DU just after Inauguration Day

He was ranting that the wingnuts had websites up the kazoo, and where were the liberal equivalents. He found Buzzflash, and a link to the Top Ten Conservative Idiots, which he started reading to me every Monday. After a few weeks, I started going to DU to read the column myself, and posting was shortly thereafter.

I've been here since March/April of 2001.

[RainDog]

48. Six degrees of DU

I was furious after the theft of 2000 and kept getting into arguments with Scalia defenders at Krausfiles on Slate...that was before 9-11.

I wanted to find others who shared my disgust, so I went to Michael Moore's site for a while, but it didn't quite do it for me, (that was after 9-11) and then, one day, I read an article on Salon which linked to MediaWhores which linked to...buzzflash, I think, and I saw the link to here at the bottom of their page and I read the forum for a while and then jumped in one day.

I've told many, many people about DU, MediaWhores, BuzzFlash, Eshcaton, Salon, and other sites. Hope I find out some of them are here one day.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

49. I can't even remember

ain't that horrible?

[Nomad559]

50. BartCop

The BartCop Forum

[cmd]

51. C-span

I'm a morning junkie.

[Blue-Jay]

53. Someone linked DU on a Fark thread.

So, here I am!

[sujan]

55. google.com

[populistmom]

56. My husband found it

But he never signed up or posted. I don't post a lot, but I've been hooked for about 7 months now.