My tale of finding DU.

[coloradodem2005]

One day in July of 2003, I was angry about being unemployed. One night I went to google. I typed in the search box "I hate George Bush" or something to that effect. I found a site called www.hated.com and it had a bunch of links. This site among them. I got addicted to the Top 10 Conservative idiots" that I looked at almost every week. Then I discovered the forums and started reading. I was addicted for a long time to the reading on here, so I decided that I may as well participate. So, I signed up. Well there's my story. What's yours?

[alittlelark]

1. The gropenator was running for governor... I was appalled.

Hung out at Bartcop a lot... I sent a pic to him that he put up on his page w/ me in front of the sign on the back of my car... I used a shoe polish and wrote 'No Groping Governor' in HUGE letters on the back window of my minivan - I stood next to it w/ a Bartcop logo. When he won I needed to vent.... found this forum through Bartcop links.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. That tracks along with my story pretty well

Somehow I discovered the Top 10 and was hooked after that.

[roguevalley]

3. I was desperate for a safe haven after the Gore-Bush debacle.

I found DU and was a lurker for about a year or more before I could sign up for posting. This place pulled me from the deepest depression I've ever felt.

[KitchenWitch]

4. I discovered DU right before the 2004 election

I was on IRC in some Kerry/Edwards chat rooms and people were talking about DU. I was unable to join at the time because there was a block on new memberships before the election, but as soon as I could, I joined.

[ThorsHammer]

8. Same situation here, minus the IRC (?) part

[KitchenWitch]

9. IRC = Internet Relay Chat

IRC predated most of the more popular chat programs such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. It is a bit more cumbersome to operate, but has been around since at least the early 90s (that is when I first was hooked up to it)

I have probably given you too much information! Oh well.

[Goddess Nephthis]

5. I post religiously at a Sportbike board.

Someone posted a link to here. I clicked on it then browsed the site. Lurked here for about a month. Signed up tonight.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

6. Welcome to DU!

:bounce:

[KitchenWitch]

7. Welcome to DU Goddess Nephthis!

:bounce:

[porkrind]

14. Welcome to DU!

:)

[bigwillq]

27. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[New Earth]

10. here's my story

nothing big. i found DU in mid-November, after the election...i think i had first heard it mentioned on bbv.org forums - and then i saw some link posted on Randi Rhodes board....i clicked one of the links to a thread over here, started reading, then registered to post and have been addicted ever since.

[Swamp Rat]

11. I found DU via a BuzzFlash link to the "Top 10 Conservative Idiots"

early 2001. After three years of lurking daily, I posted on a mopaul thread. :)

[tyedyeto]

15. Buzzflash here too, but early last summer....

Top 10 Con. Idiots brought me here. Didn't even start checking out the forums til Aug or Sept, then lurked for 3 months or so and joined just before the elections.

[RagingInMiami]

12. I actually joned DU back in July 2003 under the username "writestuff13"

At the time, I was working as a newpaper reporter in Arizona, but as a native Floridian, I was hoping with all my heart that Bob Graham would win the primary election.
I posted a few times, but I was going through a very turbulent time in my life with my job and my live-in (now ex) girlfriend, and I didn't stick with DU.
So a year later, after I had quit my job and broke up with my GF, I drove back home to Miami so I could volunteer for the Kerry campaign. I also volunteered for MoveON.
Splitting time between the two groups, I canvassed all the poor neighborhoods in Miami, including Cuban, African-American and Haitian. I was convinced Kerry was going to win Florida for the following reasons:

1. Many Cubans who had always voted republican told me they were going to vote for Kerry.
2. I talked to more than a hundred people who had never voted, never feeling it made a difference, who were so fed up they were going to vote for Kerry.
3. Bush beat Gore by 537 votes in 2000 when they stopped counting the votes. Nobody who voted for Gore in 2000 was suddenly going to vote for Bush, but hundreds, if not thousands of people who voted for Bush in 2000, were going to vote for Kerry.

Even on election day, when I was volunteering as an exit pollster, I must have counted 20 Kerry voters for every Bush voter.

We felt so good about it that we ended up partying in the streets of Little Havana that night.

As you know, the rest is history.

I was so pissed off that I needed an outlet to prevent me from doing something really stupid. I seriously considered going out and busting out the windshields of cars with Bush stickers.

I remembered DU, but I did not remember my password and I had a completely new e-mail address because I had moved across the country.

That is how I became RagingInMiami.

[El Fuego]

32. That was my logic about Florida.

I was just so certain Florida was in Kerry's pocket for the same reasons. Plus, there were the 3,000+ votes lost to Buchanan because of the butterfly ballot.

There's something rotten in the state of Florida!

[RagingInMiami]

34. yes, despite the buchanan factor in palm beach and the african american f

in north florida that occurred during the 2000 election, Bush won by only 537 votes when they stopped counting. And that's considering the fact that many cubans were still pissed at the dems for the elian gonzalez fiasco and before we invaded iraq.
Since then, Florida has become more democrat because of more latin americans other than cubans moving there. And many cubans are pissed at bush because he doesn't allow them to visit their family or send money to cuba as often as before.
Also, the african americans were registering to vote like never before.
There is no way in hell bush won that state legit. No fucking way.

[Der Blaue Engel]

13. 3 days after 2004 election, I decided I wasn't going to drink the koolaid

I was in shock and a deep depression for the first two days, then started getting suspicious and pissed on the third day, and the more I thought about it, the more bullshit I smelled. I saw the damn thing happen right in front of my eyes watching the returns on the 2nd, and I am almost never that crazy to imagine something on that scale.

I couldn't sleep that night so I started Googling "election fraud," and found a link to bbv.org. I saw references to DU there and on a local Tribe.net posting (and I think maybe on sorryeverybody.com, too), and I came straight over here. Within minutes I knew I had gotten out of the matrix. I signed up as soon as the site opened up to new members.

I've been reading and posting obsessively every day since, which has worried my friends, but one of them today remarked how grounded I've seemed in the last couple of months. (I usually suffer from anxiety attacks, and have recurrent depression.) Guess it's worth the trade-off. ;)

[Tracyjo]

16. I found my way here after the election

The fraudulent election. I hung out at the DNC site and actually thought it was cool, until what happened happened. I'm sure I got this address from there. I'm so glad. This place has been a refuge for me since what happened happened. It's nice to be surrounded with like minded people. Plus, you guys in the lounge are way cool.

[bliss_eternal]

18. Welcome to DU, tracyjo!

:hi:

[KitchenWitch]

20. Welcome Tracyjo

:bounce:

[Tracyjo]

22. Thanks you guys

I love it here!!:hi:

[bigwillq]

28. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[fujiyama]

17. Hmmm

I remember it being in the summer of '03 as well. I think it was just before the whole Plame thing broke out.

I found it through a link through salon tabletalk, which had some interesting liberal forums, but which had the absolute worst format you could imagine. Not only that but it costed money.

DU has a much nicer layout, and is free, with the exception of a voluntary donation of course.

[Nicole]

19. I followed a freeper link 3 years ago

I was on another board & someone posted a link to a freeper thread. About 100 of us went over there to read the asinine comments of a lunatic.
I kept going back for laughs & one day found a link to a DU thread posted over there. So I came here to read it.

The funny part was the same DU thread they linked to was one making fun of them, just like the board that I found a link to them on. :evilgrin:

[tjwmason]

24. Me too

slight differences in details, but I saw them ranting about D.U. over in Freeperland and wondered what could spark such strong reactions from them. Here I am to tell the tale.

[Radical Activist]

21. I used to post at Democrats.com

They would talk about DU sometimes so I checked it out. I realized how much bigger this is, which allows for a lot more discussion.

[bliss_eternal]

23. Repub on another site, complaining about being banned by DU!

I was posting to another site and was getting discouraged just prior to the 2004 election. A lot of young people visited the site and the repukes there sounded just like Rush Limbaugh, MSNBC, etc. A few times I tried to post alternate point of views so the youth would get another perspective, only to be attacked relentlessly by these guys.

One of them constantly complained about how horrible DU was because they didn't allow alternate viewpoints (they said the voice of reason...lol). Translation--didn't allow his repuking and attacking people on their views. He claimed he had signed up at DU a few times and always got banned.

I figured any site that banned his sorry ass was a site I had to check out! :D

I came and lurked, registered within days--been here ever since!

[ralps]

25. I started out reading articles and threads over at smirkingchimp.com

One of threads wrote about the various threads about the Plame indictments over here at DU. I checked them out and signed up soon after that.
:hi:

[bigwillq]

26. I found DU when I googled "Howard Dean"

and a link to DU came up in one of the search results!

Glad I clicked on that link!:bounce:

[dorktv]

29. I saw this guy named William Pitt and he just would NOT shut up

about it. :)

[El Fuego]

30. I was working on the Kerry campaign...

We were having a precinct meeting and the captain had a laptop set on electoralvotes.com. My fellow campaign worker switched it to DU and said this is what you want to see. He couldn't tear himself away. Then, I didn't get it.

Now, I guess I do...

P.S. edit:

I am "El Fuego" because it means "The Fire" and I am MAD MAD FIERY MAD :grr: :grr: :grr: :nuke: :nuke:

[The Backlash Cometh]

31. I was pissing and moaning on an Orlando newspaper bulletin,

and someone posted the top ten conservative idiots. Actually, they did it a few months in a row. By that time, I had managed good arguments against Libertarians on the group, but noticed that no one was really changing their minds. So, I figured that debate was pointless and I decided to go find people with my own political leanings. I like the conservatives were not allowed. They won't listen anyways. As long as no one changes their minds about their political views, then the way to happiness is to find your own kind.

[redqueen]

33. I was debating politics on IRC... before 9/11

Then after the attack it became too partisan to have any kind of civil conversation. Someone in #politics suggested Smirking Chimp... so I posted there for a while, but it was poorly moderated IMO, and someone there suggested this place. The rest, as they say, is history.

[mdmc]

35. I heard of this anti war, anti Howard Dean site in early 2003

so I checked it out.
DU then became anti war, pro Dean.
then anti war, anti Bush.
and here we are.

[greendog]

36. I was looking for an info source on 9/11/01

...all the big news sites were bogged down. Somehow I found this place. It was different then...there was only a few dozen regular posters.

[erinlough]

37. My first post....how I came to be here

Hi All!

I've been lurking since 2000. I can't believe that when I first found left leaning sites after the 2000 rip-off I was afraid to even log on. I had family who were afraid that I would get arrested for coming to "these places".

Then when I seemed to know what was happening in the world before they heard it on msm, they wanted to know about it.

I heard about DU from my time on Smirking chimp. I love the lounge and laugh out loud every night at one thread or another. Thanks all for the good times.

[KitchenWitch]

45. Hey erinlough

Welcome to DU (wow your first post!)

:bounce: :toast: :hi: :toast: :bounce:

[zann725]

47. Welcome newbie! (well almost newbie...)

:hi:
Isn't it great knowing what's happening days before the general public?

[LeftyMom]

38. Someone on another site where I lurk from time to time

posts links to stuff here sometimes. Since she seems to know what she's talking about I started lurking here. Eventaully I felt the need to join in, since this group seems to be my kind of crazy. :)

[More Than A Feeling]

39. I don't even remember how I found this place

Probably googling for Dem sites. It's been a year, and my memory isn't that good.

But I am sure glad I did!

[Wat_Tyler]

40. It was all part of my plea-bargain.

[fluffernutter]

41. long story, just glad to be here :)

i had it all typed out and it was insanely twisted and elaborate - but suffice it to say that i had some amazing online friends who posted here who also posted somewhere else and that's how i found DU.

[WateryHands]

51. That sounds a lot like my story :)

[fluffernutter]

52. what a coincidence!

i told one friend ... she told one friend ... they told some friends, and on and on and on :P

[Bryn]

42. "DUSoldier" lead me here from Freeper Forum

Thanks, DUSoldier, whoever you are

Several months ago I came upon FreeRepublic forum when I did google for something which I can't remember and found that forum interesting since I sit in front of a Mac all day long at work and wanted to read news and opinions from people. I was appalled because most of them seemed to be against animal lovers, vegetarians, environmentists and others. I did google to try to find a forum for democrats, but couldn't find one that I liked. Today "DU Soldier" posted something interesting and was banned and they talked about "DU" I knew it had to be a democrat forum and googled & found this place with most people just like me! I voted for Kerry! Too bad I can't bring their "Viking Kitty" over here since I love cats and own 5 cats (they own me, I think)

Bryn ... an animal lover, vegetarian, nature lover and cannot stand Bush!

[Nicole]

44. Bryn

Welcome to DU :hi:

[KitchenWitch]

46. Welcome to DU

Hey, two first time posters in this thread.

Way to go DU and way to go newcomers!

:hug: :bounce: :toast: :hi: :toast: :bounce: :hug:

[fluffernutter]

53. welcome Bryn!

[yellowdogintexas]

43. linked here from another site, right before nov 2 this year

I was killing time up in wyoming, visiting at my husband's worksite, surfing the net and reading up on the election, etc. I may have linked from dailykos or from dfa, but DU just felt like a really good fit for me, then had to wait until 3 weeks after the election to register and post.

[dr.strangelove]

48. I am boring - a friend told me

I was bitching about the field of Dem primary candidates and a friend told me of this great site where dems post. I fell in love with DU right away.

[movie_girl99]

49. i was on Michael Moore's site

and just kept clicking on links and eventually got here. I was hooked instantly and lurked for months because i was terrified to post (still am) because my knowledge of politics was so nothing compared to you guys. I learned so much so fast and was inspired to get working to make sure that dubya didn't get selected again. My friends and family get so sick of hearing ..."guess what i learned on DU today"???

[ImpeachBush]

50. Inauguration 2001 protest coverage ...

Several protestors held aloft a very large sign that said "DemocraticUnderground.com" ... as soon as I saw it, I surfed to this site. I don't post a lot, but I read here almost everyday. I love the Top Ten Conservative Idiots, and keep up to date with the news in LBN, and relax here several times a day, to get a chuckle from the funny posts.

[sundog]

54. Margaret Cho's website

[crispini]

55. Fudge Stripe Cookays told me.

And here I is! :7

[Shopaholic]

56. I originally found DU after the 2000 elections. And I posted for awhile

but got so depressed after the "selection" that I stopped posting and avoided the news and anything political until early 2003. I'm a frequent poster at a fan-site message board devoted a "classic rock" group (think late 70's) and seemingly, this particular band attracts a lot of lefties. They kept talking about DU and I followed a link one of them posted to this website and I refound my old friend and began posting for the second time in early 2003. Before very long, I was way over 1,000 posts. It's my home-away-from home, my primary news source, and my entertainment, all rolled into one. I will never, ever, leave DU again!

[Left Is Write]

57. A friend of mine, a frequent poster here, linked me.