I think I shall reside mainly in the Lounge from now on.

[latteromden]

Man, GD's getting to be TOO MUCH for me. Need to calm down a bit, the people in there. Not good for my health to get into flame wars. :P

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I've heard a lot of that, lately

What have I been missing?:shrug:

[Not_Giving_Up]

2. Here was the most recent entertainment

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3186939&mesg_id=3186939

But the igit went to bed.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I did see this one, but chose to pass on it. Also, it was misspelled

I guess I avoid the ones where somebody's obviously trying to stir people up, because there is no way you're ever going to win with them. Michael Moore said that he'd pay some huge amount of money to anyone who could find a lie in that movie. So far, nobody's collected that I heard. If this guy is aware of them, he should be contacting Michael Moore and not picking fights on DU.:shrug:

[realisticphish]

3. i read GD a lot

but as a rule, i only post on non-controvertial topics. i hate flaming; it's just not what i come here for. so, for info, i read GD, for hanging out and having fun, its my beloved lounge

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Rhiannon12866]

5. I will point out if somebody's wrong about something

And I hope people will do the same for me. I've learned a lot here. But these long, protracted arguments where nobody wins, but just post to sound off are pointless to me. I agree. I don't need the aggravation, either.:-(

[realisticphish]

6. precisely

i was just poking around in GD, and damn, there is a LOT of venom in there. i mean, the lounge gets flamewars, but not the JUICY, personal, hateful shit that happens there. like all the vetwife shit. a poster left. i just dont care :shrug:. maybe she contributed, maybe she was respected, fine, but she's gone, she's not contributing anymore, so let's drop it, please?

i always come back to kittens, speedos, and MatcomNews :)

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I also missed the vetwife stuff.

I saw reference to it, but didn't know what they were talking about. If the discussion is productive, then I'll contribute, but if it's just nastiness going back and forth, I give it a wide berth. And I'm not sure about the speedos, that's JK's phobia, but I will also come back for the kittens.:-)

[jdots]

7. I hate debating

it reminds me of preppy pukes learning how to be bad bosses when daddy gets them a cushy job.
The rants in the lounge are a breath of fresh air from the impending doom and gloom we deserve a break.

[Melynn]

8. Between Gray Ranks and Vet Wife it was a rough day in GD

I wonder if the right wingers have been given marching orders to disrupt progressive forums..........:shrug:

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I saw a post in the Kucinich forum, saying that DU is heavily Freeped

Actually, I haven't seen as much of it as I used to, but maybe I'm just not looking in the right spot at the right time. I believe them, and I did see that Michael Moore bit of nastiness, but, in all the time I've been here, I've only been once flamed for my beliefs, knock on wood. Actually, somebody threatened me, even though I had said something nice about their candidate. It was a long time before I came creeping back. I find most people to be very nice, but then I was a Kucinich supporter, and we're all about peace.:-)

[Melynn]

11. I'll have to mosey over to the Kucinich forum and read that

It does seem strange that in the last week there have flame wars breaking out all over DU. It even spilled over to the lounge earlier in the week. It does seem like something is going on. I wonder if the Gannon story is getting too hot for some on the right and they want to disrupt this forum.

Actually, an attacked on DU by Freepers because of the Gannon story isn't a bad thing. It means the Gannon story is starting to get them.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. Here's the thread I referred to

And it does kind of seem like all hell has broken loose, lately, at least today. And, though I know I shouldn't judge, but the offenders seem to be newer members. I probably had over 200 posts before I got the nerve to start my first thread and there are people here who joined this week, reading others the riot act!:shrug:

But you make an excellent point. The Gannon story has to have a lot of people freaked, since it only seems to get worse and it's not one that's going away, despite the lack of coverage by the MSM. What I just fail to get, is why the RW isn't condemning this guy and moving on?! He is definitely not one of them, in the usual sense, so you'd think they'd throw him to the wolves!:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=272x318

[Melynn]

17. Good point about RWers defending Gannon.

The only reason Freeper types are defending Gannon is because he is a conservative and is "under attack" by progressives. At the same time, a lot of the RWers have to be sick to their stomaches defending a gay prostitute. Not just a gay guy, a gay prostitute. Remember we're talking about people who are homophobic and proud to be homophobic. I think some of the Freepers are losing their minds over having defend Gannon. Hence, the attacks on progressive websites like DU.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Thanks for the explanation! This just made no sense to me.

I would think that Gannon-Guckert would stand for just about everything that these people hate, plus, he's as sleazy as they get, otherwise. And he didn't just ask the occasional question, he made a spectacle of himself with his outrageous speeches. And you'd think that these Patriot Act supporters would be concerned with the security breach, if nothing else.:shrug:

But what you say does make a lot of sense. For most of these people, it's just a knee-jerk reaction to any kind of perceived attack. One time my Freeper mother just sounded off on her opposition to stem-cell research because she said "they kill children!" WTF?! I can't see even her actually believing that, but she'd heard it, so she automatically repeated it!:crazy:

[xmas74]

12. I never post on the conservative sites

but I do take an ocassional peek. There are a few who are always talking about DU and how they will infiltrate it.
Don't they have lives of their own?

[Rhiannon12866]

15. I belonged to FR for more than two years.

But I rarely posted. I'd just ask the occasional question or read a little. But this election, and everything leading up to it, the swift boat attacks and the hate-mongering Republican Convention, just got so nasty, that I haven't been there since. My stomach just will no longer take it.
:puke:

And I have to say that they are obsessed with us. Much more than we are with them. And their stole our post-debate poll list, which really sent me over the edge. And they're still discussing Monica Lewinsky, or were when I was there!:crazy:

[xmas74]

22. I have noticed that Monica is

a big selling point with them. I go to the sites not to post, but to just understand what the other side thinks and feels, hoping that I can always find a middle ground. I have noticed, from the tone of the posts, that this isn't going to happen, which is too bad.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

14. I've been in 2 flame wars since I joined last April

they're never good for the nerves. I always try to avoid them at all costs.

Although I find (more often that it should be) that some people can be very rude in the GD. A certain number of people haven't learned how to respectfully disagree and flame wars can start from hurt egos.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Maybe I've learned not to rise to the bait or fly off the handle because

I've spent so much time in the I/P forum which is so contentious that it has its own special, stricter rules and I've seen people drop like flies there. The main thing to remember is to "attack the message, and not the messenger." I've slipped up only once, and got a post deleted, but it was a thread about animals!:D

I have seen some uncommon rudeness, especially in GD, and I know that some people won't go there because of it. But most people won't venture into "the grudge match in the basement," (I/P) either. The thing that bothers me most is when somebody just totally loses it. There's no excuse for that, no matter how much you disagree about something. If everybody did that, DU couldn't exist, and, as I have mentioned frequently, we're all on the same side, here, aren't we?:shrug:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

18. Exactly. We are all on the same side

I wish people wouldn't forget that so easily. Despite some instances, I think DU is a great place and the best progressive forum on the web.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. It was tough before Kerry was nominated.

The candidate-bashing was brutal. People were actually saying that if their candidate wasn't nominated, they were going to protest by voting for Bush*! What kind of sense does that make?! That's when I often posted that we're all in this together. And I agree about DU. It's got to be the best and most user-friendly forum on the web!:-)

When I was new to this, I happened on a discussion board that was on the site of that SelectSmart test that matches you with the candidates who most agree with you. I noticed that there was one discussion on a possible war with Iran. That had been a hot topic on DU, long before the Iraq war, and the consensus was that this would be suicidal. Well, silly me, I just weighed in! Oops! Apparently, I'm a liberal, LOL! Oh, no! This made me really appreciate DU!:D

[Glenda]

21. I think I saw you in the GD

At least your sig bumper sticker looks familiar.

You can come into the lounge and rejuvenate. I bet you will be lured back to the GD though :)

:hug: