Okay, What's the lowdown on GD?

[Tyo]

Tell me about GD. What is it, what's good what's not so good? Why does it crop up on DU so much?

[johnnie]

1. The General Discussion forum

I don't quite know what you are asking.

[Tyo]

6. Gotcha. Figured it out about 5 secs after I posted n/t

[Tyo]

2. We're not talking about General Discussion are we?

Jeeze you guys! If this is the case then this whole DU family is pretty... I donno, guess I've got a lot to learn :eyes:

[undeterred]

3. Its a depressing place where people are overly serious

take offense at everything, and analyze current issues to death.

Love it when I'm in the right mood.

[Tyo]

5. Thanks, this is what I need to know.

Still learning the ropes here. The way people here talk about DU it's like it's a separate site or something. Guess it is in a way.

[NewJeffCT]

63. It's not a separate site - it's a separate world

I'm not really a part of either, I think.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

4. If you have skin thinner or less resitant than dragon hide, don't go to

General Discussion. Poeple will literally fight and attack you over what most people would think of as nothing. It gets pretty nasty

[Tyo]

7. I like a good fight

But The Lounge seems like a pretty save haven for when I just want nice people around.

[The Wielding Truth]

51. Gee, don't let them scare you off. GD in DU is OK.

Enjoy posting how you feel. It could clear up a subject if you present a new view.
Welcome,Tyo. :hi:


:kick:

[datasuspect]

61. i wouldn't even characterize it as fighting

there is a motley assembly (subset, not all posters in GD) of truly vile, wretched humanity.

i imagine them as secreted away shut ins, alone in dark, damp basement apartments, plotting the different ways the mailman is trying to cheat them of their monthly nut check.

you can't even characterize these people's behavior as discussing or rationally arguing.

if you like way off base assumptions about your personal life from people who don't even know you, ad hominem attacks, and dog pile on the rabbit sessions, you'll adore GD.

[speedoo]

8. I've posted a lot on GD, and had only one problem like that.

Evidently the person who gave me a hard time did it frequently, as she was eventually banned.

But I often wonder why so many here in the lounge hold GD in disdain. There are some very smart people there who provide amazing insight and information.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

14. Well, I don't know why, but I've never had anything but bad experiences

in GD. While I'm sure there are some redeeming qualities, I have yet to find them. Part of it is my opinions aren't too well liked by alot of people, which often results in me being under fire. I just got tired of the constant childish bickering which every argument I've had turned into.

[speedoo]

22. Well, I don't know what your opinions are.

It's a board that is set up to be progressive and liberal and to support democratic politicians. Certainly people who have different goals will find it difficult there.

Most of the fights I have seen there revolve around subjects like Jason Leopold, where there are legitimate differences among progressives. That's to be expected, and IMO it does not justify the level of disdain over GD that is seen here.

[Radio_Lady]

40. Hey, you can have bad experiences in the Lounge over something

as simple as what restaurant you choose while on vacation!!

'Nuf' said.

Warm regards from Radio_Lady in Oregon

[Radio_Lady]

41. Oh, besides chain restaurants, don't dare say anything about Howard

Stern, either.

[Arugula Latte]

56. Yes...Never mention anything that rhymes with "Golive Barden."

:rofl:

[otherlander]

49. *sigh* Here. Catch.

:hi:

[MzNov]

52. boy, I hear ya on that nt

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. One forum, 10,000 posters

9,980 tin foil hats.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

11. And Rex speaks the truth YET AGAIN.

:rofl::rofl:

:hi:

[LostinVA]

10. The lowdown: everything I saw is RIGHT

[WritingIsMyReligion]

12. Don'cha mean "Everything I SAY..."?

:P :P

[LostinVA]

16. Be quiet -- yes!

[bridgit]

13. Tyo? you can barrow my GD suit if'ya ever wanna...

:hi:

[Tyo]

15. I'll need shoes to go with it.

[bridgit]

17. ah, good point...

:rofl:

[Tyo]

18. But that's really nice of you

And I'll work out the accessories myself.

[bridgit]

19. yes, accessorizing is often considered thee personal touch...

that really matters :thumbsup:

[amitten]

20. And here's a rundown of the GD mindset:

I don't like you unless you're so far left I can't even see you anymore. Even then, I probably don't like you, because you are not a clone of me, and I am the lone person on Earth that I find tolerable. You must oppose guns...to the point that you believe all metals should be banned as a raw material worldwide. You must support choice...to the point that any pregnant woman you know should be heartily encouraged to abort, lest she be further vexed by her loathsome parasite. You must not only respect minorities as equals, but you must bow down before them in prayer, unless you are one, in which case your every move and deed is automatically sacred, crime included. Not only must you support illegal immigration, but you must volunteer to physically assist those trying to cross the border from Mexico. Pedophiles, murderers and "criminals" in general are never to be shunned, it is clear that if you disapprove of their behavior, you are being closed-minded and intolerant. Any conspiracy theory about anything, from the Kennedy's to elections to 9/11 to high-fructose corn syrup is true without a doubt, and if you choose to disagree with but a small detail, may God send your soul directly to the fiery pits of Hell. (Except you are not allowed to believe in God, and if you do, you are very clearly an imbecile of the most vile sort.) That is all. For now. Until the meds wear off.

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. Excellent!!!

It took me much longer to figure that out. :thumbsup: :yourock: :hi:

[amitten]

25. Is that smilie doing the Nazi salute? What exactly do you mean,

I "rock"? What kind of fascist slur is that?????

Are those smilies on the escalator in your post at WAL-MART!????!!?!!!?!?!!!!!!! :mad:

This is the LAST time I post in the Lounge! Bunch of right-wing PIGS!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going back to GD pronto! To talk to the REAL liberals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. Sure...fine...go back to "the borg"....

:rofl:

[Bucky]

23. To be fair, they're much better at using paragraph breaks than FR

A couple of years ago, it was worse. They're all writing in digestable-sized paragraphs these days. I think they're getting better. Of course I may be optimistic right now. I just mounted up a GD thread about the Constitution's birthday (September 17th) and got nothing but accollades and 15 recommendation votes. It'd be 16, but I don't think you can recommend your own threads.

[Tyo]

24. Thanks for the real story, amitten, and kampai!

The people we hang at the bars with are a pretty radical group. You gotta take 'em on their own terms. Such as they are. If what you say about GD is the case then I'm gonna have some fun with these folks. And they're gonna have some fun with me. I just wasn't sure what the limits were. Now if I can just find the right shoes.

[UTUSN]

27. That is SO funny

and true. I can just say that being FLAMED is the max in self-esteem-challenging.

There have been a day or two when I seriously questioned returning to DU -----OR ANYWHERE IN LIFE!!!!1 And as for the Lounge being any more friendly, WHOA!1

Anyway, just be a duck's back.

[amitten]

28. Oh, I don't find it challenging.

Just an exercise in absolute futility. Those people are IN-SANE.

[bridgit]

29. hey, you forgot to mention...the devil exists inside Diebold voting...

machines :-)

[amitten]

31. Actually, I think the Diebold worries are pretty substantiated.

Point blank: computer voting can be hacked, just like computer-anything can be hacked, and it's just not a good way to vote since said hacker might not even ever be detected.

I don't think that one is a wacko theory...just a genuine worry!

[bridgit]

34. pft, ah, so you do have your limits...

:spray: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2154570&mesg_id=2159116 :patriot:

[vickitulsa]

30. Wow, what an eye-opener THIS thread is for me.

I finally drop into the Lounge because a couple of folks I've encountered elsewhere on DU mention they hang out here sometimes, and THIS is what I find??

Tsk tsk, you lounge lizards who can't bear to discuss "serious" stuff while your country is coming down around your ears. :)

But honestly, I'm a bit stunned that there is this much disdain and outright nastiness harbored here toward your fellow DUers in GD -- or anywhere else on this mammoth board for liberals.

If this is how you talk about "them," then I think I understand why "serious" people there occasionally (but very rarely, in fact) make a snide remark about you who want to remain aloof from the fray and just "be around nice people."

It's sort of confusing to someone like me who is a relative newbie myself. I can say with confidence, however, that I have not been treated the way you guys are saying the GD people treat each other, not when I was there. Or at least only on two occasions in just over a year. I'd say that's not bad for a discussion board about politics, right?

Tyo, you really don't need a suit of armor -- or a flamesuit, as I've seen some post -- to speak your mind in GD. Usually after the arguments settle down (if they even get fired up at all), DUers of many stripes remind each other that we're all on the same side, and that we want the same things, as the description of DU outlines.

I'm a disabled, retired old lady living on Disability, and I don't have a very thick skin and I don't like to fight or even argue stridently. I do, however, like to voice my opinion and try to reach a concensus with others who, like myself, see the "serious" threat to our nation that the present administration presents and want to do something about it.

That can only happen if we pull together, not lambast others who have gathered in the same hall for the same purpose.

So how long does a thread last in here, anyway? And has anyone seen Ava lately? I'd hoped to catch her here.

:hi: y'all. Be nice -- like you said you are. ;)

[bridgit]

32. woohoo, a proper deviant...

:woohoo: just kidding :hi:

[amitten]

33. You've been lucky. GD treated me worse than any far-right

nutjob ever has. It's hard to "pull together" in that situation. And plenty of us here do discuss "serious" politics in other forums besides GD.

[vickitulsa]

38. I figured you did...

discuss "serious" things in other forums. ;)

Guess I merely wanted to give Tyo a little bit of the other viewpoint, though Speedoo did that pretty well already.

I don't think I'm "lucky," though. I've never been lucky in my life! I've been divorced four times, fer heaven's sake!

And it's not because I'm a lousy wife -- it's because I used to make lousy choices about who I hang around with and try to make them permanent ... and because I have bad luck. (Wait a minute, that seems it might apply to my defense of GD, doesn't it? Hmmm....)

Actually, I tend to check out LBN when I first log onto DU, if I have the time or if I need to catch up on breaking news I might have been missing. It sometimes depends on the time of day or night. Then I hop over to the Greatest page to see what threads have garnered enough recs to appear there. Sometimes read through long and interesting threads and then decide I want to join in the conversation -- or just move on to another one. If I see something in either LBN or on the Greatest page or elsewhere that I really feel others should see, I recommend it and usually kick it.

Feel I'm doing a good service that way, since I know many people don't have much time to scan through this mammoth site for what they want and often those folk just go to the Greatest page first. Also, on the Greatest page, you get the most-recommended threads from ALL the forums and groups at DU, so I'm definitely NOT always in GD.

I also like to read through entire threads before I join in the discussion, if I possibly can, because that way it's very easy to avoid stepping into one where there's already a flamefest going on.

I think it says something about the vast variety of discussions on DU that I'm only just now checking into the Lounge! I came here once when I first joined DU, even posted something and chatted with a couple of people here. They were nice, indeed, but there weren't many responses. Could be I was just BORING, but most people don't seem to find me boring elsewhere.

Who knows, really, what draws certain people to some forums (or is that "fora"?) on DU while others choose quite different ones? It's a subjective thing, a matter of taste and preference.

I used to think the people in Religion/Theology or whatever it's called must surely get tired of talking only about that, but I visited and it didn't seem that way. Have heard rumors about the "dungeon" of the 9/11 forum, but I still plan to see it for myself before I make up my mind. I like to give every individual and every group a fair hearing before I decide about them.

Oh, but I do have my tinfoilhat ready. Had that before I ever heard of DU though. :evilgrin:

And how about this? In spite of what I found here in the Lounge when I finally stopped by here tonight, I plan to come back again and see what's going on. It's really hard to assess anything from just a smidgeon of a sample!

Guess that applies to other places and people too, right?

Aw, c'mon, tell me I'm RIGHT! :applause:

Nite nite everyone, and be good. I really love the cute animal pics -- I'm a diehard critter-lover! :hug:

Oops, one more thing -- as you can see, I tend to be pretty longwinded, too! Y'all here in the Lounge would probably run me off in short order if I kept this up here, but even in GD not one person has ever criticized me for verbosity, not even once. Now that's a FIRST for me in discussion groups online, and I've participated in them for almost ten years. So I'd say there's some real patient people out there in the larger DU World. Just sayin'...

[Stardust]

45. GD is for serious stuff, Forum is for fluff. Sometimes you feel like a nut

...you know the rest.

[BrotherBuzz]

35. No cute kitty threads allowed in GD

Just an observation

:hide:

[SeattleGirl]

36. I hang out in GD a lot.

Yes, it gets really crazy in there sometimes, and I do believe there are people who post there (and sometimes even in the Lounge), who, rather than stating an opinion, make pronouncements, and that drives me nuts. If you are reporting a fact, then yes, you can report an absolute. But for heaven sakes, if something is your opinion, why can you say "In my opinion..." or "I think that..." I think that is my biggest gripe about GD -- the PRONOUNCERS. I often just don't even read their posts.

On the other hand, though, I find it to be a great place to get news that you can't find in the main stream media, at least not right away. I don't know how many times I've picked up the newspaper or turned on the TV news to read or hear a story that someone on DU posted about weeks or months before. Or, I can read about other angles of a story, or get further details on DU that aren't reported in the newspaper on on TV.

In addition, there are some incredibly smart, insightful people on DU, and I cannot begin to tell you how much I've learned from them.

It does bother me sometimes to read nasty posts about GD here in the Lounge. For me, if I start reading a thread that seems to be posted by someone more interested in starting a flame war than in having a discussion, then I stop reading it.

:hi:

[idgiehkt]

42. The Pronouncers

lol...

didn't they sing that song..."Well I would walk 500 miles and I would walk..."

wait, that was The Proclaimers. Nevermind.

[SeattleGirl]

43. idgie! You silly!

:rofl:

[amitten]

46. Agreed...GD is a great place to get the latest news.

But then I run far, far away...

I ENJOY my appendages and would hate to lose them...

[caty]

37. The sweet, kind, compassionate people

post on the Lounge. Now, I'm not saying that there are not any sweet, kind, or compassionate people who post on GD. HOWEVER-- there are a lot of mean spirited people over there who seem to get up on the wrong side of the bed just about everyday. If you post there, don't take anything hateful seriously. Some people just have to argue about something.;( :evilgrin:

[bif]

39. I've been killed there

And I thought I was a liberal Democrat. I acxtually blushed I was so outraged about the attact I received one time.

[JVS]

44. PCP-rage forum

[amitten]

48. Yes!!!!

That is a PERFECT description! :D

[LSK]

47. they are a bunch of tinfoilers

:hide:

[Tyo]

50. Help! I've replied to a few posts there tonite

Tying to provoke at least one nasty response but have gotten exactly nowhere. Either I'm a real loser as a provocateur or this is warm fuzzy pussycat night at GD. What do I have to do? I need to annoy as many people as possible before Partner comes home on Wed.

[Robb]

53. What the hell's "GD"?

:D

[Tyo]

54. It's the General Discussion Forum on DU

I've been here for a couple of months and I only figured it out last night right after I posted the same question. You're not making fun of me are you?

[Runcible Spoon]

55. he is.

Robb is a dingbat :evilgrin:

[Arugula Latte]

57. SCREW YOU, Tyo!!!

Why don't you go back to FREEPVILLE where you belong!!!! :grr:

... How was that? :D

[Tyo]

58. That felt great!

Thank you sir, may I have another? :bounce:

[Arugula Latte]

59. You may have another, because I'm no SIR!

I'm just not very ladylike!

Take this, worm! :spank:

[amitten]

62. And might I add,

"Oh GOOD one, you stinking TROLL. Go crawl back under your rock and don't forget to give Bush a BLOW JOB before you do it! Nothing like outing an anti-choice fundie bloodthirsty gun-toting asshole freeper cocksucker to start my day off RIGHT!11!11!11111!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tyo]

64. Don't stop!

I'll never waste my time on GD again! :woohoo:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

60. Deleted message

You'll see them as replies from time-t’-time. :) Name removed hangs out at GD a lot but occasionally comes into th’ Lounge.

BTW - if ye want scary visit Israel/Palestine forum (nicknamed "th’ basement") and the September 11 forum (nicknamed "th’ dungeon").