I used to love DU for the intelligent discourse to be found here

[LosinIt]

and mourn the loss of it. It has degenerated into a "my candidate is better than yours because yours .......(fill in the blank)" free for all. The new GD 2004 forum makes it a bit better, but I can only find refuge now here in the lounge. Let me know when it is safe to go back out there. Hopefully after the convention, but perhaps there will still be too many sour grapes to make it safe ever again. I learned so much from the people who posted here, many of whom couldn't take it any more and have gone. I left for a few months myself and came back to find it even worse. Thanks to the Mods who have made every possible effort to make things better. You guys rock.

[SayitAintSo]

1. Where did they go ? Is what I want to know ....

I'd like to visit :)

I'm with you ...

[LosinIt]

4. Just didn't visit here. Caught my news from BBC and other intl sources

but I missed it here.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Here's my favorite fart joke...

Just kidding :)

Seriously, it's been brutal around here, especially since the Gore endorsement of Dean. Once the primaries are thru, the level of intelligent, thoughtful discussion will be elevated once again...

[JitterbugPerfume]

6. One can only hope that someday

the search for intelligent life on DU will be fruitful!!!

[blondeatlast]

10. I have found it . . .

in the Lounge.

[spooky3]

3. I find the articles section informative.

People tend not to post there as much so you may find less to dislike there, even if you also get fewer interesting posts that you would like from DUers.

[supernova]

7. Editorials is underused

I agree, and some great worthwhile stuff people have found.

I occasionally post articles in there, but people are too busy with their GD flame wars. Most unproductive, IMO. I hope more people will stop by Editorials as they get sick of GD.

[mikehiggins]

5. C'mon, cheer up.

Its easy to avoid the other forums (even though you will miss all my bon mots and gems of wisdom) by just not going there, and in a little while it'll all be over. Once the nomination is decided, maybe 98% of the negative threads will evaporate. Nobody is going to whine and moan between then and November except for the occasional "I told you so" which will easily be dismissed.

The group will be united in support of our candidate and rage at how evil and bad the other party is.

After November there will be a spate of "hey, we told you all along" if we win or some "its all ________________'s fault" if we lose, just like last time. No matter what, though, it's unlikely you'll see something like this last few months happening again any time soon.

That's politics in America, but be of good cheer. This unpleasantness is almost over.

[G_j]

8. I don't know, it seems

you can sometimes have a reasonable discussion in GD now that the candidates forum opened up. I think most of the unproductive wheelspinning and blood-letting happens there now. One regret I have is that in general you don't see DUers focusing our energy on actively DOING something. I remember seeing some productive letter writing, and phone campaigns when I first found DU. Those things don't seem to get much interest anymore. There is a lot of unfocused energy here. With less than a year left until the election we should be mercilessly ratcheting up the pressure on the media and Congress to expose the lies, coverups and crimes of the administration: 9-11, the Plame leak, Enron, energy policy etc, etc..

[MaineDem]

9. I know what you mean

A primary fight can be very hard on everyone. I try (and sometimes it's difficult) to stay out of the nasty threads. In fact, I try to stay out of the GD Primary forum entirely.

There are a lot of new posters who are here because of the primary and that's fine. An exchange of ideas is excellent. But I feel that many of the posters here would never dream of acting the way they do here if they were sitting face-to-face discussing the issues. I've had many many discussions with people supporting other candidates and we haven't come to blows yet.

I'm sure most of this will blow over after the convention, or at least when we have a VALID nominee with the required delegate count.

Don't give up on DU. I'd be lost without LBN and the insight the posters bring to the discussions I do read.

[blondeatlast]

11. My yak

is a strong leader who cuts taxes, gives to the poor, and has a vast and thorough understanding of the Israel/Palestine issue and a plan to bring peace to the entire ME.

Your yak hates the UN.

So there!

[Blue Gardener]

12. I'm fairly new

But I have to stay away from the GD Primary forum. Those people can be mean. Otherwise I really enjoy the other forums. Still one of the best places to find current news stories without all the media spin, (and Buzzflash of course).

[Zuni]

13. just hang out in the lounge

here we stopped making even the pretenses of trying to sound intelligent

[blondeatlast]

14. Consequently, we sometimes have more intelligent discourses

than anywhere else on DU.

"Pretense" being the operative word--lots of it elsewhere; here we are just too relaxed (for various reasons) to give a damn.

[Selwynn]

15. There is still plenty of intelligent discourse to be found... its just...

..that there is a lot more unintelligent discourse as well. But before I sound too snooty, I'm responsible for unintelligent discourse as well as intelligent discourse, so I surrender the high ground on that. :)

There is a thread on GD on what is justice - that's some intelligent discourse. Editorials and Articles section is full of intelligent discourse. I put an essay of my own up on the boards yesterday that was my best attempt at intelligent discourse. And there are certain people who have a strong reputation for posting amazingly intelligent discourse when they post (still hoping to one day be counted in that number, lord o lord) :)

The real issue is that you have to shift through a lot more "chaff" to get to this stuff than you used to.

I also appreciate everything the mods have done to try and make things better, even when I do occasionally get in trouble for saying something as tragically shocking as "shut up" in a post. :)