Love Mail for Democratic Underground (Post Yours Here)

[SaveAmerica]

I was checking out all the goodies on the front page when I found a link to DU's 'Hate Mailbag' (http://www.democraticunderground.com/mail/index.html ) and I thought in the interest of fairness and balance we should give Democratic Underground and its founders some Love Mail. What do you think?

For me my main reason for loving DU is that it has become my main source for news and information. After I picked myself up off the floor on Nov. 2, moped around for a couple weeks, I thankfully found DU. There, inside, were actual links to interviews that didn't pick out certain sentences and use thoughts and ideas in ways they weren't intended. I had access to complete interviews not 'MSM's' picked over versions.

Secondly, I love the wealth of knowledge here; politically I'm in the toddler stage, but if I have a question and post it here, very soon after someone has provided an answer and link. I have learned more about the goings on of my country in the past 9 months than I have in my life. As if that's not enough, we are provided a way to save and organize threads that are chock full of this information. Bookmarks? We don't need no steenking bookmarks.

Lastly, the best gift of all was the gift of not becoming a hater. I felt myself sliding down that slippery slope after the election but ironically it was DU's rule of not calling anyone a 'freep' that helped save me. At first I was frustrated about it, there were some people that were really obvious and the urge to tell them so was strong. But I had been the victim of some strongly worded responses (because of name, avatar, and low post count) so having been treated like this and the no-freep-calling rule made me think twice about such responses. Soon I was wording my answers carefully, sometimes re-writing posts 2 or 3 times. This has spilled over into my day to day. Where I used to think 'how could half of America be so stupid' and want to shout down my hate spewing Republican acquaintance (a la Hannity), I would re-think and re-world my responses. The feeling I have inside of me is so much better for it, I feel peaceful, I feel sorry for said acquaintance and his inability to take off his blinders. Peace has truly been the biggest reward of Democratic Underground and I thank those of you who have given us this gift, it's much appreciated.
Thank You Democratic Underground!!

Anyway, thanks for listening, if you have a love letter for DU, post it here.

*I just realized that since I no longer have cable and I get the majority of my news from here (husband: 'Did you hear about...' me: 'Yes, three days ago on DU), I'm going to start giving some of my info money to DU. I switched my budget from Dish Network to high speed internet, I think the money that used to go to those 'news' channels CNN and MSNBC will start going to DU. Does anyone else do that?

[SharonRB]

1. I, too, found DU shortly after the election

I was so depressed, and still am, but DU has helped me so much. I also get most of my news here -- or at least links to news. I find out breaking stories here before anywhere else, and when my husband asks if I've heard about something I always have.

I've not only made on-line friends, but have actually met some face to face. It's quite a community.

DU has helped make me a more informed citizen and has made me become more involved -- a year ago I never would have gone to a vigil or a peace rally, but last nite I did the former and next month I'm going to do the latter for the first time in my life (and I was in college during Vietnam).

Without DU I wouldn't have known much about Valerie Plame, the DSM, election fraud and many, many other important issues.

I keep telling people about DU and suggest they come out here and look around. I don't know if anyone has actually listened to me, but some have sounded interested.

I love how there are so many different areas of interest here and how it's organized so well. Other sites just aren't as user friendly and don't offer as much variety, from politics to movies to hobbies to religion to just plain old discussion and fun.

Thanks, Skinner -- this is by far the best site ever.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Dear DU

Thanks for keeping me sane and informed. Thanks for being a place to help me figure out how I can change the status quo. Thanks for hooking me up with more progressives than I ever could have known off-line.

:yourock:

[SaveAmerica]

3. Kick it if you love DU

:kick:

[wryter2000]

4. DU saved my sanity

I was beginning to think that everything I'd been taught about my government and even about Christianity had been wrong. Maybe the second amendment DID mean that individuals has the right to own any guns they wanted. Maybe American educators HADN'T decided that evolution was better science than creationism. Maybe there WAS NO separation of church and state. Maybe all Americans DID think that liberals were stupid and dishonest and that only Reagan and Bush spoke for them. Maybe no one WANTED to listen to a liberal point of view.

I didn't like this new United States of America, but I was getting to be afraid I had to live with it. When I found DU, I realized that I was right and all those other people were wrong, just as they always had been.

Thanks to DU, I'm feeling positive that we can save our country, and if we do, we may be be able to save the world.

Alice Brilmayer
Oakland, CA

[SaveAmerica]

6. I know it, we're the 'immoral minority' kind of funny if you knew

how squeaky clean I am.

[thecrow]

5. Dear DU...

I love the atmosphere here. I also love to read LBN because it brings sense in this senseless world by having actual news threads posted from so many pspers around the world. Without LBN, I wouldn't have a clue to what is going on in the world.

I love the people here. I love the way we all work toward the same goal. I love the outpouring of sympathy toward other DU'ers.
I point this to the supprt Mary got when her life was so bleak.
I love that we got $50,000 together in so very few days to help save Andy's life.

I love the way there is balance here... between the posters. Some will go manic on a thread, and some will point out the cool headed way to a peaceful confrontation. As we surge in the anti-war movement
(and it has ALWAYS been a movement) we need to hear these voices.

I always log onto http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=latest_threads

for the best of both worlds.
Congratulations, DU, I believe you have made a difference in this messed up world we live in by bringing sanity to the masses.
I love DU!

[lavenderdiva]

7. I LOVE DU!

It saved me after the 2004 election. I was sooo depressed, with no outlet for my feelings, and then I stumbled upon DU, and a whole new world opened up to me!

I have 'met' some of the most interesting, caring, sympathetic, and well-informed people here. Its quite a community!

Every day, this is the first site I come to, to get my news (love LBN!), see what's happening in the outside world, and explore interest-groups that are meaningful to me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Skinner, for this site; its wonderful!!

[wryter2000]

8. Ohmigosh

I couldn't have gotten through the 2004 election without becoming truly disheartened without DU. Shortly after, the admins opened up the forums, and I could hang out in cooking and baking and writing before I could start to face up to politics again.

[donkeyotay]

9. This is truly democratic media

I love that anyone can choose what they think is important. I love the synergy of groups of people sharing knowledge and ideas. I don't love how we often sound like a dysfunctional family and get grumpy and chew on each other. But if America ever recovers from these dark days, it'll be owed in part to the DU.

The DU, where people can speak their minds and others can tell them that they're out of them, but everyone gets heard.

[Name removed]

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