I am really getting tired of this website

[Beaverhausen]

I just visited GD and the first two threads I opened, one about the D&G ad portraying "gang rape" and the one about Jenna Bush's upcoming book, are filled with such immature, insensitive and downright evil posters. I am truly sickened that such people call themselves "liberal" and "prpgressive."

I guess in the world of the internet, one has to expect all kinds of people to show up on any website, but lately this place is just so mean-spirited and nasty.

I simply can't believe anyone is defending that D&G ad.

I need a hug!

[I Have A Dream]

1. I think that I'll skip GD today given what you said!

Love & light to you, Beaverhausen!

:hug::hug::hug:

[Beaverhausen]

2. Thanks! I just wanted to see some news about Libby

and that crap hit me right between the eyes.

I'm staying here today, too! :hug:

[Why Syzygy]

3. I realized a long time ago

that there are all age groups and mental faculties represented here, as in the Real World.
A lot of it isn't worth reading. Skip it :grouphug:

[Beaverhausen]

8. That D&G thread is like a car wreck- I can't stay away

I *am* at work...I should just log off and get something done!

Thanks everyone!

[lildreamer316]

4. I don't think they really are who they

say they are.
Look, hope I don't get in trouble for saying that; and that's as far as I will go; but I'm a-tellin' ya-we were invaded en masse some time ago, and they are not letting up.
Those people are NOT DU. I can just feel it.
It is sickening. I have been hiding out in this group and in the Lounge for a few months now. I go read the Greatest and that's about it.
Hopefully at some point they will tire of it and leave. It will probably be another year or two though.
I am choosing to focus my energy elsewhere until then...

[rumpel]

6. I agree

I am mainly in this and the election reform forum where I can actively have a productive experience.

Over the years in the election forum, we had someone who we believe was a plant. Once called out, that poster never came back, however another "new" poster came, who we believe is the same person.

Yes, like in the real world there are shady ones sometimes - don't engage and give it energy it does not deserve.

:grouphug:

[cassiepriam]

7. I agree. The repugs pay people to disrupt activities by anyone they consider an enemy.

[rumpel]

21. mmmm

love your green hearts :)

[cassiepriam]

27. Thanks, aren't they pretty? You know that Dream did them up in green for me for St P day.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I think it's being overrun by a gang of pimply, 12-year-old , republican

raised boys who hate everything that is progressive, good and worthwhile.

[Matariki]

18. I agree - but wouldn't it be great if in the course of their 'invasion' they got some sense?

Like my momma used to say - if you make that face it's gonna get stuck that way. LOL.

[Morgana LaFey]

19. And I could name a few of them by name, too

but of course will not. They're very maddening, though, and for some of them I am positive their sole purpose for being here is to disrupt, which may not even be a conscious thing. But it makes the experience pretty awful, I agree with the OP.

[hippiechick]

5. I hate to say it but DU as a whole has slipped ...

... in the past 18 months or so ... we're not just a "group of really smart liberal people" anymore.

There are way too many armchair politico's who are just as uninformed and hell-bent on only seeing things one way here as there are on the other side of the fence at FR. Sigh. :(

[Sweet Freedom]

9. I have felt the same way lately

Usually, I visit Latest, then Greatest, then here, The Debunker, and now Crafts. I've been skipping Latest recently.

[SeattleGirl]

10. I know what you mean. Sometimes is so nasty in GD I just can't

read the posts, which is too bad, because I've always liked the fact that I can get a lot of good info from it. But over the past year, it seems to be steadily getting worse and worse. There are people who are so negative, it seems like they just cannot allow themselves to see ANYTHING good, positive, etc., and they seem to absolutely delight in attacking people, regardless of their post.

The drive-by insults and name-calling are especially disheartening.

[KitchenWitch]

11. I have been on a "limited GD diet" for awhile now.

I will go in there, I will even post in there occasionally. I am finding myself in here more and more. And I was a Lounge Lizard, but some of the ick has been finding its way into there as well.

:hug:

[SeattleGirl]

20. I'm with ya, Kitchey!

For the longest time, the Lounge was my first stop, but now, it's this forum.

[crikkett]

12. could be that people are just being contrarian

[kikiek]

13. Wow. I didn't see that until your post. What were they thinking? Who were they

looking to market to? I would hope a boycott of that company would follow any ad like that. Unfortunately they are getting the attention they wanted. The message that is being sent is frightening. I would be for banning it myself. Hopefully the media they plan to use to show it would refuse their business. And the nasty posters make the nice ones all the more important. Who would stay if they all left?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. I find that the nicest sweetest folks

seem to be here and at SOUP.....always come here as a refuge from the crude and rude.

So here's a HUG for you!

[ricochetastroman]

16. Tis ok Beav

that's why we're here

We have a great forum here. Lot's of love and support. As "A Course In Miracles" states, those "others" are just calling out for love.

Which I send to you in healing and support... :thumbsup:

[Matariki]

17. Hey Beaverhausen

:pals:

I read your posts in the D&G threads. Thanks for fighting the good fight. This forum is a refuge from negativity ;-)

The main thing to remember about internet boards is to *never* take anything personally. I think that applies to every aspect of life actually. It goes a long way toward sanity.

Sometime though I think the negativity in GD is very self defeating and hurtful to the greater cause.

[rumpel]

22. It was only a few years ago

that obvious ones were banned from posting. But at the rate of people we now have, I think it will be impossible to warn and let go - so to speak.
In fact, it was very strict, that we lost a key activist in the middle of compiling election data.

But some of the one liners I see - makes me look at the number of posts and amazingly quite a few of them seem to be frequent, and even donating posters.

Is it possible, that people are already so upset and cynical that they are just a negative energy ball jumping from one thread to another?

We need a thorough cleansing ritual....

[stellanoir]

23. ooooooooo dear

I've been on this site long enough to see it go through a whole slew of transformations.

I was looking for the thread over the past month and a half where we were talking about smudging DU. If memory serves, lildreamer started it.
Then we had the heart fest over Valentines Day and we didn't think it necessary any longer and she posted this. . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=245x37194

I'll dig deeper for the her thread wherein we were initially talking about it. I can't even remember how the whole concept evolved but perhaps we could try it, just by smudging our own 'puters (watch out for ashes in the keyboard-sillies) around the Solar Eclipse.

I think the Libby verdict unleashed all sorts of weird and frustrated energies. Many were anticapating far more than four counts of perjury and obstruction for a very long time.

Still, I posted a semi spiritually oriented visualization thread in GD and got no detractors at all yesterday. So that says something.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x358370

Hang in there and don't let the suckers get you down.

on edit-added secondary link

[Coyote_Bandit]

24. I've taken to

using the ignore feature. Two years ago I would have proudly told you that I did not use the feature and found it unnecessary. Then I found myself ignoring one particular DUer in GD who repeatedly seemed unnecessarily rude and inflammatory. It was kind of nice not to even see much less read what I otherwise considered trashy pointless postings. Soon I added another couple of DUers to that ignore list.

Then after a period of time I felt a pang of conscience. What was wrong with me? Why did I find it necessary to ignore the postings of a certain few other DU participants? So I removed everybody from my ignore list. It wasn't long before I found myself once again using the ignore feature. And so it went. Use the ignore feature. Feel guilty. Remove everyone from the ignore list. Over an over. And I couldn't help but notice that there were some who repeatedly appeared on that ignore list.

I access DU from my home. DU participants are guests in my home. Those who act inappropriately are not invited to return. If the behavior and commentary is such that I would not tolerate it in my home then DU participants who engage in such behavior are ignored. My home is my sanctuary. I do not have to host someone else's hatred, rudeness, or inflammatory commentary.

Censorship is not the issue. Civility and the consideration of other participants is the issue. I am not required to tolerate the aggressive behavior and commentary of someone masquerading behind the safe anonymity of an online discussion board. Let me point out that I love a good discussion. That means that I do not ignore folks because they disagree with me. I find that I ignore folks who ridicule or are rude, dismissive or insensitive to other folks. The people I ignore tend to personalize discussions. Often they do not add lot of objective substance. Their contributions are minimal. Their absence is inconsequential.

You can improve your experience here at DU. Just use the ignore function.

[Love Bug]

25. I consider the Astrology thread my refuge

because I just can't deal with all of the negativity anymore. The nasty comments about The Secret really did it for me because we're supposed to be inclusive and all that, but, frankly, a lot of the so-called liberals here are just as closed-minded as any freeper, especially when it comes to anything even close to religion or spirituality. I'm tired of it and have really cut back on my DU time because of the constant incivility. I've been here since 2001 and I've never seen it this bad. I do acknowlege that a lot of those people are probably just trolls, but I see the same thing happening at salon.com and dailykos.com.

[u4ic]

26. I never go into GD

that and R/T seem to be the two nastiest forums.



Surely there can be room for differing opinions without the level of ire that's seen? (with the obvious exceptions of sexist, racist, homophobic etc posts)

[ricochetastroman]

28. Tis ok with me

we'll just have a great big NICE party here! :popcorn: :beer: :toast: :party:

[u4ic]

29. w00t!

:woohoo: :party: :bounce: :toast:



Think of all the goodies we could manifest! :D

[KitchenWitch]

30. Indeed!

:D

Since we are all such positive people here, we could manifest much bounty!

:D

[u4ic]

33. And that

none of it will go to our hips! :P

[SeattleGirl]

31. That's a great idea!

:toast: :beer: :party:

[midnight]

32. I didn't read your two posts, but I do know that I posted an

issue a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised too about some of the responses that were posted. Some were very closed minded, and accusatory. But I received some very good information that I knew I would get. The people at D.U. are very smart, and caring. The other's I guess are what I would lump into that freeper category. Not sure exactly what it means, but it sounds like another word for close minded. Here is your hug.