Has anyone noticed how active this group is?

[Noisy Democrat]

With the new organization of groups, we can see all the candidate support groups in one place. I was astonished. The Edwards group has 377 messages. The Hillary Clinton group has something like 150. Almost all groups are below 4 digits -- except for the John Kerry group, which has 37,000 messages. Was the bulk of that generated durnig the election? My perception is that this group is just way, way more active. When I posted my vid here, I got comments right away. I posted the vid on the John Edwards board right after, and so far not a single person has commented. Very interesting.

[karynnj]

1. I believe it didn't exist before the election

[JI7]

2. this group was formed after the election

all the groups were formed after the election. the DU groups thing was something new started after the election.

of the 2004 primary candidate groups Kerry's was formed last. i thought it was a bad idea at first because it might make us too distant but as you can see the group has been VERY useful for those who like Kerry .

[LittleClarkie]

7. I was one of the ones suggesting it

There were a few of us out there in GD land, and I think without this group some of us wouldn't have lasted at DU. It was lonely work right after the election. I had to just suck it up, and just say "I like Kerry" and then get flamed on a regular basis.

[jillan]

22. Thank you Little Clarkie :)

This group is the reason I joined DU

[wisteria]

3. I wasn't here during or right after the election, but I can tell you

this is a very active and devoted group site. Our numbers have grown and we frequently welcome newcomers.

[MH1]

4. 44 to go til 38000. Oh, make that 43.

I'm looking forward to 40000 posts. We need a little online celebration when that happens.

[wisteria]

5. I agree! n/t

[ginnyinWI]

17. 38,002 messages! (Thursday noon-time) :-) n/t

[ginnyinWI]

6. I must have gotten here by the end of November

When the Kerry blog went down, there was a huge void. Since Elizabeth Edwards had mentioned DU while blogging, I came here and soon found this group. Very glad I did--it has been a source of information, inspiration and friendship! :grouphug:

[karynnj]

10. Exactly my experience

I loved the Kerry blog and when it was gone, I had remembered Elizabeth Edwards mentions of DU. I had briefly gone to the common ground site, but decided to check out DU as CG-GS was boring. It would have been a one time look at the site if I hadn't noticed there were groups, including a John Kerry one.

I read without posting for a few weeks, surprised that people were articulating the same things that I felt. It was not just Bush winning which was bad enough, but the loss of a potentially great President. I think few people in my real life world shared this opinion. Maybe because it required watching C-SPAN or reading books. I have watched election coverage since I was 10 (and liked JFK for the very mature reasons of thinking Caroline was so cute and liking JFK's accent), and have never seen more biased coverage. So, people I normally talk to didn't have the same sense of loss.

I think, especially in the earliest weeks, what impressed me about this group was the kindness and respect shown to other posters. When there were disagreements (on policy issues) they were argued on the merits. It might have been the awareness that even clever nasty put downs hurt. It also might partially be that the main topic was one that all agreed on to begin with.

Starting from the premise that Kerry is a good, intelligent person who did take his votes seriously, there were at least two very serious threads here on the IWR that absolutely could not have occurred in DU proper. The biggest difference was that here people could say that he was wrong on the vote - without impugning his character. I had not seen the Will Pitt article before, so I loved hearing Kerry's own explanation. The argument then naturally goes to what were the alternatives, not to college fraternities or claims of responsibility for the war.

[TayTay]

12. I couldn't agree more

I started posting on DU after the election and found this group right off. I watched for a couple of days and then posted some stuff. I was deeply attracted by the passion of the people here as well as their sense of humor and deep sense of loss. Sharing feelings, thoughts and info helped so much to get me through that awful time after the election.

I also love the fact that we are a group built on the idea of getting along and giving people the benefit of the doubt. I don't like flame wars as they are meaningless exercises in who can generate the wittiest put down of someone. It's not worth the time.

The other special thing about this group is the synergy. We are a rare grouping in that we are a majority female group, which is very rare in political boards. (I think this affects the way we post in here, as women in general do not like flame wars at all and tend to leave when the going gets consistently ugly. But I could be wrong. It's not for a lack of commitment or inability to engage in political dialog, it's that the 'wars' are not the way women generally communicate and it's very unnerving and irritating to be forced to dialog in that confrontational way.)

[karynnj]

13. I agree though I wonder if they realize the damage they may be causing

In 2008, a Democrat will become the nominee. Some of the people here may also be the type of people who also get involved in campaigns. Many do talk about having been involved in 2004.

As the tone on DU has been one where you read more unsubstantiated negative comments on most candidates than substanitive positive comments could the existance of DU work against the campaign of the ultimate candidate. Other than the sainted Dean, who was right on Iraq and lost only because of the Diebold machines used at the Iowa caucus, and Clark, who gets a pass on his political life before about 2002, for all the other candidates you would almost think the board was split between Republicans and Democrats.

I think it is interesting that the Kerry supporters are unique in that most Kerry posts start out with a legitimate post of either a Kerry action, a Kerry speech or a Kerry position, so although they quickly dissolve into flame wars at least some real information is passed. I wish the others were doing this as well - because we would then know the positions of the candidates at this point in time. I wish some reporter would substanitively report on what leading Republicans and Democrats think is the best position on Iraq (or some other issue) now. (It might only have to be Democrats now because the Republicans may see disagreeing as undercutting the President.)

It is disconcerting that someone could read DU for 4 years and in 2008, not be able to intelligently describe where each of the candidates stands on each issue and what have they done over the last 4 years. Also, the left leaning nature of the group eliminates the supporters of Clinton, Bayh, Warner and Richardson.

I really wonder if the new effort from here to respond with concrete backup will be noticed, especially because I think the Kerry comments always tended to be more fact based to begin with. In fairness, I got more information on Clark from the 2 Clark supporters who posted on a thread here than from any posts in DU.

[sandnsea]

14. Early Kerry blog was the same

Majority female, majority in the 40-50 age bracket, with some others of course. Determined, committed, rational; but with that "no virgin mary" wit that real women have. It sounds arrogant to say it, but I've always thought Kerry people were the absolute cream of the crop of the Demoratic Party. In a proud to be around such terrific people sort of way.

[ginnyinWI]

15. I think the female majority is a big part of it

Not to dis' the very nice guys in the group :hi: , but I think that's a more feminine value--to try to reach a consensus rather than any one person "winning". Personally, I'm pretty lily-livered when it comes to confrontation, and I really don't see the point of Democrats squabbling with each other on picky little issues when, outside, there are so many bad guys in the other party ready to devour or destroy America and the world.
So often DUers seem to just be in it for the "fight"--doesn't matter about what! I've noticed that many times even my very non-confronational, innocuous statements result in some sort of "challenge" from someone. It's crazy. I'm really going to try to avoid going there too much, unless I need to find out more about some big issue that comes up. But normally, I can go to other websites to get most of my political news. Still, if there is a need to "watch Kerry's back" I'm willing to go. Like Karyn said, the new emphasis we agreed on about posting links and quotes to shut up the whiners is a good strategy. If you missed it, TayTay, read the post,"Strategy Session".

[LittleClarkie]

18. Not only that, but I find us to be more informed and generally

more level-headed. When I'm confused about something, it's good to come here and get it straightened out.

I just get so mad at those who are so sure they're right be are often talking out their butts with misinformation and exaggeration.

I guess it's the type that likes Kerry, since you have to sort of give him a chance before he grows on you. Some won't give him that.

[Island Blue]

8. It's certainly the friendliest place on DU

GD and GD-P can often give a person a headache but the folks in this group always offer support and hope mixed together with a big dose of facts and truth. (Kind of like the man we all support, wouldn't you say?)

[ginnyinWI]

16. hopefully!

More than once I've thought to myself, "how would Kerry handle this post?" and tried to comport myself with that much class!

[foreverdem]

9. Everyone is at home here

This forum wasn't around until after the election. I lurked for awhile before I joined. I think the forum is so big because no one here flames each other, we can differ in opinion and that's fine. The GDP forum is some serious dangerous ground if God forbid, you piss someone off.

[europegirl4jfk]

11. You all are the greatest bunch of people I've ever met on the Internet !

I didn't know DU and came directly to this group in February/March, following a link on one of the Democratic blogs. I still don't go that much to the GD and other boards on DU. But I come regularly here to check out what's going on in Kerry-land.

I've been to fan boards and other Yahoo groups concerning several interests before but I've never met people as nice and friendly as you guys are. That alone shows that Kerry must really be an amazing guy to have so wonderful supporters. :loveya:

[karynnj]

19. I had never looked at the other groups before

Not only do they have far fewer posts, the dynamics and the content is very different. Most of the post have very few responses and there seems to be very limited interaction - on all the others except for Wes Clark's. Even Clark's posts though include a huge number of Wes Clark will be on ___ at ___.

It was interesting to see who posted where. The Gore group seems to have a lot of Deaniacs. (One posted that in 2003, Gore backed out because the DLC was pressuring the money people no to give him money and it was pre-Trippi, pre-Dean so raising money by internet was unknown. Having been alive then, I remember at least through 2002, people essentially saying that as Bush cheated, Gore should be given the nomination. Also, who was getting all the 2003 money - it sure wasn't Kerry.)

Even though DU has lots of former Deaniacs, the DFA group seems to have no cohesion.

[politicasista]

20. You guys all rock

As well as the fourm. :yourock: :hi:

[WildEyedLiberal]

21. This forum fucking rocks

'Nuff sed.


:P Seriously, this is a collection of some damn classy, intelligent, good-humored and fun people. I have met some fellow Kerrycrats in "real life" and can attest to this. This forum came about in Nov. 2004, and without it I would be a) insane without all the Kerrycrat support; b) banned from DU; c) bereft of some amazing friends I've met through this group. In short, it pretty much saved my sanity.

I don't always have a whole lot of use for the rest of DU, but the Kerry forum is one of the best examples of an internet community anywhere, period.