Skinner has an update on the moderation situation

[NJmaverick]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7623624

[quiet.american]

1. Glad to see it. Thanks for the heads up. nt

[cliffordu]

2. Darn. Now I have to learn me some civility.

[Cha]

3. We have the BOG

for that.:)

Fascinating how they're going to be able to catch all the alerts in a timely manner now..is it bigger and better technology?

[goclark]

14. It's got to be the bigger and better Tech Package

It seems to be working , let's keep out fingers crossed.

[madokie]

6. You're not alone as I'm gonna have a problem with that too

Hey its good to learn a new word now and again :rofl:

[cliffordu]

8. Yep. Although I really do enjoy my insults.

like salsa with eggs.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[goclark]

12. +1

[Cha]

13. Disagree..

It's not the ghetto..It's the BOG and it's as good as we make it. In fact I thanked Skinner for the BOG in the thread he posted on the new alert system.

"Thanks for your DU Board, Skinner, Elad, & EarlG..
and for always trying to make it better through some of the worst storms in your board's political history.

The times I get myself into trouble is when R-E-S-P-E-C-T isn't shown our President..so thank you for the BOG because I do appreciate coming here and finding out on a mostly daily basis what this White House is doing and kicking it around with those who want a successful Obama Presidency."

[Bobbie Jo]

9. Okay cliffordu, let's start with some basics.

...and we'll work up to civility. :P


You don't have to do this alone. :fistbump:

[cliffordu]

10. Well...

:rofl:

@#!!^&%% %&^$$!!!

[Cha]

4. That's Maverick..I might have missed that..

Viva President Obama~ :D

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Sounds great. I'll take a wait & see approach. I'm curious what prompted...

Skinner to finally speak out? He mentioned that Dems had a good week last week. Perhaps even he has become annoyed with the level of anti-dem negativism that seems to be the norm at DU these days. I ventured out into the other forums this weekend, and it looked like the DU I came to know & love. I'm just glad he finally said something.

[Cary]

7. This is certainly a step in the right direction

It is good to know that the silence was attributable to their consideration of the issues.

I am not totally pleased though.

[Arkana]

15. Bless him, he's trying--but I feel like his board is degenerating under him.

[DevonRex]

16. I believe it has improved already. Offensive posts are being removed

much more quickly. You know how it's been in the past. You alerted and nothing happened for hours so you went ahead and replied to the offensive post and then a war ensued because everybody else felt the same way and had the same reaction.

I've made a decision that I'm going to try to stick to. I'm not going to get involved in wars with 3rd party people on DU anymore. There's no point in it. I'll never be a Green or a Socialist. They'll never be Democrats. Nobody's mind will be changed by the argument but threads will be kicked to the fore. So it's actually counterproductive.

So, I'm hopeful that with the improved system for moderators and emphasis on civility, plus modification of my own behavior, that DU will be a much more pleasant place.

[Cha]

17. Yes, we should be able to enjoy activism

on all the DU forums.

[quiet.american]

18. I hear you on that. I've been tempted but am trying to "let it sink" like during the primaries. nt

[Cha]

19. Is there someplace in the rules

about not having disruptive messages in your sig line? I thought I saw something a while back.

I'll try and find it.

I did find this from Skinner's rules.. "But insults, name-calling, or other expressions of contempt toward Barack Obama or his supporters are not welcome."

[goclark]

20. Is the last paragraph a rule or a suggestion ?

If that is a rule than why do we keep having problems? :shrug:

[Cha]

21. It's a rule and I'm going to post the whole section

here for an easy reference guide. Thanks for asking, goclark~ I reread these rules because of a sig line I saw the other night that was a damn lie.

"A few people have expressed confusion about what is permitted here now that Obama is president."

Posted by Skinner in General Discussion
Fri Apr 24th 2009, 09:34 AM
(As always... Please read my entire message before you respond. Thanks.)

After eight long years of loyal opposition to the Worst President Ever, it is not surprising that Democratic Underground is experiencing some minor growing pains now that Barack Obama is president. This is completely new territory for this community, which to a large degree has been held together by our shared disdain for George W. Bush. With this in mind, the DU administrators did not want to make any precipitous declarations about What It All Means for Democratic Underground. Instead, we wanted to wait and see how the community naturally evolved without our telling you what to do.

It's been more than five months since the election, and three months since President Obama took office, and I think we now have a pretty good idea of what DU looks like with a Democratic president: It looks like Democratic Underground has always looked. We have a wide range of people, sharing a wide range of opinions, in ways that are interesting, irritating, smart, dumb, exciting, funny, insightful, friendly, or just plain rude. Same as always. The more DU changes, the more it stays the same.

So I don't think there is any need for us to make any radical changes in how we run the place. We aren't going to change any rules or anything like that. And the way we enforce the rules isn't going to change much either: This place still gets tens of thousands of posts every day, we don't pre-screen any of them, we can't possibly read all of them, and we still depend on help from our members -- who can support the moderators by 1) striving to be productive members of the community, and 2) clicking the "Alert" link when you see a post that falls short of that ideal.

I think the one notable difference now is that we seem to spend more time and effort enforcing this rule:


Constructive criticism of Democrats or the Democratic Party is permitted. When doing so, please keep in mind that most of our members come to this website in order to get a break from the constant attacks in the media against our candidates and our values. Highly inflammatory or divisive attacks that echo the tone or substance of our political opponents are not welcome here.

I believe this rule is pretty self-explanatory. The vast majority of DU members seem to understand it implicitly, and naturally participate in a manner that complies with this rule without needing to be told to do so. But a few people have expressed confusion about what is permitted and what is not, in part because some of our members have been peddling the ridiculous and false assertion that criticism of Barack Obama is not permitted on Democratic Underground.

Nonetheless, if anyone is confused about what is permitted here, I'll spell it out as clearly as I can. It's pretty simple:


Any and all substantive criticism of Barack Obama and his policies is permitted. And by "any and all substantive criticism" we mean all of it -- no issue is off limits.

Expressions of dismay, disappointment or disagreement with Barack Obama or his policies are permitted.

But insults, name-calling, or other expressions of contempt toward Barack Obama or his supporters are not welcome.

There is a part of me that is a little disappointed (but not surprised) that this even needs to be said. Even if you don't agree with President Obama on a number of issues, I guess I kinda thought that everyone here would consider themselves -- on some level -- to be among his supporters. Or, at very least, I didn't think that any DUer would want to deliberately use the same type of language one would expect to hear from tea-baggers and Freepers.

It is our intention that ALL substantive criticism of Barack Obama be permitted here. If you believe there are any issues on which you are not permitted to criticize Barack Obama (or any Democrat) please post in this thread and tell me the specific issue -- I will gladly address your concerns. Similarly, if anyone persists in spreading the falsehood that criticism of Barack Obama is now forbidden on DU, I believe it is not unreasonable to ask that person to please identify what substantive criticism they are no longer able to share.

One more VERY IMPORTANT point.

This post has focused on the limits of acceptable behavior when criticizing Barack Obama or those of us who support him. But I want to be absolutely clear: This does not mean "anything goes" for those DUers who defend him from criticism. Indeed, we have knee-jerk bullies on all sides of this issue. Just as DUers should be able to support and defend Barack Obama here on DU without being attacked or having their motives questioned, DUers should also be able to share legitimate criticism of Barack Obama without being attacked or having their motives questioned.

I believe that the vast majority of DUers are not bothered by legitimate disagreements shared in the spirit of mutual respect. That is the ideal that we should *all* be striving for.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/?az=archives&j=4&page=2

[goclark]

22. What a wonderful day that will be ~ thanks for Skinner's

thoughts.

His thoughts appear to be like my thoughts.

Did Skinner's Update get posted in the Main Forums? :shrug:

If so, maybe it should be posted throughout a thread that is not holding to the message.

Like, "little Warnings" to indicate that the thread may be headed in the wrong direction. Not stopping the debate or anything but just a Warning of some type.

I just left the Other World and it was having a field day bashing Obama all over the place for his efforts with the Health Care Bill.:shrug:

[Cha]

23. Yes, It was posted there.. I went to Skinner's Journal

to find this in the archives. The pertinent part of The Rules could very well be posted in threads to remind people..I use to do it a long time ago.

Now with the new alert system..it's been working pretty fast to weed out the deadwood(rule breakers).

Bottom line..they know nothing about what President Obama has done..they don't pay attention.