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Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 12:24 PM by snot
I'd like to add a few thoughts.
What I find most valuable here -- and I still find them here and find them EXTREMELY valuable -- are:
1. Fast access to FACTS, selected from a progressive p.o.v., with SOURCES. 2. Well-reasoned analysis. 3. Moral support and humor.
I generally refrain from posting unless I think I can add one of those 3 things. (I also think it's best not to comment if I can't add one of those things, since the volume of posts is so high that finding the really helpful posts is like searching for a needle in a haystack.)
I've been here for 6 years, and I could be wrong but I don't think I've ever using pejorative terms personally toward another DU'er or their views. I try not to use pejorative terms too much, even in relation to Repubs.
In my experience, being judgmental about people may make the judger feel better but does little to advance discussion.
And I'm trying to fight in the battle of ideas; I want the ideas that win to do so because they're best, not because the opposition has been cowed or vilified.
Notwithstanding my approach to posting, a couple of years ago, I'm pretty sure I was being targeted by more than one hostile person -- absolutely EVERYTHING I offered, whether as post or reply, was instantly attacked in the most vitriolic, personally offensive terms.
After a month or two of this, I gave up posting, since not only did I feel personally battered, but everything I posted was turned on its head and sank before it could have any helpful effect anyway. I assumed the attackers were trolls, but who knows. As I recall, they didn't actually break any rules; they just beat up on me in an extreme and unwarranted way.
Now, maybe 2 years later, they seem to have vanished, and I find I can post again without getting flamed.
But I never gave up on DU, or stopped supporting it.
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