Question for those who have been on DU juries lately.

[Binkie The Clown]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by BooScout (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Is it just me, or have you noticed a lot more calls to jury duty lately, and that the vast majority seem to be to call anything critical of a certain Dem candidate (whom I won't name) "disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top"?

[SoLeftIAmRight]

1. the alert war here is not a cold one

...

[Helen Borg]

2. just you

[k8conant]

3. Just about 4 critical of her...

and 2 critical of his "brothers"

[Ex Lurker]

4. I've seen a lot of jury calls lately

Often several times a day. I just scan the post, and unless it's overtly insulting or threatening, I vote to let it go. If that's not kosher, the admins can feel free to exclude me from the jury list, but I choose to err in favor of more speech, not less.

[JDPriestly]

5. Not more calls to DU juries but more calls to decide about posts that are simply opposing

a candidate and not really a violation of the rules.

I vote Leave it Alone if there is any way I can.

I only vote to remove a post if I think it is really intolerably bad.

I hope everyone is with me on that.

Let the people speak (or write as the case may be). We don't have to all agree. Wouldn't live be boring if we did.

Let people who disagree with you have their say.

But let's try to keep the posts as intelligent as we can. I would not vote to remove a post just because I think the author is wrong, but if someone just posts a lot of emoticons or one single syllable over and over, then that is a waste of DU's website.

[Punkingal]

6. yes, I have noticed

[Purveyor]

7. The jury poll has shrunk. Not many star members around that hasn't had their chance of serving on

jury reduced to hides. I'm down to 40% due to 3 hides that I wear as a badge of honor.

Swallow water, indeed.

[HubertHeaver]

8. A number of senseless alerts.

I try to judge the post in context and err on the side of free speech.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. People are really touchy lately.

I don't hide posts that I think sound like normal criticism. Some people can't differentiate between normal criticism of a position, and personal attacks.

[Jitter65]

23. Yes/

As a newbie, I have only served on a few. Every one of them seemed like normal criticism. I am beginning to think that the "alert" system is being used to stack up enough alerts to get some people banned.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I've been getting called two or three times a day,

which seems excessive to me. I even did an ATA inquiring whether the jury pool had really shrunk so much that those of us still willing to do it are getting bombarded. And, yes, it does seem the alerts are coming more from one side than the other. I don't hide posts unless one DUer specifically bullies another or unless someone is an obvious Republican troll - and now everyone knows it's me making that comment.

[In_The_Wind]

11. My call to jury has gone from 2 per 24 hours up to 3 in the same time frame.

Most of the alerts are frivolous.

[safeinOhio]

12. It is getting very hard for me to vote Hide anymore.

Perhaps one out of 10 or more, I just say leave it.

[Feeling the Bern]

13. The alerts are being used to silence people that one side or another disagree with

The usual ones I've gotten have been:

1: Poster insulted my ownership of guns (usually using NRA talking points)
2: Poster said something about a candidate I support (and I am butthurt for it)
3: Poster used a word that offends me personally (without looking at the context)
4: Poster made me feel bad because my argument was torn apart.

The normals of freepers, trolls and MIRT required posts have gotten smaller.

[billhicks76]

14. It's A Numbers "Game"

If they alert enough times they will eventually get a jury of majority Clinton supporters even though they are minority here. Cut throat.

[nxylas]

15. Yep, I've noticed it for a while now

I tend to only vote to hide if the post involves a personal insult, or a TOS violation. There are a lot of 7-0 votes to leave after some frivolous alerts on posts mildly critical of the "presumptive nominee"

[barbtries]

16. i do get more these days

but i don't see it falling more to one side or another - i do see them being immature and gratuitous.

[jtuck004]

17. Don't lose any sleep. They can't silence you around the people who are listening to you, and they

can't do anything about your vote. In other words, they can't really do anything to you that is important.

The only power they have is if you care.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. It's probably worth considering that this is the first contentious presidential primary under DU3.

I imagine that if the jury system had been around in '04 and '08 it would have been a similar story.

[pintobean]

36. I agree with this assessment

I've also noticed a lot of people have opted out of serving on juries.

[TexasProgresive]

19. yeah.

9 out of 10 juries for me have been absurd and get a leave it without a lot of consideration.

[Blue State Bandit]

20. I have, and I think it's a problem.

This was my response to the latest jury I sat.

If he didn't want to be subject to ridicule, he should have posted it in the walled off "***REDACTED*** Group". And on a broader point (Mods), can we drop "Group" posts from Trending? It's click-bate that leads people to post, thinking its a "discussion" and get booted before they realize. Then accusatory OPs are left on top unopposed. It looks bad and foments division.

[daleanime]

29. Good point.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Looking back, in the past month I've sat on 3 juries for Bernie whiners, and 3 for Hillary whiners

So it doesn't look like 'a certain candidate', to me.

[1939]

22. On juries

"disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top"

If the alerter isn't literate enough to provide more than that boiler plate reason, I will always vote to let it go.

[pintobean]

38. That reason is on every alert that goes to a jury.

It's step one, and remains there throughout the procedure. Step two is where you see the alerter's comments, if there are any. It's pretty rare for an alerter not to provide comments.

[pampango]

24. More calls and almost always it's GD-P. I appreciate that the intra-party vitriol is concentrated

there but it gets tiresome. And both Hillary and Bernie supporters are overly alert-happy.

[Kaleva]

25. Bernie people alert stalk the Hillary group and vice versa

Many of the rest of the juries I serve on are for alerts on posts in GD .

[Divernan]

26. I always take time to read the entire thread to get context.

[Takket]

27. Juries

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027636218

Same story here

[mnhtnbb]

28. It's not just you...

I've seen a lot of thin-skinned alerts in the last month or so. I definitely vote to leave it more than I vote to hide, but I've also
noticed that I tend to come down on the majority side about 90% of the time.

[Kaleva]

34. A number of recent juries I've served on voted 0-7 to leave.

[redruddyred]

30. i had 12 hillary supporters chime in on a thread i started re: a satiric meme

just to tell me how offended they were that i offended them

thought about throwing in a few "u mad bro"s but that would have been Actually Over The Top

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

31. Yes and the alerts are generally from GDP

Some people have sensitive feelings about their favored candidate. Some people have strong feelings about the opposing candidate. In my qualitative estimation alerts are up about 40%. Though not exclusively for GDP the percent of time I click "Excuse..." is up about 30%.

[treestar]

32. More duty but I would not say

that one of the candidates is favored. Though from the board, we could say it's Bernie. Lots of hides of perfectly civil posts that don't address a DUer but mildly criticize Bernie or even just suggest there is something less than perfection about him. Yet there is a post in the Hillary group directly addressing another poster with FU and it isn't hidden.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. I flip a coin, vote as the toss dictates. Can't tell what the drama is on most current alerts so

now I flip that coin and vote accordingly. Adjudication!

[JHB]

35. If by "certain Dem candidate" you mean both of them, then yes

If you mean by one particular side, then no.

[nilesobek]

37. Plenty of jury duty lately.

I'm openminded and against censorship but when it gets nasty, personal and mean spirited I vote to hide no matter what the political affiliation. Using repeated epithats and insults is the lazy way to debate.

[ileus]

39. but but....words hurt, some need a safer place. LOL

[MH1]

40. I have not noticed "a lot more calls".

In general, I think the DU "community standards" are excessively LOW.

I have seen claims of "alert-stalking" and when I look at the alleged victim's transparency page, SOMETIMES I think "what the hell, those are really some bullshit hides!" Other times, I think yeah, that person sure did need a timeout.

Although I agree the tactic exists and is used by some at DU, not all alerts are "alert-stalking".

My policy is this: I alert, and vote to hide if on a jury, on personal attacks against other DUer's, EXTREME (and only when I consider it extreme) insults against Democratic politicians or organizations, and sometimes, depending on context, usage of hurtful phrases.

I have observed that I seem to be in a minority on that policy. However, it is my standard and I'm sticking with it.

If I alerted on your post, it's not because I'm "alert stalking" you, it's because there was something in your post that crossed my line.

I'm not a super fan (as presidential candidate) of either of our two candidates left standing. You could say I'm an equal opportunity alerter and hider. For posts that cross my line. I'm also an equal opportunity "leaver" and "WTF was alerter thinking?" when I'm called to jury an alert I consider bullshit.

[BooScout]

41. Locking...

Threads complaining about Democratic Underground or its members; threads complaining about jury decisions, locked threads, suspensions, bannings, or the like; and threads intended to disrupt or negatively influence the normal workings of Democratic Underground and its community moderating system are not permitted.