Having the self-appointed acting as parents, telling the rest of DU how to behave is not my idea of civil on their part.
Not only that, what is civil in one part of the country, is boorish in another part. This can get as bad or worse than the Word Police and their non-list list of words.
Why do people keep trying to remake DU into what they think a web site should be.

This is a big ADULT political web site, a discussion board, with all kind of people, with all kinds of experiences, with all kinds of opinions. You want civil, be civil your self by not taking it upon yourself to tell the rest of us to be your version of civil.

There are some very vindictive and mean people out there trying to enslave us. Try making them act civil instead. Bein' nice ain'ta gonna work very well with'em.

Dumbing DU down to everyone being civil to each other, will reduce Democratic Underground to an Echo Chamber and will be defeating the reason DU was founded in the first place.
I know that is the purpose of even some long time members, but I for one want DU to be around for a while longer.
If you want nice, goto Sesame Street.

You cannot just decide a word or phrase is hurtful to someone or some group that is on DU and post your outrage in Help & Meta and expect the rest of DU to quietly fall in line. (We are supposed to be Liberals/Progressives/Democrats here, you know herding cats?) Especially when you supply your own definition to that word or phrase or subject that is quite acceptable and is being used in everyday conversations and on "Family" TV every evening.

Maybe if we stopped with the angry OP's that cause the several hundred post threads in Help & Meta threads because someone has decided they are outraged and the rest of DU had better agree with them or else. That is the real problem. Lock step is not and never was a Liberal/Progressive/Democratic ideal.

We are supposed to be nice to each other. It is in the DU Rules.
It is only a few here that are not nice and are causing the problems. Deal with the those few and their temper tantrums.
Ya Think?

With people not buying, business cannot afford to hire, or to pay a Living Wage. To break the cycle, Main Street needs to be bailed out instead of rewarding the big financial gamblers.
(Insert definition of insanity here) The fix is to do something other than what got us, U.S. in this economic mess in the first place. We are still trying to dig our way out with the same tools and plans that that were used to dig the hole in the first place. What is wrong with this picture?

Then you lost me. DU2 was not all the clean and purified as some on DU3 remember.
We need to disband the various swarms here and find a way to deal with the frivolous Alerters that alert on any and everything they disagree with, regardless of the Facts or Truth or context, of which they have been known to make up, twist and spin, when they alert.
That is part of what is making DU suck. We are too busy finding fault with and being hypercritical with each other. We still have a common enemy out there to deal with. Be hypercritical and find fault with them. Have some tolerance for your fellow DU'er.
Also, there are the attacks on Newbies that haven't managed to stay hidden long enough to acquire 1000 or whatever posts. One "banned" word or "objectionable phrase", just one, and "POW" gone. Most often no one even responds to them, to inform them of their "crime". Just blind side them with a hidden post, a search to find something objectionable, then tossing them out and slamming the door behind them, in self satisfied smugness. How many of those "Trolls" were not really trolls when they arrived, but are now down on Democrats and Liberals in general because of their poor treatment here? I know, I know, there are real trolls here. But not all newbies are trolls and not all trolls are newbies either. Stop acting like all newbies are trolls. Stop using the SOP and TOS as lead weighted clubs. That is why juries have that desertion not to.

"Bigotry" on DU is losing it's meaning by being applied to most anything someone disagrees with. Why is Democratic Underground becoming so hypercritical and intolerant on the the differing views that member have, especially when not of a peculiar clique or swarm? Can't anyone just ignore posts they don't agree with anymore, instead of becoming passive aggressive bullies about it?

Sorry, DU is supposedly a Left leaning, Liberal, Progressive, Democratic web site, whose members are not known to follow any one person or group in lock step. At least not for long.

Leaders on the Left are leaders only as long as they anticipate where the followers are going and go that way first. Otherwise their followers will go off in some other direction, behind another leader... For a while, until the followers decide to change direction again. Kinda like herding cats. If you expect cattle or sheep, this is not the site for you.

Those guys farther to the Right, that are trying to destroy this country for their own gain. Some of those people are posting here as members in good standing.

DU is eating its own. There are members whose main purpose is to read the worst into any post by anyone not a member of their own swarm or clique, so they can alert and hopefully get the post hidden.

Facts, intent, context, don't matter much. It's the better known posters being alerted on and whether or not the alerter can spin the post enough to get a jury to hide it. A part of the "Divide and Conquer" technique to torque off good members and get them to alert on "questionable" posts in retaliation. Or just to shut them down. To turn DU against itself. It is working well.
Remember, there is an election coming up and it's anything it takes to win for the Right-Wing-nutz. Democratic Underground is high profile.