I'm Loving the new Unrec feature.

[berni_mccoy]

I am surprised at the amount of "it's stifling free speech!" cries. Really? Your topics are still there. They just appear with a "<0" next to them. People still visit them. Does it suppress higher possible rec counts? Yep, but that will all normalize eventually. The main feature I believe it provides is keeping unworthy threads from the greatest.

A big thanks to the admins for adding this feature.

[scubadude]

1. It doens't stifle free speech, it promotes herd speech... nt

Isn't that the very thing we deride Freeps about?

[Salviati]

6. Isn't that the very thing that "greatest" is supposed to be about though?

[berni_mccoy]

8. That's completely backwards. It puts an end to the herds.

No longer are there 25 people running around here who rec each others threads into the greatest page. Small groups here were having way too much influence for the thousands of others who didn't buy their b.s. It's finally come to an end.

[babylonsister]

11. How so? Just ignore it and do what you normally do. nt

[kestrel91316]

14. Oh, quit whining. It does no such thing. It just keeps freeper flamebait

off the Greatest Page.

[Spazito]

17. What exactly is "herd speech"?

Allowing each member to express their opinion about an OP and whether they believe it should appear on the Greatest is being classified as "herd speech"?

I am seeing the "herd" meme show up today in threads that feel threatened by members being able to express yay or nay whereas, previously it was yay or.......nothing.

[jobycom]

21. It's the opposite of red speech.

Get it? Read, red. Heard, herd. God I'm funny.

[scubadude]

24. Small groups deserve to have their points made, yet I see

many disagree. Power to the sheeple!

Scuba

[Spazito]

26. How is the unrec feature stopping small groups from having their points..

made? For example, your point is still being made, responded to, the thread that contains your point is still active, has not been reduced in placement at all, in fact, each time you or I or others respond, it moves the thread higher on the forum page.

Do you honestly believe the Greatest page is the be all, end all of what constitutes value in the many hundreds of threads in LBN, GD, GDP, etc?

[jobycom]

30. Underpants gnomes.

Phase One: Empower unrec. Phase Two: (we don't know). Phase Three: Stop small groups from making their points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe6kGJDGctU

[Spazito]

31. LOL! m/t

[jobycom]

28. WHOA!! DU is blocking posts from small groups?? I didn't even know groups could post!!!!

[dionysus]

29. so all the DUers that aren't throwing tantrums perpetually are sheeple? glad you hold your fellow DU

posters in such high regard.

[scubadude]

32. I don't get into the tantrum thing, and will recoup an

earlier post: "I guess it all gets down to how our country as a group has been herded by the Republicans. There has been a concerted effort post Nixon by the Republicans to move the political conversation to the right. A part of this is their effort to demonized the word "Liberal". Unfortunately to a fair degree the plan has worked. I no longer feel that the centrists are indeed where the center should be. This shows up on DU too. How could it not?

Therefore anything that hinders free thought and expression, including any effort to diminish recognition, is in my opinion a bad move. I believe we need to drag the conversation back to the left, even leftward of the generic DU position. We have been manipulated and need to recover. Until we do, we will have to put up with Blue Dogs, who really are just left leaning Republicans in many respects."

I hold fellow DU'ers in very high regard, that is why I occasionally post and have spent probably 4 hours ever day since virtually the very beginning here, sometimes banging it out. Political thought is my life. I believe I am realistic about where the true center lies. DU is definitely on the left, but maybe some even here have been pulled rightward.

I believe in free speech, have never and will never ignore anyone. I might hammer it out, like I am here, but believe me, I respect your desire to get your point across. That is the point. That is why a generic tool used to marginalize anyone's contribution rubs me the wrong way.

Maybe some have tantrums here, there are probably a few kids posting, but I don't believe I have used that term before. If I disagree, I just outright say it and try to persuade. Often I fail, and of course I'm far from perfect, yet it is my inborn duty to try. Aren't words like tantrum just a way to marginalize others thoughts? Is that what you were trying to do?

Scuba

[dionysus]

33. no, you seem to be several levels deeper than the people i refer to. surely you have seen some of

their work.

[scubadude]

37. I tend to pass by things unless I feel they are relevant and important.

Perhaps that is why miss at least some of the meaning of some posts here, especially when it comes to contention. When I see something new, I try to learn from it. If I disagree, I make it known. I am wrong upon occasion and am not loath to say it, just human.

I found my wife here on DU a good number of years ago and now mostly come for news and news sharing. The greatest is seen by me as a means of learning. Sometimes the things you have missed show up there. Sometimes controversial things show up there too. That is valuable to me.

Hopefully DU will remain one of the best sites for news on the web. It is a very important place to me and that is why I am protective of it.

Best,
Scuba

[dionysus]

38. "I found my wife here on DU a good number of years ago" i think i actually remember that when it

happened.

been around DU for 8 years wow.
congrats for that and have a good weekend. :)

[scubadude]

40. Thank you for the congrats.

We've been married almost 6 years now. Met on DU in 02.

I spend a lot of time on this board, I know you do too, wonderful, isn't it?

I hope your weekend is/was also great and we remain fellow partners within a strong DU.

Best,
Scuba

[jobycom]

19. It does exactly the opposite, actually.

It lets real DUers neutralize the sheeprecs.

[Myrina]

2. but but but but ....

I want all my DU sycophants to rec all of my threads so i can always be on the Greatest Page, even when its a thread about what I had for breakfast!

I want to be popular because with out validation from DU, I have nothing. It makes me feel bad. And may even cause me to stop and consider my posting/writing habits to see if maybe I am a little irrelevant, misstated or over the top: I don't want to do THAT!

Unrec is unfair and is going to scar me emotionally because we all should feel like everything we vomit into Cyberspace is on par with War and Peace.


:P :sarcasm: :P

Personally speaking, I LOVE the Unrec feature.

[TexasObserver]

3. Me, too!

Some people are simply in shock because they're finding out their threads are not lauded.

[berni_mccoy]

5. Agreed. The poutrage will end about it as they see their own cheerleading squad doesn't

have a bigger voice than the rest of DU.

[TexasObserver]

16. Yes. The tyranny of THE FIVE is over.

How many threads that suck hard have we seen which get five easy recommends? This system knocks those clique driven threads off the Greatest page.

[Richardo]

22. Oh I thought you meant The Five who are always on the front page.

:)

[onehandle]

4. Yep. Keeps the crap off of the front page.

"Rec this thread if u think that _____ is _____!"

Thanks, Skinner and company.

[lamp_shade]

7. What onehandle said.

[WeDidIt]

9. Yep, I was wrong about it yesterday.

I'm liking it now.

[Richardo]

20. Nice avatar

:rofl:

[gkhouston]

23. Next name change amnesty, you should change to LessThan.

;-)

[WeDidIt]

35. LessThanNothing

:evilgrin:

[redqueen]

10. Yes, it's great.

Long overdue IMO.

[MNDemNY]

12. K&U !

[closeupready]

13. I do, too.

:)

[Hepburn]

15. I just kept your unworthy thread from the GP by adding an unR.

Nice way to deal with people? I think not. DU should not have that attitude. There are people on here that cannot and do not write wonderful OPs ~~ not because they intentionally wish to be shitty, but because they really do not have the ability to communicate well. But they are here because something matters to them. So we should see them shut out because you think they are "unworthy?"

Wow...that is mega cold. Sad, too...

[berni_mccoy]

25. Wow, what a moronic response. I was talking about bad threads and you twisted into people.

[Hepburn]

27. What a moronic OP....

...your point? :eyes:

[dionysus]

39. Hep, it's not like that. it's about keeping stuff like this out of there;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8518837

[jobycom]

18. It stifles herd speech.

Parity.

[Flying Dream Blues]

34. I agree with you. Much less flamebait making it to the greatest page.

It feels much more like the "old" DU now. And I like that.

[Odin2005]

36. K&R.