I have noticed an increase in the Israel/Palestine posts in the past week, after a few weeks

[BComplex]

of fewer of those threads. Along with those threads, there seem to be a lot of posters who I'm not familiar with seeing here on a regular basis, even though they show a fairly high post number.

These threads are, once again, becoming more divisive and, well, snarky, after there was a noticeable lull in that type of thread.

This is concerning to me. The Israeli/Palestinian issue is one that cannot, and will not, EVER be resolved on DU. But it would go a long way toward making this election season run more smoothly if both sides can walk back some of the snark and accusatory posts.

We are here to fight for our own democracy. We need to try to be more measured in the way we approach our fellow democrats in order to get through this. Fellow DUers are NOT the enemy.

[leftstreet]

1. LOL seriously?

DU General Discussion rarely has threads about what's happening in Gaza right now

Maybe you meant to post this in the I/P forum

[shrike3]

4. I counted seven tonight.

[JohnSJ]

7. It used to be that way. Now they allow pretty much anything goes that used to be relegated

exclusively to the I/P forum

[tulipsandroses]

2. I suspect that there is quite a bit of bot activity here

Not discounting genuine disagreement. But I doubt that DU is immune from bot/troll campaigns to sow division.

[Pathwalker]

3. yes, and I'm back to trashing the threads en masse.

My health is too fragile for the stress.

[BComplex]

5. That's probably the best plan for everyone to follow.

As Tulipsandroses said above, there's probably some bot activity slipping through, as well. I hope everyone just trashes those threads that are slinging barbs and snark, and are not designed to merely pass on the actual news.

[JI7]

6. It's not just about Israel and what's happening "over there"

many posts are about things going on here such as colleges and local city councils.

[betsuni]

8. Yes, like the protest against The Three Democratic Tenors-Presidents at Radio City Music Hall tonight.

It's about the U.S. election.

[BComplex]

9. That's what I meant by "news". Those things are legitimately a part of the news.

It's the snark and barbs that are a totally unnecessary part, and it seems like they're just designed to divide us.