ct was discussing finding du for the first time and what it meant to her. i thought back about my

[seabeyond]

own experience, and why du matters to me. so, if you are a long timer and want to, think back to when you found du and what it meant to you. and please share, if you have the want.

feb 2004 living in the panhandle of texas. with a repug hubby that didnt want to talk politics. du was a godsend. literally a life saver. i can remember when i first found the site feb 2004.... sittin late into the night.. joyous that i found people that spoke so much like me. finally able to express without continued attack.

and, respectful to women. blacks. gays. you had to be. or the message was deleted. or kicked off.

that simple.

civility.

yes

that is what i wrote to ct, but i would like to expand. i am a californian and i moved to texas. i had spent a decade here. my kids going to a christian private school (fundamentalism was foreign to me), that is the only type of private we have and i bought into the public schools being horrible. i was wrong. i did not know one, not ONE democrat. we were going into the election of 2004 with the christian coalition at its height of voice, beating democrats up. i was listening to my boys teachers and superintendent telling the kids, kerry is a murderer and democrats are heathens. (huge story, do not take it at face value). so, when i say that du was a life saver, i mean it. and probably saved my marriage, too. allowing me to express what i needed to say and be heard, soothed where i needed to be soothed, with like voices. it allowed me to be ultra informed on everything that was happening. and when faced with lies i was prepared and could easily deflate any and all lies. we remember the bush time. and the so many many lies.

that is my story.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. I miss deleted posts that were erased forever. Whole subthreads gone. So Be It.

I knew when I saw one or was involved in one that it was nasty piece of business.

I wish there was some way to combine the deleting of posts with some kind of feedback to the posters that would result in a progressive system of moderating the this site.

Not sure exactly how to meld the two together.

As for the story of how I found DU and education and information that were here. Will post more about that later.

[blm]

2. I remember when you started here, too. You stay true to your convictions.

*salute*

[seabeyond]

4. thank you, blm. and it is good to see you. i miss all you guys.

insightful, thought out, respect even in disagreement which allowed changing of minds, learning and growing.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Took me a while

I was horrified that bush actually got into office--see I knew a thing or two about him. I was reading Bartcop and Buzzflash and Mediawhoresonline when I found DU. I should say I had been part of a email group that argued politics all the time. ( I didn't believe Clinton was so stupid to get a blow job from an intern when they were gunning for him so hard-- boy was I wrong) I believe It was the " Top Ten republican idiots that got me hooked.

So I lurked, signed up in 2004. Posted once in a while.

Then my daughter went to Afghanistan. HOly shit that scared me, so little by little I posted more, and found I had a place of refuge, and a place to express myself. I found the feminist group and was active there until DU got so contentious in 2008-- I eventually took a break. When I came back, I didn't recognize the feminist group any more. I found this one from somebody else's post and the rest as they say is history

[seabeyond]

5. we were watching clinton, i did not have sexual relations with THAT woman.

the THAT woman let me know he had. like his is is, language is telling. and using relations told me bj. i looked at hubby. he looked at me and we both said... blow job.

but, no relations... or intercourse.

[xulamaude]

6. If I recall correctly

my partner first ran into DU around 2002 (that was when we first had internet) and both of us have followed along, on and off, ever since. All I have to say is that things have gone waaaay downhill (sexism-wise) since DU3 (and with it, TMG) since then.

[mercuryblues]

7. I found DU

After Bush was installed. I was on another message board that had the RWnutjobs, who would post just anything. I would google the story and find out the opposite was true, the debates began. During my googling, DU kept coming up with links to the factual articles. I would hit the links through to the original source.

I realized DU had all the important stories so I started lurking. Many posters have gone through the years and I do see a noticeable difference in the debates in the past few years. Things that were once an automatic hide, are now open for debate. Words that were once an automatic delete are now acceptable under the jury rules. It has lessened not only my respect of the site, it has also lessened the site as a whole.

[seabeyond]

9. that is how i found it looking for truth. and yes. the site was much more into a back and forth

conversation. it allowed an openness for learning and progressing. i can remember often people would discuss the issue and end up walking away with a different or altered perspective, than when they started the discussion.

[MadrasT]

8. I didn't find DU until 2008.

I don't remember how. It was a great source of news and analysis without the MSM spin, and intelligent, witty people posted here. If things got too nasty, moderators took care of it - I liked that.

I don't think DU3 is an improvement. Any more and I will get into "whining about DU" so that is all.

[seabeyond]

10. you stepped in during a very tough time at du with gender/race politics of our two candidates.

it wasnt easy. but still with controls and rules, you could wade thru and get the info needed.