DU being stymied by vanity posts?

[votein04]

Maybe I'm missing something here...but does anyone else think there's way too much boring vanity B.S. being posted here?
Is that what general discussion is meant for?

I mean...to me the single most important thing to think about and discuss is getting rid of Bush&Co. in '04.
We need to engage that task with all the cerebral powers available to us.

Titles like:
"Who has a favorable opinion of Bush? "

"Why is Nazi Schwarzenegger given hours of free airtime on MSNBC?!? "

"42% now say they will vote for Arnold? I thought it was 25%?"

"Clueless Freepers--You were such fun!"

bring a pained look to my face.
The respective answers are pretty clear:
Nobody we care about has a favorable opinion of Bush.
Because Schwarzenegger is a movie star and that's the way the world works, wake up!
Really...they say 42% now? Gee, that's really not interesting!
Oh..you did battle with freepers??!! Tell us all about it!! /sarc

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit harsh...but this isn't a chat line. It's a political forum.
Let's focus on what's important....

VOTE BUSH OUT OF OFFICE IN 'O4!!!

How do we do it?

We focus on the things that Bush and his band have screwed up on - and not petty crap - things that will resonate with voters.

We discuss these things with our friends, family, co-workers, neighbours, ect and encourage them to vote in '04

We vote in '04


Don't let the repukes run away with another election while we're sitting around discussing a whole lot of nothing.

[Cocoa]

1. try the "Politics and Campaigns" forum

or the "Activism" forum.

Those are much more exclusively dedicated to those types of topics. The General Discussion forum is much more, well, general. :-)

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[votein04]

13. Already received very kind welcomes

[Walt Starr]

3. Pot, meet Kettle

:D

[CatWoman]

5. man, it's mighty cold in this thread

:brr:

[jono]

4. Lighten up

I'd point out that you haven't put forth any new ideas for discussion, you've simply harped on other's threads. Lighten up, it's a slow news cycle. Telling people on DU to vote (without introducing any new ideas) is preaching to the choir.

[votein04]

14. Actually, it's not

I've already started some threads encouraging people to vote and offering suggestions to get others to vote (democrat, of course)

More than one person has complained that they can't convince anyone else to vote and I've seen threads started in which people state they won't vote.

It's the reason we lost to Bush....if more liberal couch potatoes had gone to the polls there would have never been the need for a Supreme Court decision bringing us our current nightmare.

Getting the vote out is THE MOST important weapon we have in '04.

Repukes are very good at organizing...and they are fanatical in their political support. Let's take from them the things that work.

A little less chatter and a little more serious thought about how we win is what I'm looking for, that's all.

But as another poster mentioned...maybe I need to go to the activism page to find an audience for that. Too bad so many slum in G.D. if that's the case.

[jono]

19. In all honesty,

I have seen a number of people say that they "won't vote if (insert candidate name) gets the nomination," but I don't take them very seriously because I think they're just being childish about their candidate. I'm making an assumption (it's a big one, I know) that if these people are taking the time to make a point about their candidate and they use their vote as a carrot, then they realize the importance of their vote and therefore will cast one on Election Day. If they're really that immature that they'll abstain because their candidate didn't get the nod, then I probably wasn't going to be able to convince them any differently anyhow, so why waste the time?

By the way, what exactly is it that "works" for the Repubs? Lying? Spinning? Distracting the voting public from Bush's lies via Kobe, Laci Peterson and Ah-nuld? Perhaps black box voting? All of these things ARE being discussed on DU all the time, and I think you're underestimating their importance. Why bother voting if your vote won't even be counted?

I commend you for wanting to register more voters. Yes, beating Bush is the ultimate goal for 2004 and registering new voters is a great way to help accomplish that. IMO, it would be a less-frustrating task if you thought of other means to try (get involved with Rock the Vote, pick a candidate and do some grass-roots organizing, etc.).

General Discussion is for just that - discussion that is generally related to politics and/or the Democratic party. Let me point out again that you still haven't contributed any new, substantive ideas.

[sangha]

6. I agree

Instead of requiring threads to be started with at least 5 sentences, the requirement should be at least 1 idea

[Democat]

7. You must not be from California with that attitude

The immediate goal for many people here right now is not to get rid of Bush, but to stop Arnold. That is the first step in trying to save America from Bush. If the Republicans take over California, it is going to potentially be much harder to beat Bush in 2004. Along with that, there are many people on DU from California who don't like the idea of their state being stolen by Republicans.

If you don't like it, start your own thread about something else.

[leftofthedial]

8. you make a good point

Dumping Bush is Job Number One.

Part of the problem here is that almost every discussion thread ends up either in GD or in the Lounge.

Many GD topics logically belong in some of the other forums (Politics and Campaigns, Economics, etc.). The mods should be aggressively moving GD threads to the appropriate forums instead of fiddling with arcane posting rules (5 lines, no caps, etc.).

My $.02.

[liberalnurse]

10. Hey, I'm psychic....

I know who you are voting for..... (votein04 is a clue).

[AWD]

11. Sorry if I bored you....

.....with my inane postings about volunteering for a Presidential candiadte, donating money to candiadtes, and actuially BECOMING a candiadte.

I didn't realize I wasn't doing enough to satisfy you.

Don't preach to me about what this forum does and doesn't do...this forum and all it's "vanity" has done for for my poitical activism and savvy than ANYTHING has ever dfone in my life.

Without it, I'd have NEVER had the guts or the support system to do all the things I've done since January 2001. And without being too vain for you, that list is mighty long.

When your resume of political activism can come even CLOSE to that of the members on this board, THEN you can preach to us.

In the meantime, welcome to DU.

[votein04]

15. Start a thread

detailing how YOU believe we can win in '04

What you personally have done is wonderful...keep it up.
You shouldn't assume that your posts are boring me.

I think strategies and action geared towards defeating Bush is the most critical thing facing us right now.
90% of the rest is fluff...and it clouds over everything else.

[Demobrat]

12. Here's my suggestion.

It's just a little thing, but...could we take the lounge and meetingroom threads off of the front page, Pleeeeeease? So that we can quickly scan for political discussions and info of interest without having to sort through the personal stuff? The important stuff would stay up longer, too. I can't be the only one who feels this way. Anybody?

[HFishbine]

16. Or this one:

"DU being stymied by vanity posts?"

[stewert]

17. You May Not Know it............

But a lot of republicans are here posting BS pretending to be democrats. It's called
disrupting the board, I know for a fact that people from www.protestwarrior.com
and people from www.freerepublic.com are here flooding the boards with nonsense.

They have learned how to pretend to be liberals, then they post BS to waste our time.

How many are here, I have no clue. Your guess is as good as mine, but I can tell you
I have seen postings on their websites telling other right-wingers to come here and flood
the boards while pretending to be liberals.

[Mandate My Ass]

18. "if more liberal couch potatoes had gone to the polls ..."

brought a pained look to my face.

Ah well, there's my self-reflexive vanity post for the day.