Why is people are so paranoid about my low post count?

[ErskineBowlesVoter]

I find this site. I log on several days before the election.

I am assumed to be a trouble maker.

What gives?

I know this is the internet and a private site, but why do posters with 1,000 posts (is that the max number) think they are superior and worthy to post when others are not?

Whoever owns and runs the site, can you please give people like me a halfway decent chance to stay around and express our views?

I can see if I was badmouthing Kerry but I am not.

I like the man.

Thanks

Kris Kahn

[GainesT1958]

1. Kris..welcome to DU!

From one Erskine Bowles voter (and volunteer!) to another!:bounce:

:hi:

P.S. Try posting in the North Carolina forum, too!:D

B-)

[ErskineBowlesVoter]

5. Thank you!

Erskine will be a GREAT senator.

Really a classy guy.

[GainesT1958]

13. Why, you're welcome, of course! :-)

Hey, where are you from in North Carolina, anyways?

I'm getting psyched for Erskine's rally with Mike Easley (yes, the Guv's FINALLY appearing with some OTHER Dems!:eyes: ) here (Wilmington) at the Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre (11:00 a.m.). My wife and I have been helping his local HQ with phone-banking, and I'mm going to help them--and New Hanover County Dem. HQ--with GOTV stuff this weekend, and on Monday and Election Day, as well.

:kick:

B-)

[graywarrior]

2. Just gotta make your bones.

We all went through it. Sometimes even after 1000 posts, you get shit on.

[Nite Owl]

3. Alot of newbies and some lookin' for

trouble.

Welcome to DU and hope you come to love it here as we have.

[Sannum]

Welcome to DU

From one low-count poster to another...:hi:

[aden_nak]

4. Usually, before any major event, DU gets invaded.

By hardcore Right-Wingers (or Freepers, so called because they frequent DU's ugly stepsister site Free Republic). They generally come on, make weird posts, and then start flaming the boards, or spreading insidious lies.

So chalk it up to paranoia.

Unless you are, in fact, a covert Freeper. In which case, dude, your guys is TOTALLY getting his ass kicked on Tuesday. ;)

[ErskineBowlesVoter]

7. That sucks

I will wait and post AFTER Tuesday.

That way you guys can weed out the trolls.

See ya Wednesday!

GO KERRY!

[GainesT1958]

16. Nah...stick with us, Kris!

Not only are you WELCOME around here, you'll find the BEST--and, yes, sometimes the RAUNCHIEST:eyes:--political humor ever at DU--really (I would NOT kid you about a thing like that!):D

This really IS the coolest political forum on the Internets--oops--INTERNET--(God; now they're gonna call ME a Freeper!:eyes: )--and we need more (good Democratic) folks to keep it that way.

B-)

[aden_nak]

19. No no! STAY!

[argyl]

23. Keep posting, please. Touchy times now but feel free to add your

point of view. These next few days here are going to be one wild,exhilarating ride. It'll all be worth it when the election is called for Kerry at around 12 am EST.

[blondeatlast]

36. No, no, no...we can tell between the heart and the mind...

Continue to post, but instead of posting RW talking points nearly verbatim, analyze them for yourself and then post them.

It goes a LONG way in establishing your cred.

[blue sky at night]

6. Hey man, its ok........

They are testy at times, but there is a lot of love here. Don't jump to conclusions. Hey, Welcome to DU, erskine.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Catch22Dem]

8. Get out of here disruptor!!!

We don't want yer kind in these here parts! Obviously the only TRUE liberals are the ones who have 1000 or more posts and found DU prior to the mid-term elections. ;)

OF COURSE, I'm joking. A big WELCOME to you, and I hope you ignore the assholes and make a home for yourself here. It can be a blast when we're not all tied in knots. :D

:toast:

[Maiden England]

9. I think people are very suspicious

on the one hand there are the trolls, aka freepers, aka freeptards, aka you get the picture, who purposely troll the site endeavoring to piss us all off.
But there are also the recently motivated and the closer it gets to polling day, the more motivated you get (IMHO), heck, I just told my local Dem Chief about the DU today, so lack of posts is definately not a ticket to instant trolldom.
Heck my hubby has been a member longer than me, he regularly 'lurks' and was visiting this site long before I got hooked and he has 0 posts.
Of course you have to also consider, those calling you a troll, may well be trolling themselves
:shrug:
Stay strong, stay sane and stay here

[inmania]

10. welcome from a fellow newbie

no one has mistaken me for a troll (yet!), but seems like there are communities here that have been posting for a few years, so I guess we newbies probably all look alike to them

Still, I'm glad to have discovered DU!

[dweller]

21. be careful inmania, we've got our eye on you . . .

:) just kidding.

welcome to you, too!

dp

[inmania]

27. thanks!

[kanrok]

11. Welcome to DU Kris

You are among friends here. :toast:

[CanuckAmok]

12. Hey welcome to DU, and the DU right of passage...

It seems to be a pretty common type of xenophobia around here, but don't take it too personally. It stems from the constand disruptor attacks...they have to bank a few replies before they can start their own threads, but then they make up for it in earnest. Hit and run.

Just like I didn't take it too personally when I was labeled a disruptor for criticising Ms. Gore's affiliation with the PMRC in the 80s.

:shrug:

[qnr]

14. Welcome to DU

You aren't assumed to be a trouble maker by most of us, though the low post count can be one item of consideration in some circumstances. The Free Republic aspect has been explained - but in addition, you have to consider, there are 50,000+ (give or take a bit) users here - they're all individuals. Some of these individuals might attack you, but it's not "us" in the sense of all the members. Just one of the hazards of hopping into the fray so close to a pivotal point :)

[Fridays Child]

15. If it's any consolation, another newbie complained of similar treatment...

...just yesterday. So, it's us, not you. I think we're all a bit nervous, right now. But you're welcome here, so don't let those of us who might run our mouths before our brains are in gear get you down, okay?

:hi:

[Paradise]

17. Hi! BTW, I love Erskine Bowles! Welcome EBV!

Hang in there, kid! If you can, as they say, Suck It Up!
We all went through it, and it will pass! :hi:

[Ernesto]

18. Get used to it, ya cry baby

On the other hand, welcome to where you belong. DU always needs new blood. Screw the "low poster" bullshit. Your voice is just as valid as anybody on this gall-durned forum.

[Gildor Inglorion]

20. A word of caution....NEVER, under any circumstances...

say anything even remotely bad about a cat. Or kitten. Or picture of a cat or kitten. I don't know what it is with DU'ers and cats, but that's the 3rd rail here. Sacred, holy cats. (Meow!)
:toast:

[TransitJohn]

22. Cats suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;) Just kidding, sort of, but really, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH ALL THE DAMN CAT LOVERS????????????????

[mrbassman03]

26. I would tend to agree, being a dog person and all but...

But I really have nothing against them. I wouldn't want to own one, seeing as they don't have the unwavering loyalty of a rockin' dog, but they can eb OK sometimes...

[Dem_Loyalist]

38. I love my kitties!!!

I have 5 kitties, 3 I rescued from local animal shelters. I don't understand why all people don't love kitties.

[Nevernose]

41. YOU TOO!?!?

Jesus F-ing Christ, I'm going on four years on this board, and a couple of months ago I make a crack about cat owners... I was called every bad name in the book, accused of being a Freeper disruptor...it was completely absurd, almost surreal. How the hell do posts get banned in a cat thread, fer chrissakes?

For the love of everything pure, decen,t and holy, do not talk any shit about felines around here.

[NoPasaran]

24. Welcome to DU Kris

:hi:
This is a very stressful time. A lot of us have been through a lot together and we're just seeing the first glimmer of light on the horizon that foretells the end of the Bush* nightmare. And some of us can be unnecessarily rude to the new kids on the block. Try not to get too upset.

[Endangered Specie]

25. AH, a fellow North Carolinian...

welcome to DU... and understand that people in the GD2004 are, shall we say, a bit 'off'.

[short bus president]

28. Hey Erskine

You just stumbled into a contentious, nasty part of DU. Probably GD or the election-specific version of that festering dungheap. Stick to the Lounge, and check LBN for news from time to time. You can't go wrong. Much.

[Arkana]

29. You just gotta make your point clear

It's right before Election Day and DUers (myself included) are paranoid. We have to be on high alert for disruptors, and thus people like you with low post counts are the natural suspects. Just continue to assert your support for Kerry, and people will lay off.

[rockymountaindem]

30. Well, in your earlier post you did say some things

that are used by the Bush campaign to make Kerry look bad. Even though DUers agree that what Bush thinks is negative about Kerry makes us like him even more, what you said in that earlier post was a line-for-line attack used by the Bush administration, except at the end he usually says "and that's a problem", and you said "and that's why I like Kerry's plan better".

Now, a lot of people thought you came over here from Free Republic to get us to agree with a Bush attack line or something so then the Freeps could point to it as evidence that Democrats are weak and confused (or something like that).

Please forgive us, but we do have a lot of trolls around here. People are getting a little paranoid close to the election. I, for one, did not think you were a troll, because they usually don't go to the effort of putting a photo of their favorite Democrat in their sig line!

As for the post count thing, here's the story. Some trolls come over here and start spreading obvious crap in their first post, then do it again as fast as possible before they get banned. One dude put a photo of "Unfit for Command" in his sigline and posted over a dozen responses titled simply "Hello" before he was banned in like 10 minutes. Other trolls wait until they have more posts before they start to undermine a little more subtly like "Oh! How will we ever win now! It's hopeless!!!" Or "I'm so scared" or, "Kerry's a communist and so am I. Aren't we all communists?" I've got a feeling that there are a few people here with over 1000 posts who are still trolling. They never say anything positive.

On the contrary, I notice that a few posters seem to find a supposed Freeper every time they log on.

It's just that people are suspicious. Don't take it personally.

[norml]

31. Those hunting freeper trols need to be more careful.

They might shoot a friend. Welcome friend,we're glad you made it!

[mr.jack]

32. my first post also

I've been Reading this site for months and initially had some now resolved problems with registering...but thanks to skinner I'm now on. I'll figure the site out as I go.
Needed some place to start and this looked good. I was was a Indiana Young Democrat back in 1970 so pls. don't think I'm a freeper in disguise.
I can't wait till election eve when we finally kick that imbecile and his cronies out of office.
Does anybody know of good sites for streaming election coverage? Our TV reception here is unpredictable.

[yewberry]

33. And sometimes "old" members DO have low post counts.

Who'da thunk it?

[nicolemrw]

35. i've been here a couple of months now

i just don't post a whole lot.

[Medium Baby Jesus]

40. I've been here daily for 1 1/2 years

and look at my lousy count!

[blondeatlast]

34. Many DUeers have been working their butts off

for over a year now, and DU is our support network.

This happens every time something big comes up, the primaries, the conventions, and this is THE BIG ONE.

It's a tense time, many DUers have been working on campaigns for well over a year now, acively recruiting voters, hitting the streets, making phone calls. We've worked like hell, and DU is where we come to cheer and commiserate.

There's almost a dialect that emanates from from trolls, though. It's in the usernames chosen, the rhetoric, the inability to get one's feet gently wet before they wade straight into the crap (posting flaming threads as soon as they hit the magic 15, for instance).

Yes, we are onto the SOP of the trolls, and yes, some legit newbies may inadvertantly use the same modus operandi. But if you hang in there (if you CAN, that is), you'll gain our trust.

[Moochy]

37. Welcome!!

Welcome Kris! From a fellow low posting, long time lurker, who doesnt always agree with DU consensus, and gets called a freeper from low post count.

KERRY IN A LANDSLIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dem_Loyalist]

39. Welcome to DU!

Ive only been here a few months myself and don't have as much time as I would like to spend here due to work and family. This is such a nice friendly place though. I'm sure you'll just love it here the same as I do. :)