Hey Skinner: How about selling posting rights on GD-P?

[bigbrother05]

Don't post to GD-P that many times and seldom more than once a day, most probably don't either. Would be willing to donate one or two of my allotments to a pool that could be auctioned for DU donations. Would let those folks that just have more to say do so while adding to the DU coffers. Could set it up where you can donate for a set number of days and can buy for multiple days. Would be like CO2 credits. What do you think?

[Maddy McCall]

1. The limits are there for a reason. The limits were voted on by DUers.

I'm content with the way things are.

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. they were violated by people who were then banned

and selling posting rights would be disgusting. Most of us already donate here.

[bigbrother05]

12. Thought with TX/OH/PA coming up

there is going to be a lot of folks screaming about the limits as the news/results start to come in. Can anyone really think that limiting someone like kpete to 3 posts/day with all the primary news is a good thing?

[donheld]

28. Kpete is an exception to the rule, and besides

kpete to my knowledge has not posted much at all in GD:P

[theredpen]

23. For those of us who don't hang with the cool kids in GDP

What limits?

[bigbrother05]

25. You can only start 3 threads/day in GD-P

a response to the peak loads during the early primaries. Really got a lot of folks starting dozens of threads in around Super Tues.

[theredpen]

29. Thanks

I remember the frenzy around super Tuesday. It was one of the things that finally turned me off on GDP.

[bigbrother05]

37. That is true, but it represents a very small subset of DU

Primarily those that were viscerally adverse to the over-the-top spewing by a few zealots voted for the lowest option offered. Think that if you were to take "Did Not Vote" as support of the status quo, the vast majority of DU saw no problem with the way things were.

[Warpy]

2. NO!!!!

They'll all come back HERE!

[bigbrother05]

6. Figured that the ones that just have to spew

would do it on other forums, so thought it might keep them in the Primary forum and make some money for DU. To be honest, GD-P has calmed down since the limit, but kind of miss some of the folks that really had something to say on multiple topics. Had really thought about a kind of pay-it-forward thing to donate extra to your favorite writers, but thought a paid pool would be easier to implement. My fave could be on your ignore list.

[Moochy]

3. CH4 Credits

Maybe Methane might be the more appropriate element.

[Robbien]

4. It completely defeats the purpose

A limit was set because abusers abused the system.

You propose to allow abusers to abuse the system if they just pay more for it.

People don't want a forum which is flooded by threads from well-heeled abusers.

[bigbrother05]

7. Don't abusers get TS'd?

Not advocating a free-for-all, just kind of miss some of the give and take that used to happen before every got so bloody sensitive.

Guess my inner capitalist is showing. Limited resources usually generate higher profits.

[Robbien]

10. Nope.

People were starting up dozens and dozens of threads a day each one either praising their candidate or degrading the other candidate.

It wasn't a free-for-all. It was just spam.

[AlCzervik]

8. you'd do far better selling beer in gdp, they'd be a lot of people buying.

[bigbrother05]

9. I'd trade you my limit for a 6 pack of Shiner

[AlCzervik]

11. no thanks, i'm a Pyramid Hefeweizen gal.

[bigbrother05]

15. Sounds good, Shiner has a decent Hefeweizen too

[AlCzervik]

16. i left shiner when i left Texas, had to make a clean break.

[bigbrother05]

20. Understand, reconnected when we came back to TX

[TygrBright]

13. I wanna auction mine! n/t

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. No.

Just because some folks have more to say doesn't make what they have to say quality (DY and SL come to mind...) and I want quality, not quantity. Let's stick to the new policy and see how it shakes out. I don't think anyone is suffering.

It sounds like an accounting/administrative nightmare... does DU even have the resources to manage something like that?

[bigbrother05]

18. Is it harder than giving out hearts?

Know it's different, but how much harder?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

24. I don't really know.

But I'm hopeful (gee, who do I sound like?) this new policy will allow us to quickly weed through the crap and get us to the more thought-provoking threads. I love DU, but don't have all day to spend on it. Quite frankly, I'd like to go back to the days of Latest Breaking News dominating the home page, but that's asking a lot. (Wasn't it like that years ago, or am I hallucinating?!) I really don't give a flying you-know-what about the "you and your candidate suck" threads that make it to the Greatest Threads.

[bigbrother05]

27. Wonder why they didn't come up with a 'time out' option

If the mods see someone post bombing on similar topics, give them a 3 day 'time out'. They usually weren't bad enough to deserve a tombstone, but some cooling off time would have helped.

[Yavin4]

17. We Could Open A Trading Floor for Posting Rights

We could even have a CNBC-like crawl on the screen showing the current option price for posting rights.

[bigbrother05]

21. There you go, my original thought, but didn't want to be greedy

[alittlelark]

19. EEEWWWW!!! That idea reeks of day old sushi

Why....Really, WHY????

[bigbrother05]

22. Guess I miss some of the thought provoking posters

It was crazy before, but still found plenty to make you think that was beyond he said/she said. The spammers are still here, just not starting threads as often.

[ekwhite]

26. Sounds like a good way to raise money from the Republican trolls N/T

[Anarcho-Socialist]

30. I wouldn't be comfortable with that

Donating to DU brings certain benefits: search function, DU Groups, priority in sever load issues. The good thing about donating is that you can give as much as you can afford. Having a market for posting would create a two-tier DU in which wealthier posters could use their money for greater influence, which would bring a foul atmosphere I think.

[bigbrother05]

31. Posting rights wouldn't need the extra benefits

The extra posts would only be available from people who willingly donate them to the pool. If no one donates, none will be for sale. You would not be compelled to give yours up. Was thinking that someone that was going to be offline for a while could put their posting rights up to help generate funds for DU. Voted to give a limit of 10 originally. Have found a few times since the limits kicked in when it became clear that even an occasional poster would run up against the limit during a particularly busy news cycle.

Not supporting the idea of a two-tier DU, but having the limit apply only to the GD-P has already done that. How would the Lounge posters feel about limits in their favorite forum? Don't remember the final vote count on the limits, but it was imposed with the support of a limited subset of DU members. Those are the rules here, so don't really mind, just offering a modest proposal for adjustment.

Have heard that some are staying out of GD-P for now. The funny thing is that the life blood for a site named "Democratic Underground" should be a forum dedicated to discussing the on going Democratic primary process. It's just a shame that some are incapable of self-editing in their zeal for their candidates, while others feel the need to regulate what they deem is "unseemly".

[L. Coyote]

32. LOL. Just sell ad banners for posters in the "Contests" forum only. LOL

[bigbrother05]

35. Agree, when the ads came, idealism became secondary

Don't mind the ads, but the notion that DU was solely a user supported forum was officially retired.

[L. Coyote]

36. I Giggle every month when the Google check arives!

In a sense, that the WWW pays us for content by click thru ads is hilarious.

[derby378]

33. All I know is, I'll be glad when GD-P reverts back to normal

The primaries will be over, and I can start as many new topics on GD-P as I damn well please.

Not that I've been known to flood GD-P in the past, though.

Didn't participate in the GD-P vote, partially because I'm trying to stay out of all of the shit - of course, sometimes I get sucked in, anyway.

Edit: Using a colon instead of a hyphen transforms GD-P into GD:P. This is derby's helpful hint for today.

[bigbrother05]

34. As I said, the vote to impose limits was a subset of DU

you've summed up my feelings too. Restricting the posting of new topics because of some spewing zealots that offended others' sense of propriety is a bit too Victorian (PC?) for my taste.