How do you decide on what to post on DU??

[kentuck]

Many folks, and I have been guilty also, post in a stream of consciousness created from another post they had read earlier or just moments before. But they think it is an original spin on the other post that needs further clarification and is deserving of a post of its own.

However, I try to post thoughts or ideas that are original or will generate discussion from an entirely different perspective than we might see or hear in the mainstream media. That is the ideal and I am not always successful. Some of my posts are better than others. Some suck. That just the law of averages, I suppose?

But, what personal criteria do you use to create a post on DU? How deep do you think on it before posting? Just curious.

[annabanana]

1. I pretty much post whatever I think someone else might find interesting.

Or some tidbit that I catch on another site that I think deserves further dissemination. I consider myself an amplifier (albeit a tiny one)

[tj2001]

2. It's a complicated algorithm

taking into account the apparent positions of celestial objects

[kentuck]

3. Very telling.

and informative. :-)

[TexasObserver]

4. I don't start threads, because every topic is covered well.

Instead, I look for threads that either have something important to say or threads that contain fun or interesting discussions about whatever.

Think of it like food.

There's food I like and there's food I need. I eat 12 grain bread because it's good for me. I'd rather it yeast rolls, and will eat yeast rolls if I'm sopping up some gravy. But I can't live on gravy and yeast rolls. I need the 12 grain bread. So, if someone asks me for food I would recommend, I say "12 grain bread." If someone asks me what tastes good, I say "yeast rolls and gravy."

[SoCalDem]

5. The voices in my head tell me what to post

:)

[kentuck]

8. But you have some good angels on your shoulders...

whispering in your ears. :-)

[Echo In Light]

6. As I generally don't identify w/the average DUer, it's easier to suppose what I don't/won't post

... realizing that it will either be ignored, besieged w/personal attacks, or dungeoned lol

[rrneck]

7. I read what others

write and if I think I can illuminate the subject better I give it a go. I usually find myself trying to mediate between two extreme positions.

If I post a short "drive by" it is almost always an expression of encouragement or agreement.

[blm]

9. on whether it MATTERS to our democracy, accountability and the openness of our government.

I give props to those who side with the people over the secrecy and privilege of the powerful elite.

I raise a flag on those who side WITH the secrecy and privilege of the powerful elite over the rights of the people.

I post on some human interest stories.

Good question, kentuck.

[panader0]

10. I have erased as many as I've started

[Mrs. Overall]

19. Me, too.

I have sometimes spent 30 minutes or more composing a response and then once I'm finished I read it over and think, "Nah.." and I hit delete and move on.

[zorahopkins]

11. I Often Post From Topics I See Elsewhere

For example, today I saw this question: "Do you want to know what Dick Cheney really thinks of George W. Bush?", and I had to post.

I am VERY conflicted about this question.

On the one hand, I would LOVE to know what that lying weasel and war criminal, Darth Vader Cheney, really thinks (although I don't feel that Cheney has the capacity to think) of that Idiot Son Chimpanzee War Criminal and Torturer-in-Chief, George Bush.

On the other hand, though, I really feel that I do NOT care at all what the evil and corrupt Cheney thinks at all. I just want him punished for all the torture, war, and hatred he and Bush inflicted on us and on the rest of the world over those horrible eight long dreary years when they illegally occupied the White House.

What's more, I find it far more preferable to look ahead, and not backward. To look ahead to that glorious day when or beloved President, Barack Obama, will be able to lead us to a NEW ERA of Peace, Prosperity, Gender Equality, Justice, Love, and Quality Affordable Health Care FOR ALL!

Can We Look Ahead To Quality Affordable Health Care FOR ALL?

YES WE CAN!!!

[slackmaster]

12. It has to have at least a small chance of making someone throw a hissy fit

Otherwise it's not worth posting.

[ThomWV]

13. Sometimes its just a voice from the fog, sometimes not.

Usually an idea will float in my head for a couple of days before a post comes from it and usually the post you see is not the first one I've written - and deleted. I probably write 5~7 posts for every one that I hit the "Post Message" button for. Either I can not find the words to say what I mean or I realize that I'm about to say something for which there is no foundation - something that requires further reading before I for forward or abandon the post. For instance a couple of days ago I read about 300 pages of the testimony of Miers and Rove just to make sure what I was saying was true in a couple of posts. Last night I spent about 5 hours reading up on the history of the German religions and the relationship between the Calvinists and Lutherans, between the Renaissance and the Reformation - and the reading has left me with a void in my thinking but it also canceled a post I had in mind.

Then there are the questions. I have the bad habit of believing that if something suites me it must suit all Democrats. Now and then, pretty often really, I ask questions as a reality check. When I post these questions, often as a poll, I try my best to avoid introducing my own opinion or experience and I don't check a box myself - though I do respond to comments.

Where do they come from. Probably more often than anywhere else from comments I her from callers on Washington Journal in the morning. I listen pretty closely to callers and they are the base for a lot of my posts. I also check on a number of on-line news sources from time to time during the day so if I see something new or breaking I may post that if it hasn't got attention yet.

And then there is the last category - the morning meanness posts. Sometimes I'm just in a bad mood and it shows.

[Vickers]

14. My guiding principle is: what will piss off a lurking repuke?

Seriously.

I occasionally do a search over at Freak Repuke-lick and find my user ID bandied about, so it would appear I'm a success (sic).

:P

[MrScorpio]

15. I'm very good for posting my thoughts on any given issue

No matter how weird my idea, I will post it

[PRETZEL]

16. Threads that interest me is the starting point

then if I feel I have something worthwhile (at least in my mind) that adds to the conversation, I'll post it.

[Javaman]

17. the voices in my head tell me. nt

[Atman]

18. Alcohol

The more the better. Then I get up the next morning to see what ridiculous stuff I posted while in my drunken stupor.

.

[Heidi]

20. This will be, perhaps, the least insightful answer you'll get in this thread.

I post mostly in LBN these days. I live in Switzerland (US Eastern Time +6) so it's easy for me to help keep LBN moving overnight with fresh news when I log into DU in the mornings. I really enjoy being part of ensuring that LBN is a reliable news source; in fact, LBN news very often is more current than CNN, MSNBC and other US mainstream media. How I decide what to post in LBN has to do with what's freshest, most relevant to progressives and what hasn't already been posted in LBN.

When I post in GD, it's generally about the issues most important to me personally, professionally and as a liberal American living abroad. I'm not really a poster of original rants or personal observations except for a handful of occasions in my five years here.