Replies

I donated to DU and had contributed for well over a year and was banned without so much as a warning.

Please tell us, in all honesty, since you have posted at DU for over a year, did you really find intellectual stimulation from the discussions? Are there some really smart people over there? Did you learn anything? Could you please delve down in the innermost depths of your intellect and really, seriously think about these questions and respond?

I've visited there a couple of times and found it unreadable. Perhaps I didn't try hard enough but I just didn't get it. It all seemed so inane. Maybe it is the ideological differences?

In any event, you have my condolences. It is maddening to be unceremoniously chastized for doing absolutely nothing wrong. (It happened to me at AOL and I was furious. I think it was the attitude of the moderator, who was clueless and heavyhanded and just plain stupid. They have few enough participants as it is and I was spoken to and treated the same way one might speak to a child molester or pornographer. What was worse, I had only been trying to help a clueless poster! I have never gone back.)

In any event, you have my sympathies. Perhaps you'll feel differently in the morning.

For the last 21 months, we have tried very hard to keep this discussion board open to all left-wing points of view. It was one of our guiding principles, because we believed deeply that talking is better than not talking.
But now we have come to the conclusion that the current state of affairs is untenable. In the past few months I have become convinced of two things:

1) There is a small but outspoken group of liberals who simply are not our friends. Please be aware that I am not singling out Greens, most of whom are capable of participating on this message board in a productive and thought-provoking way. Rather, I am referring to people who are consumed with hatred and contempt for any and all liberals who don't share their exact point of view.

2) It is simple to disrupt this message board, and post the most vile and offensive propaganda if you simply declare yourself to be a liberal, Green, or even a Democrat. Some of the things posted by our "fellow liberals" would make a FReeper blush. In fact, some of these "fellow liberals" might even be FReepers. If they are, they've found a rich vein for disruption, because I let them get away with it. Well, no more.

Over time, the result has been an increase in postings by rude, anti-social disruptors, and a decrease in postings by thoughtful, productive members.

In case you haven't heard, there is a very important election occurring in less than three weeks. The stakes in this election are as high as they have ever been. You are being given a clear choice: Hand over complete control of all three branches of government to the forces of evil - or don't.

There is no viable third option. Choosing not to vote (or to vote for a third party) is a morally bankrupt decision during this time of crisis when the potential harm to our country is so great. You may claim you are standing on principle, but simply calling it "principled" does not make it so. Your stand on principle will have dire consequences, and you will share the blame when the Republicans in the House, Senate, White House, and Federal Courts undo a half century of progress.

As the administrator of this message board, I have the opportunity to have an impact on the outcome of this election. As an American, I have a moral obligation to do what I can to stop the conservative juggernaut. For the next three weeks, that is my greatest concern.

We still allow all points of view, but we have our limits.

For the next three weeks:

It is forbidden to use the DU message board in an effort to make our members withhold their precious votes from the Democratic Party, which is the only organization capable of stopping the Republican onslaught.

It is forbidden to use the DU message board to organize protests or other actions against members of the Democratic Party.

If the administrators of DU decide that the rhetoric of your posts would be more appropriate on Free Republic than on DU, then you are going to get banned.

We understand that many of you feel deeply disappointed with certain members of the Democratic Party right now. We wish to make clear that you are still free to criticize the Democratic Party, the Democratic leadership, or individual members of the Democratic Party.

But the stakes are too high to let DU argue its way to Armageddon. The stakes are too high to let a few angry partisans with dubious intentions hijack this message board.

I know what side I am on. If you are rooting against the Democratic Party in this election, then just let me know by posting in this thread and I will shut off your account myself.

To repeat: these changes are in effect until the election is over. At that point, we will review whether it is in the best interests of DU to remove these restrictions.

Thank you for your understanding.

Skinner
DU Administrator