General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: DU doesn't need fewer regular posters in GD. [View all]Caliman73
(11,764 posts)I have been around at DU for a little while, although I do not post as prolifically as some and I left for a stretch of a few years and came back around the time of the Primaries. DU had changed a good deal from when I left to when I came back. I know that there were a number of problems during the primaries that left a lot of people upset and traumatized.
What I see here now that I didn't see, at least in GD back before the primaries is that people react very quickly and strongly to anything they perceive as non-orthodox, which could be anything.
I agree that there should be more posters on GD and on DU in general. We want discussion, dialogue, and debate. There are always going to be people who just want to disrupt. The anonymity of the internet can bring out the worst in people, but those people will always out themselves and typically sooner rather than later. It is difficult when long time posters feel like they are driven away by application of the rules which may or may not have been a provocation. We all need to watch how we say things but there is value in giving long time posters a bit of slack with regards to corrective actions. Ultimately sites change as people come and go, but long time users add a history that is needed for sites to remain attached to their roots as they grow.