Reply #51: agreed, (as one Vermeer fan to another if you can recall that old thread) [View All]

[kodi]

that is the nature of the beast i fear. originally the site attracted posters who were a more hard-core group of political junkies licking our wounds over the appointment of bush in 2000....and i think the average age of the posters was a lot older too. but that is only my opinion, based upon the level of writing and intellectual depth of the posts from 2001-2 compared to recent times.

political discussions were more detailed, rigorously debated and concise. perhaps that was based upon the fact that there were very few other places to post political discussions. now with the rise of blogs such as well, you pick'em....eschaton, kos, digby, smirking chimp, americablog, donkey rising, mahabalog, josh marshall's new site etc and so many others, the discussions here are more scant vis-a-vis in-depth analysis of current events. those sites have bled off many of the discussions once found only here.

also, we are in a lull now between election campaigns

however, i come back to see old evil DUers, with whom i have bonded via rigorous debate, and always check out first the late breaking news posts because it is a damn fine way to catch up quickly on what is happening.

many old Duers, will pitt, ulysses, sffreeways, eloriel(sp?,)hawker hurricane, crewleader, i hardly see ever post anymore and they were the best, along with the originator of this thread.

btw junebug, in the old days i posted as AJA and we discussed the Vermeer show at the national gallery in washington they had back in 'the mid '90s. it was the best exhibition i ever saw. but then, i am crazy for Vermeer and the things he did with shadows and light