Reply #37: I remember that DU used to be a lot different than it is now. [View All]

[Heidi]

When I joined in 2004, there wasn't nearly as much mean spiritedness. I remember it feeling like a safe haven for like-minded people. I was a mod in LBN and GD during the primaries. The ugliness of that time something I never thought I'd see at DU; I remember logging in here every day with a sense of dread. I did the best I could as a mod, and I don't disagree with you that the primaries were the starting point for much of the mean spiritedness and abuse we see and experience at DU today. Too, I think that time brought a great many new members to DU -- including many whose main concern was getting the Republicans out of office, but not necessarily in advancing a genuinely progressive agenda.

I never in a million years would have ever thought I'd be one of those "old timers" posting about how much better DU used to be, but here I am, and there it is.