Discuss state and local issues in our new State Forums!

[Skinner]

Now that Democratic Underground has grown large and very busy, we believe that we have enough people to sustain some relatively active state forums, for discussion of state and local issues.

You can check out the forum for your state by clicking on the forum called "State Forums" and then selecting your state from the alphabetical listing. Or you can click this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=136

Obviously we do not expect these state forums to be nearly as busy as the General Discussion forum or the Latest Breaking News forum. And we suspect that larger states will have more active state forums than smaller states. Few people are likely to hang out in their state forum in the manner which they might do in The Lounge or the General Discussion forum or elsewhere.

Still we believe that these state forums can be useful and interesting for our members if everyone makes an effort to stop into their state's forum a couple times a day and occasionally post about topics of interest to people from that state. If a few people voluntarily take ownership of each state forum and make an effort to post in there regularly, I think we will see the state forums steadily grow. Hopefully these forums can strengthen our feeling of community by providing a place that is smaller and friendlier than some of the other forums.

If you wish to post in more than one state forum, you are encouraged to do so. But please do not post in any state forum if your intention is to insult the citizens of that state. That would be very disruptive, and would hurt the sense of community we are trying to encourage.

In the future, we hope to integrate the individual state forums into the Campaign Underground project that we are currently developing. We'll have more to say on that topic later.

Hiding state forums

Some members have already expressed to us that they do not wish to see discussion threads from all of the state forums listed on the message board Latest Page. If you wish to hide discussion threads from the state forums, we have given you the ability to control what shows up and what does not. Click on the "Options" icon, select "Edit your Preferences," and scroll to the bottom of the page. To hide threads from state forums, set the option "Hide the state forums?" to "Yes". If you hide state forums, you have the option of showing threads from one state. Go to "Show which state forum on the Latest page?" and select one state from the drop-down menu.

[leyton]

1. I like these.

State-specific threads can get buried easily if they're not in Politics and Campaigns.

Good move!

[Killarney]

2. Awesome!

[themann1086]

3. I like the idea

Especially since I live in a swing state, maybe I get find some other Pennsylvanias to rant and plan with.

[DemNoir]

4. Great Idea

thanks!

[cmd]

5. Thank you, Skinner

This is a fantastic idea that will help us stay informed about events around our states. I'll be visiting that forum regularly.

[BeHereNow]

6. Thanks Skinner!

Now that we have a govenator in CA, I am sure
we have much work to do- having a "state forum"
will help us organize the effort.
There is a growing and organized faction of
Fundies here working night and day to "free" Californians
from the evil grip of "librulism" and sin.
I see them regularly in the school board meetings-
SCARY women working to remove certain
sinful books from our curriculum- you know, books
like "The Color Purple."
Mandatory field trips to see "The Passion" will now
replace English class if they have their way.
HEADS UP CALIFORNIA! DO NOT SIGN THOSE PETITIONS
AT YOUR LOCAL MARKETS!
They are tranferring the signatures to Fundie bills and
submitting them to influence our senators and congress people.

BHN

[VolcanoJen]

7. Thanks for these great forums, Skinner!

The best way to organize is to localize. :D

[kayell]

8. Thank you!

[2bfree]

9. Thank you so much!

I think this will be a very useful tool in the upcoming elections and a way to encourage community here at DU. However I wish people who are not from a particular state wouldn't post derogatory remarks about that state. Seems really rude to me.

[slackmaster]

10. Me like!

Thank you, Principal Skinner!

:toast:

[doni_georgia]

11. Cool Beans! Thanks - nice to meet other GA DUers. n/t

[bigwillq]

12. Loving the state forums

Thanks SKinner and everyone who helped make this possible.

[argyl]

13. Great idea.DU just keeps improving.Best website,you can get reliable news

and opinion pieces from reliable journalistic outlets as well as input from the best informed and just plain fun to be around people on the internet.

[JohnLocke]

14. Very cool, Skinner!

:yourock:

[Athame]

15. Love the idea and the CA forum is great

but I am a little worried that I will miss important information about other states now. The DU context that I would otherwise not get from local media. I hope we will still post in GD or LBN the hottest issues or those where the significance is underappreciated by outsiders.

[porkrind]

16. Thanks, Skinner !!!

You and your DU site are great. Thanks for all you do.
:toast:

[dae]

17. Great idea and timing, many thanks.

:kick::thumbsup::thumbsup::)

[JohnLocke]

18. I like chicken

Chicken, beer and sex is all there is to life.

[JohnLocke]

22. That wasn't me...

Time to change my password... :scared::scared::scared:

[Hubert Flottz]

19. Thank You!

I love it!

[usregimechange]

20. Thank you!

I probably wasn't the first person to suggest the state forums but they can be a valuable tool for us to organize and find each other. Thank you DU!

[CheshireCat]

21. Best change to DU since I've started coming here

which was not long after the selection.

Lately, I have been trying to stay more up to date on local and state matters. This has cut into my time on DU. Now I can come here and keep up.

Skinner - excellent idea!

[brava]

23. Politics is local1

This is fabulous. Just what we needed.

Thank you DU.