Will DU permit democratic discussion between members about DU?

[lil-petunia]

NO, this is not an attack, not even criticism; it is merely a question. A question to the membership, not necessarily to the moderators or administration. Of course, if they wany to jump in, I would be honored to read what they have to post.

For the past few days, two of my threads and many, many others posted by other individuals were deleted. OK, if we violate rules, that is a proper step. I agree that we want to keep this place clean and spam free. Being a fair-handed moderator is not an easy task, having personal experience with that. And I thank them for the fairly decent job they did before and during the election. A trying time, to be sure.

Now, the question I pose is this: At the moment, any thread discussing approaches here seems to be locked, with a message "Post this at the Ask The Administrators forum". Is there an unwritten rule which prevents DU members from discussing among themselves topics of interest, including where this place is heading? There are a lot of smart people here, and we tend to learn from exchanges.

My point is this. I am not bickering or complaining about policy. To the contrary, proper rules should exist and must be respected. But, does it serve any reasonable purpose to stop rational, valid discussions - which may clear up misconceptions, erroneous posting habits, and even bruised egos? The current ATA set up is understandable. Spamming other members or mods and admins is not to be tolerated. on the other hand, open communication never hurt any organization, instead it makes it stronger and more reliable.

[Phillycat]

1. It's not unwritten, it's right in the rules.

Questions or comments about DU should be posted in the ATA forum. This is a private forum whose owners get more grief from their members than anyone should be forced to put up with. When important decisions have been made in the past, admin has discussed it with the members on special threads. I think they have BENT OVER BACKWARDS to try to make as many people happy as possible.

I've been watching your posts in ATA. This is a thinly-veiled attempt to try to get other DUers on your side. I think you're being ridiculous.

MHO, of course.

[lil-petunia]

6. Jane, my being ridiculous is not my worst crime. Ignorance is much worse.

I submit that when a private forum calls itself home for democrats, liberals, and lovers of freedom, they should anticipate that a small percentage would be against any rules whatsoever. That is only logical.

Attacking the ownership, or the moves of moderators is NOT the same as holding a rational, quiet, intelligent discussion.

Please don't take this as criticism. You are mistaked that I have any side, or that I am trying to foment some revolution. I am curious. Curiosity is not outlawed by the DU rules. If it is, and I missed it, please refer me to the proper section. If you watched my posts on ATA, you should also watch my posts on DU elsewhere, and you will realize that I am neither a spammer nor making a practice of attacking individuals or management. In fact, quite to the contrary, you'll find my tone supportive of what goes on here.

[JimmyJazz]

8. We've all seen your posts in ATA - do you really expect a

different reaction from us than you got from the mods/Skinner?

I fully expect this thread to be locked as well - now can't we go back to the business of being lounge lizards? This is the lounge right?

[JimmyJazz]

7. I second your opinion, Janesez - well put -

These threads are getting a bit stale, IMHO

[Wat_Tyler]

2. To be honest, this all seems a little disingenuous.

[Phillycat]

3. Yup.

[arwalden]

4. This doesn't seem very wise.

[kick-ass-bob]

5. wise has not been around, lately.

[Moderator]

9. Locking

Posts regarding DU policy belong in the Ask the Admins forum.