Time to bring back "let it sink"???

[TLM]

Every time I log onto Du these days all I see are threads bashing democrats. I see so called liberals and so called dems bashing the democratic president...

Then the few remaining rational folks respond to those threads with calls for proof and quotes to support the asinine attacks, which are of course usually met with more hate spew and personal attacks. More often than not the so called proof, is baseless RW garbage being rehashed here or something taken so far out of context that it actually contradicts the attacks being made.

So is it time to bring back the "let it sink" policy and ignore lists for those who post nothing but hate fueled attacks on democrats?

This is democratic underground... not socialist underground or far left fringe underground nor is it right wingers posing as liberals to bash obama underground. There are plenty of other sites where those who hate obama can post their hateful spew.

I plan to greatly expand my ignore list over the next few weeks, adding anybody who consistently posts nothing but attacks on obama and people who rehash RW bashing points.

Let the hate sink to the bottom, just like during the primaries.

[masuki bance]

1. Just a question- did it work back then?

[TLM]

5. Yeah it worked well...

Got to the point where several of the more prolific haters got frustrated and bugged out when their threads would just sink and not get the reactions that trolls crave. I remember a few even crying about how they were leaving for just that reason... nobody responded to their posts and most of the active posters had them on ignore. Many hate posts had only the OP and one reply with LIS in the subject.

The whole idea behind coming to a democratic board to spew hates at democrats is to get us all pissed and riled up... so we focus energy on refuting the hate spew instead of more productive positive areas.

I looked at my ignore list from back them, and the majority of the names on the list are gone... given up. Although I have no doubt some reincarnated with new names to bypass some of the ignore lists.

I see this new tactic of people claiming to be liberals and leftists, and bashing obama for governing as the moderate dem that he ran as... by screaming he's a right winger that's as bad as bush etc. Non-dems who bash dems have no place on a dem board, regardless of them being fringe right or fringe left... they are still nothing but haters who bash Obama IMHO.

[Bicoastal]

2. Nah, no need.

I put 8-9 people on ignore, hid some threads--and voila! DU is back to "normal."

[Zodiak]

3. As long as you see this as a one-sided issue

Nothing will get done.

BOTH sides need to calm the fuck down, and BOTH sides are instigators. Any fool around here can see that, and lately we sure have a lot of people acting foolish.

People on the other side of the political divide on DU are NOT freepers, so there is absolutely no cause to treat them as such.

And yes, I'm being a sanctimonous prick, but this community has turned to shit in the last few months. There is little by way of actual discussion and a lot by way of personal attacks. It's probably overwhelming the mods.

[TLM]

7. Both sides? I see far left and far right fringe bashing the middle.

"People on the other side of the political divide on DU are NOT freepers, so there is absolutely no cause to treat them as such."

Freepers who post their hate here get banned quickly.

Folks who claim to be liberals and yet post freeper style Obama hate here... get listed on the greatest threads page.

A slight difference.

I think the solution is an ignore list with a hair trigger.

[Bjorn Against]

39. I see you bashing the "far left fringe"

[kath]

47. What some here call "the far left fringe" used to be called Democrats. We haven't left the party,

the party has left us.
The Repug-lite bullshit sucks.

[NorthCarolina]

55. Exactly n/t

[tavalon]

4. But you see, we have to do this because if we start focusing on the Banking Fraud

and begin to understand that we must let them fail and we must fire their CEOs and must bring in independent boards to look at the real numbers and break open this massive fraud, then the people at the top will be very, very mad, possibly even obama will be mad at us. I mean really mad. Do you want that?

If not, then keep on bashing each other. It's our part in keeping the important things off our radar.

[TLM]

10. Do you know what expostfacto means?

If it was legal when they did it... ya can't retroactively use the law to punish them.

Suck it up... by pushing deregulation that dems and republicans supported, they got to pull some shady crap with mortguage securities and rip people off. Now all we can do is pass laws to make sure it doesn't happen again... but before we can do that we have to stop the bleeding.

The us tax payers get to play George Bailey.

[tavalon]

13. I think our job is to fire every CEO of every failing bank and replace with auditors

Within days we would know where the fraud occurred, who help the fraud, who benefitted and who need to be closed and what needs to change immediately. No one with the names Paulson, Geithner or Summers should be anywhere near a dollar bill.

[depakid]

53. Sorry, but if you actually read and understood the criticisms- rather than winging

you'd realize that ex post facto analysis has absolutely nothing to do with this issue.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jenmito]

8. As you witnessed on another thread, those who are just starting trouble eventually abandon

the thread when they're unable to prove their claims.

[rug]

9. Why don't you try this instead?

[TLM]

11. Thank you....

One more for ignore....


Any other haters want to chime in so i can save time in expanding my ignore list?

[rug]

12. You're welcome.

and thank you.

[FrenchieCat]

17. I don't blame those kids......as a big truck full of hot oozing stinking manure just went by!

[rug]

18. Oh hi Frenchie.

[FrenchieCat]

21. Oh...that was just you!

[mix]

20. add me too

What you want is group think.

[TLM]

23. Again...a typical tactic.

No, the two minute hate was groupthink... like the lockstep bashing and hate spewed at obama.

To want to ignore the more vicious trollish and repetitive rehashing of FR attacks on obama and dems isn't promoting group think... just promoting thinking, period.

[mix]

52. why would i use a "tactic" against you? n/t

[HopeOverFear]

49. you got it....

[mix]

56. fearoverhope n/t

[bahrbearian]

40. Put me on please.

[Runcible Spoon]

59. Add me too!

[Danger Mouse]

14. I see the problem as maybe 7 or 8 people.

Meh.

[Spazito]

33. I agree, it is actually a very few posters with VERY busy fingers...

and an increasing feeling of desperation because President Obama's support is GROWING and that is an anathema to them, imo.

[mix]

51. thank you

i completely disagree with your take on this issue, as you would mine, but you have clarified for me how the other side thinks about this

[Spazito]

61. lol, you are very welcome!

Clarity is always beneficial!

[BlooInBloo]

15. I didn't believe in it the first time 'round.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Forkboy]

19. I never got the point. Everytime someone posted "let it sink" it booted the thread back up.

While I don't like to use ignore myself (it deprives you the chance to counter the very hate and bs you're talking about), you have the right idea when you choose to use it for yourself if it'll make your DU experience a more tolerable thing.

I'd also like to point out that there are very, very few "far left fringe" types on DU. If you think the people here are the far left of the political spectrum you need to get out more. You may not like what they say, which is your prerogative of course, but trust me...DU's far left isn't that far left. If you'd like, you can visit my area and I'll introduce you to some. I think it'd be a wake up call for you, and you'd see some of the lefties on DU quite, quite differently.

[TLM]

24. it worked...

The bashers and haters and flamers and trolls were ignored, and thus couldn't bash, hate, flame and troll. They got mad and left. There was no act of banning...no authoritarian "round them up" type BS that you seem to be trying to evoke. The people here just added their names to ignore lists and did not reply to their BS. Exactly what ignore is for.

The LIS reply did kick the thread...once. Far less than a 100 ranting replies would.

[Forkboy]

26. You say they got mad and left, but others in this thread say they're back.

So which is it? Did it drive them away or not? :shrug:

There was no act of banning...no authoritarian "round them up" type BS that you seem to be trying to evoke.

And that was why I asked what TD's intentions with such a list was. And the idea of such lists evoking this "BS", as you call it, is firmly rooted in the very real usage of them in our own recent history. They've been used against Democrats, for crying out loud. If it's a mutual list to just ignore them then fine, live it up. Again, that's why I asked.

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. They're back temporarily. You see, their site closed. It was the infamous

Capitol Hill Forum. I guess their hate wasn't enough to sustain the place? Despite their best efforts, our president remains hugely popular. Which is why they've returned to create havoc on this site. For me, it's very simple, if you starve the beast, it finds another place to feed.

Ignoring their posts pisses them off way more than any reply ever could. For those of us who continue to be insulted for supporting the president, and DU, I think it's critical that we not become a cheap knock-off of FR, or the now defunct CHF. I mean, if Skinner and the guys are okay with that, it certainly is their choice to make. But what happens to DU when supporters of Obama & the Democratic Party are driven away?

[Political Heretic]

22. What kind of posts do you think should be on the "let it sink" list, in your view?

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. Yours, for starters. That answer your question? (nt)

[Political Heretic]

29. Answers it perfectly.

Thank you.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

25. Yeah, that worked really well then. I wonder if there are too many determined haters now though.

I wonder if it can be fixed.

[salguine]

30. You know what I'm tired of? Any challenge—particularly legitimate ones—being

labeled "hate". Suppose it's a legitimate question? Calling it "hate" sure is a lot easier than reflecting on it and refuting it with your own thoughtful and well-reasoned counter-argument, isn't it?

It's an obnoxious tactic when Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity use it; it's no less obnoxious when a Democrat uses it.

It sets a shitty precedent. Dismissing any and all criticism as "hate" lowers the bar for accountability right into the basement.

I've been happy with some things Obama has done, and I've been sorely disappointed in some other things he's done. If I offer criticism of the President—which, if I recall, is still my right as an American to do—and you disagree, put your money where your mouth is and tell me why I'm wrong and back it up with a sound counter-argument. Don't tell me I'm "spewing hate".

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." —Theodore Roosevelt, 1918.

It applied to Bush, it applies to Obama.

[Reterr]

31. Thank you

You will probably be told that well it isn't applied to "constructive criticism", but apparently the bar for "constructive" is so high that it amounts to this:

Even if you aren't posting utter nonsense like "Fuck Obama / Obama=Bush", you will be coldly asked if you voted for McCain, asked why you never like anything positive, etc. if you express any dissatisfaction. I mean now some of the very same people who didn't like Larry Summers 2 years ago think it is a heresy to question any of the president's picks now.

I mean, I never liked Lawrence Summers..why would I start to like him just because he is an Obama aide now? And I can't blow off steam about that without being considereda Freeper etc. on a Dem board I have donated to and when I spent a signifcant chunk of time and money helping Obama get elected :eyes:? I am not wealthy enough and more to the point just don't have enough time to volunteer for someone and then just sit back and not let my voice be heard.

Wtf? I like Obama but I don't think he is infallible and this "best and brightest-they know better than you stuff is just BS". I am a physicist/engineer by training, but never have been exposed to much economic theory. But, my honest sense of it whenever I encounter it is the same thing I feel with many of the other social sciences if I am brutally honest. There is a lot of basically easy stuff that is made to sound so much more arcane and complicated than it actually is that it becomes easy to fool people into thinking they just can't "get it". One of the things I like about Krugman is that he explains most of these very basic economic principles in very direct terms and doesn't try to make these models sound so much more intricate and complex than they actually are. Which is how I feel about many other economists when they communicate with the general public. If you confuse people so that they don't get what the hell you just said it is sure as hell easier for them to go along and support some BS....

[spoony]

45. Excellent post n/t

[stillcool]

32. I haven't used the ignore option..

as far as posters go. I pretty much know the regulars, and the newbies are very transparent. But I have been ignoring DU. I check in briefly, and check out. It's just like watching the cable news programming. I watch when there is something 'real' happening, and when the spinning starts off I go.

[Yukari Yakumo]

34. Better idea.

It's time the mods get off their hands and do a better job moderating. And when a poster shows a clear agenda of bashing Dems (instead of offering something called constructive criticism), they also need to show them the door.

What we need is more proactive mods.

[Bjorn Against]

35. The mods are doing fine, they are allowing constructive criticism just as they always have

And what constitutes constructive criticism is for them to decide, don't call them out for not using your standards.

[iamthebandfanman]

36. it aint the primary anymore

nor any national election of any sort anytime soon.


stop being the thought police.

there are surely better things to do with your time.

[PurityOfEssence]

37. "Democratic" does not equal "The Administration"

Those who sneer at and thirst to silence those of us a bit lefter than they are are the ones who don't understand pluralism, and it fits with the third-wayish bullshit attitude of many Democrats since the beginning of the Clinton Administration. Intolerance of differing views is a hallmark of conservatism: those who are convinced they have the right idea see other ideas not as merely threats, but as perversities of an unconscionable order. Bummer. Join the human race. We're all wrong at times, and that's why liberals embrace the concept of questioning everything and tinkering with things.

Obama invites this, not just with his courting of the right, but with his philosophical underpinnings. I like his moves on the environment and science, and I like the reawakening of a sense of fairness with labor, but his economic team is the same bunch of corporatist aristocrats, and his view of private enterprise as the unquestionable god is foolish, unfounded, and will fuck up one of the best chances we have for proper health care reform we've ever had. Add this to the pathetic compensation need he has to prove himself tough in Afghanistan, and he is going down some dangerous paths.

Fine. Stick your fingers in your ears and yell "la la la, I don't hear you". Put the world on ignore. Sway as many people as you can to snub and blackball dissent on this board and see where it gets you. Reality is your friend; running from it is a form of mental calcification, fragile ego syndrome and broad-spectrum vengeance.

We're a messy bunch here on the left, but we represent A LOT OF PEOPLE. A lot of people who were enlisted in the cause by the mouthing of vague populist sentiments are pissed off, and they need to be dealt with. Deal with them cynically or deal with them honorably, but deal with them.

I personally don't like the specter of a president continuing Bill Clinton's dragging of the party to the right to please the reactionaries who will destroy us at every turn, and I see the danger of doing this and then also having a failed presidency. If sucking up to the corporatists allows the economy to falter or outrightly fail, he will have dragged the country and party to the right and then lose it to the far right so that there is no real leftist voice at all.

Those who think the Republicans are finished need to look at 1992 to 1994; they rise from the dead.

[chimpymustgo]

42. Purity, you've nailed it as always!

So good to run across a post from you.

:hi:

[Runcible Spoon]

57. !

:applause: :loveya: :yourock:

[earth mom]

38. You should realize that Obama is allowing genocide based on a LIE in the middle east just like *!

Go ahead and live in your rah rah neverland just like the freepers did when they believed * did no wrong!

How you behave is NO different than far right freeper fringe and the meme you have posted on this thread about the far left proves it! :puke:

Put me on your ignore list for sure because that is all you are good at-ignorance!

[Bunny]

41. "let it sink" was one of the bigger steaming piles in DU history.

It was despicable then, it's despicable now. Anyone who wants to revive it is not a supporter of Obama. Add me to your list, please.

[RBInMaine]

43. That anyone who calls themself a Dem would attack Obama after the Nazis we beat in November is

horrid. Sadly, some "Dems" just can't resist joining a circular firing squad. So to all those circular firing squad assholes out there posing as Dems, PISS ON YOU AND YOUR WHINING ! Support OUR President or get the hell off this blog ! Here's a thought, try attacking our ENEMY the RePUKES if you need to attack something.

[spoony]

44. Try taking your own advice.

How about not ending a post, "Here's a thought, try attacking our ENEMY the RePUKES if you need to attack something" after spending an entire post...attacking other posters. ("horrid," "PISS ON YOU AND YOUR WHINING," "get the hell off this blog!")

[salguine]

50. Support free speech or get the hell off this blog. I didn't sign up to swap

one fascist for another.

[Runcible Spoon]

58. Project much?

:shrug:

[spoony]

46. Lol, I promise you if I see that nonsense going on

I will immediately bump whatever thread it is back to the top of the forum.

[ZombieHorde]

48. "all I see are threads bashing democrats" ----- Cut and paste from top GD:P threads.

NYT: Tom Friedman's "Obama's Big, Bold Bet" (economy) Click here to hide this thread MarjorieG
Have you seen Obama's speech in full on your television or on the Internet? (Poll) Click here to hide this thread
Does anyone know if Obama is still going to give a speech in a Muslim country? Click here to hide this thread jenmito
Time to bring back "let it sink"??? Click here to hide this thread TLM
PHOTOS Michelle's Day (Prague, April 5) Click here to hide this thread Jackeens
This could be the longest Mrs. Obama has been away from her two girls Click here to hide this thread eleny
"We are all Americans, Sir" Spoken by General Do-Ne-Ho-Gew-Weh Click here to hide this thread grantcart
Crowds in Prague greet first lady Michelle Obama Click here to hide this thread rainbow4321
Does anyone know who other than Jackie O among First Lady's Click here to hide this thread Top Cat
Anyone notice Obama's approval ratings have gone up the past three days? Click here to hide this thread Drunken
President Obama in Prague, Czech Republic: "We have to insist - yes we can" Click here to hide this thread Hope And
I see Obama is now being blamed for North Korea and the missile Click here to hide this thread oviedodem Sun Apr-05-09
NYT Op-Ed: Larger Than Life in London (O's="classlessly classy", classless=favoring social equality) Click here to hide this
RASMUSSEN SILLINESS: 57% Want Military Response to North Korea Missile Launch Click here to hide this thread jefferson_dem
Obama Calls for World Without Nuclear Weapons Click here to hide this thread masuki bance Sun Apr-05-09 12:59 PM 4
PHOTOS Hillary's Day (April 3) Click here to hide this thread Jackeens Sun Apr-05-09 12:57 PM 36
Shows what's important here: Obama won the support he wanted from NATO Click here to hide this thread denem
To me, the NRA argument works with criminals but falls apart when it comes to psychopaths. Click here to hide this
PHOTOS If it's Sunday morning it must be Prague Click here to hide this thread Jackeens Sun Apr-05-09
Jackie Speier bill establishes Women's Commission Click here to hide this thread biopowertoday Sun Apr-05-09 12:54 PM
How Would You Rank The Presidents From 1977 to Present From Liberal To Right Wing Nut Click here to hide this thread
Let's discuss this bit about trying to work with Republicans. Click here to hide this thread
-------------------------------
If your claim was an honest one, you have extremely selective vision.

eta: an "r"

[Marrah_G]

54. Yes- bring back the bullying, assholish behavior from the Primaries- Good plan

[AtomicKitten]

60. Hide-A-Thread and Ignore work pretty good on the Reindeer Games still being played.