What brought you to DU?

[greenmutha]

I've been thinking about what path may have led us all individually to this wonderful cyberspace.

Here's mine:
I sat in front of the TV all night watching the 2004 Election returns come in. I fell asleep at some point, and when I did, Kerry was still in the lead.

Then I woke up to the horror the next morning.

I watched Kerry's concession speech, blinded by tears.
Then I watched the blivet** acceptance speech, and cried even more.

I knew in my heart that something was terribly wrong - this just could NOT be right! Were other people feeling it too?

I ran out to my shop behind my home and got on my computer, and started googling "election fraud" and "vote fraud" over and over again until I got some results that pertained to what had just happened. (There were many at first for other countries or long-since-passed elections, but nothing for 2004.)

Finally, (about a half-hour later I think it was), I got some hits. They were all from DU. (I guess it took the spiders a bit to crawl it.)

I came here and started reading, and reading, and reading. I saw a post where Ida Briggs was asking for someone from Utah to sign up to help with some documentation from our state. I tried to join that day, but Skinner had DU on lockdown - and rightly so, because it was nuts here!

I emailed him, begging him to let me in. (I had never heard of this place before this day, and I was SOOOOOO excited to find a place full of like-minded people!)

It took him a few days, but I was finally allowed to join, and I immediately went "to work" for Ida Briggs, Eloriel and althecat in the Voting Issues forum. They had organized a "crew who shall remain nameless" (thanks, Bev) to do important work in helping document the fraud that had just occurred.

I got the numbers Ida needed for Utah, and then signed up on their work crew to be a "thread kicker" of important threads. (The board was flying fast and furious those days and they wanted threads kicked throughout the day so that most everyone would at least see them, as they would drop off the page fast.)

I wrote emails and letters, blasting Congress and the media. I compiled a list of the entire 109th Congress with contact snail mail addys, email addys, phone numbers, and fax numbers for easy reference. (I still need to put this in the Demopedia, if some one can instruct me how to do it in very plain english - I'm definitely no computer whiz!)

And that's how I started out here. It was both a bit scary and yet thrilling to be a part of the big democratic machine that is DU.

Here's to Skinner, EarlG and elad for such a great place! :toast:

[RevCheesehead]

1. A friend sent me an e-mail of Michael Moore's....

related to F-9/11 being pulled from production. This e-mail led me to Michael Moore's website, which I followed quite closely most of the summer.

Mike had a link to DU, thanks to Walt Starr's work on "was GWB wearing a medal he didn't earn?" I lurked for a few days, then decided I needed to know these informed Democrats better. That's when "RevCheesehead" was born/hatched/created/fermented. :)

I've been here since mid-July, 2004, and have been here just about every day since then. Just for the record, I AM NOT OBSESSIVE - I am just well-informed, and know a good party when I see one!

To DU and all its wonderful members: :toast:
And To the Ties that Bind (even better than cheese): :toast:

[greenmutha]

3. "Just for the record"

I am! (Obsessive... especially when I set my mind to something.) :freak: <-----Moi

[gkhouston]

2. during the 2004 campaign, one of the blogs I read daily

was Josh Marshall's "Talking Points Memo". Toward the end of the campaign, I followed a link from his site to dailykos and started visiting there regularly.

I'd been worried about the possibility of election fraud even before Nov. 2 -- I'm a computer type and had warned my best friend not to vote the straight ticket button on eSlate even if she wanted to vote for a straight ticket. It seemed like such an obvious target and yup, it was exploited. Anyway, on Nov. 3, I went looking for websites discussing election fraud. Zip on Talking Points Memo (I rarely go there anymore). Some on dailykos, including some pointers to DU, and that's how I ended up here.

Although I dip into dailykos now and then, there was a period there where election fraud discussion wasn't politically correct and it's harder to find things over there, anyway. For some reason, I've found DU to be a lot more welcoming. The circular firing squads can be amazingly vicious, although some of them can be amazingly entertaining, too, if you can take a step back from it all. All in all, though, there's a lot of genuine warmth and support here, and a lot of belief in the basic decency and intelligence of your "average" American, and that gives me the strength to endure some pretty bleak times under blivet**.

Greenie -- I joined DU after Dec. 7 so I can't play in Demopedia under my screen name, but I might be able to coach you in your travails. Have you tried using Demopedia at all? If so, how far have you gotten?

[greenmutha]

4. I haven't even attempted it yet.

I've been too scared I was gonna mess up the page and then not be able to fix it and the admins would :spank: me. (I would hate to have to bother one of them to go fix a mess I had created!)

I want to create a new page off of the existing listing for the 109th Congress, and I need to be able to format a fairly wide table with a set of columns. (I can't remember exactly how many columns at the moment.) Right now I have it in Word with the sheet set to landscape so it will all fit.

[WhirlyGirl]

5. I honestly don't remember how I found DU; it may have been off a link on

... MediaMattersforAmerica as I was trying to follow the Bev Harris matter.

Or I may have been reading posts here already by that time. It bothers me that
I can't retrace the path that brought me here -- but it's a testament to the craziness
and confusion which characterized the whole 2004 campaign and culminated in the
election meltdown itself.

Whatever my tortuous route to these blessed shores,
I certainly join you in your toast, greenie!
:toast:

---------
<< Here's to Skinner, EarlG and elad for such a great place!
:toast:
>> greenie

[bunny planet]

6. Post-stolen election stress disorder!!!!!!!!!!!!

:smoke:

[Shopaholic]

7. Friends on a totally non-political related board

(music) kept posting about DU--I checked it out and it became my home--I'd found my lost tribe of brothers & sisters. That was 1/04.

[seito]

10. LOL

Me too. I followed a link from Kos.

I found a home in the :tinfoilhat: forum (Election 2004 Results and Discussion)

It is so cool to look back through the threads. Somehow, amid the tragedy, we managed to find humor and forge friendships. I am really glad that we have this group.

To The Ties That Bind :toast:

[RevCheesehead]

11. I remember when you joined!

You posted in the :tinfoil: group, and showed us very quickly that you belonged there! There was a lot of suspicion about "newbies" back then, and their mixed motives on why they showed up. Your posts were different - they were pretty damned good, as I recall.

Some of the BS-ers are (thankfully) no longer here. And then there's YOU! (to quote Martha: "That's a good thing.") :)

[seito]

13. So I'm not suspicious anymore

:evilgrin:

Thanks Rev,

Speaking of suspicion, this was my first poll

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2084818#2084818

[bunny planet]

8. I think I linked to DU from Buzzflash after the election. Started reading

and I was hooked. I first joined up at Dailykos but found the atmosphere a bit rarified over there. I like my political discussions very down to earth. The wonks are funnier and more approachable over here.

[crispini]

9. Coworker.

Fudge stripe cookays and I work together, and somewhere about last June we were having Democrat coffee breaks on a regular basis and she told me about this place and now I'm hopelessly addicted! :)

[Catchawave]

12. I was one of the charter members of JREG

(www.jregrassroots.org)which was established after John Edwards dropped out of the primaries so we could cry in our cyberbeers!

Lots of DU links were shared there, so I became a lurker for quite a few months. As DU was the size of a small city, I was a bit :scared: , but eventually, registered, donated and jumped in before the election. Whoa, what a ride!

I've also been a HUGE KO fan since his Sports Center days, so you can't imagine how thrilled I am about Countdown, and have been a regular viewer ever since it went on the air.

Then I found you guys! This whole DU experience has renewed my faith in humanity...ok, a little dramatic...but still a place you can come to agree to disagree without being told to move on, get over it, get a life, stop whining, you're stupid, unpatriotic, negative, a whiner....well, you know the drill :silly:

[cry baby]

14. I linked from the Randi Rhodes message board which I found when

I got satellite radio and AAR.

I was hooked the first time!

[SharonRB]

15. I followed a link from somewhere

a week or two after the election. I wish I could remember where, but I can't. The results of the election were making me crazy and depressed. I knew something was wrong, and when I found DU I knew I wasn't alone. I'm so glad I joined. It's kept me somewhat sane ever since, although I'm still depressed.

[SaveAmerica]

16. Hello, I'm SaveAmerica and I'm addicted to DU;

I just wanted to add my thanks for DU, I double your;

Here's to Skinner, EarlG and elad for such a great place! :toast:

I was thinking just yesterday that I am so glad to have found the wealth of information that is DU, I know too much to go back to pretend. It would be so easy to hide in a corner and ignore the dark side, but why would I when knowledge is power?

A week after the election I tried to heal myself with humor and read "Lying Liars". It was really my first introduction to the other side of politics and to find more info, I did a search which led me to RadioAmerica and a link to DU. This was sometime near mid to end November and looking back now probably not the ideal time for someone new to politics and DU to jump in. It was 2004 Election group that I spent all my time at and it was like being in a month-long tornado so I battened down the hatches and didn't let go. It was crazy the stuff I was learning, I wish I had a $ for every time I turned to my husband and said "you'll never believe GW did this, 2 brothers own, etc. etc." I have a stack of print-outs from all the best stuff I read, I would never have been able to remember all that. I believe I was suspected as a freeper often, I'm thinking due to the low number count and name. I was tag teamed many times, I felt gross afterward. I considered changing my name just for freedom of posting but decided to stick with it because at the moment that I signed up to DU, that's how I felt, America needs saving. Well, I still do : ). And KOEB posts became a haven from all the heavy reading, we haven't had cable for a while now and I miss KO mucho so I don't post cause I don't see but I do enjoy the snark reports and floaty hearts (and appreciate the retro threads I'm finding here, I've often wondered if there was a KOEBFAQ to find answers to questions like Why 'Keef'?). That's me SaveAmerica, thanks for letting me unload. One last thing;


:loveya:

[CC]

17. I was beginning to feel like my immediate family

were the only ones around here that could see *:evilfrown: for the evil being he was. Even on-line it was rare to find anyone that didn't think he was at least OK. I was sick:puke: and tired of hearing how bad liberals were yada yada yada and so sick:puke: of the Clinton bashing. Hell they'll blame him for the Civil War one day. So I started searching for liberal sites. Found MoveOn.com and a few others back then. (Nov. 2000 and the whole fiasco I so missed my son that would have gotten to vote for the first time and was raised to be a good liberal Dem. Would of loved listening to him rant) After the selection I found Mad Kaine's Dubya's Daily Diary. She was so in tune with how I saw *:evilfrown:. Eventually I found www.hated.com and it had a long list of sites most hated by conservatives. I started following links. Found and sent this to soooooooo many repukes.:spank: http://www.liberalslant.com/liberalism.htm :bounce:
I started searching and correcting right wing:spank: emails sent to me and sending the corrections "reply to all". Finally a few people promised to not send me their political crap if I wouldn't send my good info their way. Some where in there I found DU and lots of info. Was a total lurker but finally joined in April 2001 so I could get to something I couldn't get to without joining.:shrug: I still lurked, and mostly read. Printed lots of info and left it around the college I was going to and talked to the kids there. I am stuck in a red county in a blue state. (I almost did too good a job...one of the kid's first ever vote went to Nader on 02/04. Told her it was OK Kerry won our state anyway. The dean of our dept. told her she was the only one going to heaven out of us all.) I had been watching Countdown...I guess since the beginning, though I didn't know it was the beginning then. During the summer he never let a night go by that he didn't hit *:evilfrown: at least once. Eventually I saw the KOEB (what took y'all so long to find KO?) Lurked a long time because I don't know how you keep up and actually see Keith at the same time. My tv is behind the pc. I feel for Bunny and the stairs. I finally decided to say hi because everyone is so alright and fun. Y'all lifted my spirits many times though you didn't know it. When the hub started calling Keith" Keith floatie heart Olbermann" I thought it was past time I said hi. Finally stopped lurking on DU with y'all;also starting to post elsewhere too. (Still sneak info to those conservatives I know but have learned to make it subtle. Will get some thinking eventually.) A big Thank You to the KOEB's & ASTB's. :yourock:

:loveya::loveya:KO :loveya::loveya: :loveya::loveya:KOEB&ASTB :loveya::loveya:

[SaveAmerica]

18. I love your shrine to Keith!

What is the ASTB? About the people who don't want your e-mails; I have some of those and it seems to me they are running from the truth. My hat is off to the KOEB'ers and their ability to report, respond and have snark at the speed of light (having snark at the speed of light sounds like it should be illegal!). The few times I've posted (and I'm without the joy of the show to watch at the same time) it's like molasses typing then responding. I took a look at your profile and checked out your webpage, I'm so very sorry about your son. Your memorial is beautiful and is another reminder to grab hold of my kids and enjoy and be thankful for every moment with them.

[CC]

19. Thank you for the compliment on Beau's

memorial. There is always a reason to hug your kids extra tight, give them extra kisses,etc ...they are there. smiles

It is hard typing and even on cable I start slowing down on the KOEB.

ASTB is the Alison Stewart Testosterone Brigade. They tripped over their tongues last week when she filled in for Keith.


the smiley is a combo of the loveya's and all hail with HTML for the KO.
replace the < > with < > remove the extra space from the loveya and add the h to http...

<center>: loveya:: loveya:<font color="D10601" size="7" face="ariel"><b>KO </font></b>: loveya:: loveya:</center><br><center> ttp://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/Cinmabar/allhail.gif >/center></br>



:loveya::loveya:KO :loveya::loveya:

[WhirlyGirl]

20. SaveAmerica, I'm glad you mentioned CC's profile...

... because it never occurs to me to read these. Probably be good to take an hour or so and look them over.

CC, how can anyone who hasn't been though what you have, ever understand the strength required to carry on after such a terible loss? It must be that same strength which made it possible for you to forgive the man who did this, when all was said and done.

You've created a beautiful memorial to your son. I hope everyone in the group who hasn't yet seen it will go and take a look.

All my sympathy and best wishes.
WhirlyG

[AmyJCNJ]

21. through the Randi Rhodes message board

Several people on Randi's message board had links to DU. I signed up and lurked once in awhile. But I didn't start regularly posting until I saw the KOEB. I don't spend as much time here as I like but it's still nice to have a community. And this is the best place for democratic talking points.

[crispini]

22. Awww... that's so sweet.

It's so nice to know the :loveya: KOEB love :loveya: spreads around! :thumbsup:

[Botany]

23. I watched the Francis Ford Copalla Movie ..... KOEB Now ....on HBO

"I love the smell of estorgen in the morning. It smells like victory"

I was a drift in Gull Bay, after working for Kerry in central Ohio and my love
Stephanie :loveya: Miller, was toying with my affections and speaking
of stolen elections. But with the horny sounds of snark and EDVs stalking
KO in Central Park I thought I would stick around for a lark.