Democratic Underground Is a Forum for Opinion

[MineralMan]

While it's also a place for people to post news stories from other sources, those stories are simply reasons for us to share our opinions about those stories. DUers come from various backgrounds, have various experiences, and various levels of knowledge. In all cases, though, what we write here about the news is our opinions about what that news means.

We don't make news at DU, except on very, very rare occasions. We discuss news. News happens and it comes here from various sources. As soon as it does, those of us who choose to post on this forum opine about it. None of us, as far as I know, is an elected member of Congress, a Senator, or a high-level appointed official of the government. None of us can make decisions that will affect any major situation.

We can, however, hold opinions about things and share them here, for further discussion. For the most part, we are more or less anonymous. We bring our lifetimes of experience with various things to this forum. We look at the news that is happening and offer our opinions about it. None of us has THE answer to anything. None of us has THE solution to any problematic situation.

We just have our opinions. My opinion is just that. You don't have to agree with it, and I don't expect you to. Nor do I necessarily agree with your opinion, although I'll certainly read it and maybe reply to it. If I disagree, that does not mean I don't like you. It does not mean that I am your enemy. It just means that my opinion differs from yours.

Opinions. That's what DU is about. That is its strength. That is why it exists.

[Glorfindel]

1. Very well said, MineralMan, as always

"It does not mean that I am your enemy. It just means that my opinion differs from yours."

[MineralMan]

2. You're too kind.

[True Blue American]

33. That is why we are Democrats

But funny thing on Political boards it is amazing how quickly Politics is put aside when one of us are hurting. Like families we come together.

Funny how the internet works for so many of u.

Honestly Republicans have their good side. We are just in a bad spot right now.

Who would have thought Mike Lee would speak out strongly and Matt Gaetz would vote for the War Powers act?

[Ninga]

3. Wise words bears repeating....maybe once a month.

[MineralMan]

9. Oh, I wouldn't dare do that. That's why my signature

line basically says the same thing.

[hurple]

4. This is untrue

It is not a place for opinion. It is a place for a strictly enforced narrowly defined regurgitation of somebody else's "opinion". Heaven help you if you disagree with the "company line" on *anything*.

Every time I've tried to say what I think, I've gotten knocked down to the point that I don't even bother anymore.

And, I bet this note gets reported and taken down too.

[MineralMan]

10. Really, it's not so much what you say as how you say it.

I've been posting opinions here since 2008 that many have disagreed with. Yet, I'm still here and still doing it.

[PatSeg]

19. Apparently everyone's experience is different

I'm sorry your's has been so negative, though I wonder why you come here if that is the case.

I've been here a long time and I understand why the rules have to be as strict as they are. I've seen how bad it can get and over the years, they've made changes and adjustments so as to keep this a reasonable and sane place to discuss politics and other issues. There are plenty of places to go online for people who want political blood sport (not suggesting that is what you want) or to battle trolls.

Disagreeing civilly is possible and it makes for better discussions. There is always Twitter for those who want an "anything goes" atmosphere.

[erronis]

24. Nicely stated response. And a great thread - thank you MM.

[MarcA]

25. Agreed. Telling the truth about some posters and their posts

invites an attack of alertmainia. Alerts should be done away with. If the
Administrators find something obscene or threatening then they can remove
it as they do now. If you don't like someone's opinion of you or what you state
then put them on ignore and don't respond.

[left-of-center2012]

36. agreed

[MineralMan]

37. That's really not what this thread is about.

"Telling the truth about other posters" is often just an attack on an opinion some poster has stated. Often, what is said is far from the "truth" about that poster. It's just another opinion which some see as a personal attack.

[MarcA]

45. Alerts and removals of posts are often "just another opinion

which some see as a personal attack".

[Wounded Bear]

80. The site is far too large and varied to work like that...

expecting Mods to police every post in every thread would require dozens of Mods, who are volunteers BTW.

The alert system is a workable alternative.

People talk past each other all the time, too many people hitting ignore would amplify that a lot.

[TwilightZone]

39. You agreed to terms of service when you joined.

If you don't think you can abide by the terms you agreed to, perhaps this isn't the place for you. There are plenty of other places on the internet where you can say whatever you want.

[stopdiggin]

50. I disagree with posts and OPs on a regular basis

and, frequently, others disagree right back. I'm not sure where your experience varies from this model, but it's more or less what I expect with the format. Hang in there (unless you've just decided this isn't the right place for you), and just learn to roll with it.

[hunter]

59. My opinions are frequently far outside of DU norms. I don't censor myself.

But I do recuse myself from any discussions and jury duty involving Bernie Sanders.

I also have "Trump" on my trash by keyword list.

I've had plenty of opinions "knocked down" here on DU, but I still think wind turbines are fucking bullshit, and I'm intolerant of the Catholic-bashing that goes on here.

w

[HAB911]

5. I am amazed at some of the posts

that are alerted in an effort to silence. some pearl clutchers have a hair trigger

[MineralMan]

11. Fortunately, there are always people who vote for keeping most posts.

[True Blue American]

34. True.

We all step across the line at times.

[PatSeg]

21. When in doubt

I vote to keep a post. Some of the alerts are a bit preposterous.

[True Blue American]

35. 100%

[MineralMan]

67. I take DU jury duty very seriously.

I look at the entire thread and I know the site's rules very well. I rarely vote to hide most posts. However, direct personal attacks are the exception. I see no place for those here.

[PatSeg]

75. I agree

Fortunately most of the alerts I've reviewed were pretty mild. I rarely saw any personal attacks.

[Pacifist Patriot]

81. Same here. That's my jury philosophy.

I will excuse myself from jury duty if I can't figure out what is going on. I have to be 100% sure of my vote, or I don't vote at all.

[MineralMan]

83. I hope that is how everyone does it.

Treat everyone like you would like to be treated.

[PatSeg]

85. Yes, I've excused myself

numerous times, as I didn't feel I had enough information to make a decision. I'd really hate to inhibit earnest and meaningful dialogue. We need as many sincere voices as we can get and obvious they won't all agree.

[Bettie]

79. And once in a while

there is one that you say "well, this is what the system is for!".

All too often it seems that alerts are used for personal axe grinding.

ETA: On most of the jury posts, I vote to keep. But, true personal attacks aren't OK.

[PatSeg]

86. Same here

I have to say the really in-your-face personal attacks are few and far between. Then I have no problem voting to remove it. The rest are either a misunderstanding or more likely grudge alert.

[Iggo]

6. "...that doesn't mean that I don't like you."

That’s my favorite thing of this morning.

Thanks.

[MineralMan]

12. I'm glad to hear it!

[spanone]

7. K&R⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Baclava]

8. This is clearly dangerous thinking that should have been cleared by the group leader in charge first

May the sky gods have mercy, lol

[MineralMan]

13. Group leader? How could I not have met such a person here?

[bluestarone]

14. Very true words!! TY

[MineralMan]

15. Thanks for the hands!

[bluestarone]

16. You're certainly WELCOME!!

[busterbrown]

58. I don't quite understand why you posted this..

I always look forwards to your posts...I'm sure most here do..

[Harker]

17. As usual...

I very much appreciate your opinion on the matter.

If there were nothing but repositioned news reports here I would never have joined up or joined in.

Thank you!

[MineralMan]

18. No. Thank you. Some of my opinions have proven themselves to be correct.

Others ended up being incorrect. If I could get it right every time, that would be great, but it will never happen.

[Harker]

22. I'm not so sure getting things right every time would be good.

One might lose out from the absence of rigor.

[MineralMan]

26. Sounds right to me!

[Harker]

27. But I could be wrong...

[MineralMan]

30. Well, there's always that, too.

[llmart]

20. "None of us, as far as I know, is an elected member of Congress, a Senator, or a high-level

appointed official of government. None of us can make decisions that will affect any major situation."

Hey, I was once a board member of the local library and I seem to recall making a major decision a few times; once regarding where to place the library's copy of "The Vagina Monologues". Another time the local Republican state representative was under surveillance for surfing porn from the library's computers and I had to work with law enforcement on behalf of the library. I was more than happy to assist in that one.

So there.

Seriously though, I learn an awful lot from DU'ers experiences/opinions.

[MineralMan]

23. Many thanks for your public service!

I was never a library board member, but I put in well over 1000 hours as a volunteer in my local library. One of my favorite jobs was re-shelving a sex education book for teens in its proper location. Someone was always moving it to the history section or somewhere else so it couldn't be found. I'd find it while shelving returned books and put it back where it belonged so the kids who needed it could find it.

I finally discovered the person who kept moving it, in the act. I quietly suggested to that person that the library staff knew where books belonged and that perhaps they should be left to do their job. The book stayed put after that.

[llmart]

38. Thank you for being a library volunteer.

I retired a year ago and decided to volunteer at my library also. Even as a much younger person I always found plenty of places to volunteer. Some of my future employers were impressed by the volunteer jobs I'd had on my resume. In one of my interviews for a law library job the library director hired me because of what I had said in the interview about a volunteer project I had headed up. This was during the deep downturn of 2008. I was 60 years old when I got that job. People should never underestimate the satisfaction one can get from volunteering for worthy causes and as in my case, it can sometimes help you get the job you want.

P.S. I could write a book about public library "antics".

[MineralMan]

62. When I was a kid, and right through high school, I practically

lived in the local library. Not only was it full of books for me to read, it was the only air-conditioned public building in my home town during our hot summer months.

So, in my 30s, I had some time to spare, so I volunteered at the library in the small town where I was living. It was a great time for me, and I met so many people, helped so many kids find the information they wanted, etc. It was a small library with a small staff, and before long, I did just about everything in that branch. I was a free employee, really, one afternoon a week for several years.

I loved it!

[PatrickforO]

43. Wow, that's pretty cool. The person who was doing it

probably genuinely believed that hiding it was the right thing to do. That is why we have, and continue to need, separation of church and state.

[MineralMan]

63. I suppose so. That's why I did what I did politely and quietly.

It solved the problem without any muss or fuss.

[SWBTATTReg]

57. Good way of handling this situation (the book shifter), and very graceful ... you could have done...

the whole 9 yards, ban them, etc., but didn't in your graceful manner. I hope that perhaps they learned something of 'grace'.

Some people need to find a better way or more constructive way of expressing their opinions instead of unilateral censorship taken by themselves, depriving others of their freedom of speech. I'm surprised that they didn't just flat out destroy the book, e.g., check out the book, then pretend to have lost the book...

I guess small minds, small ideas, eh?

[MineralMan]

65. Well, as a volunteer, I had no power to do anything at all.

So, I simply and quietly confronted the person and let her know that what she was doing wasn't right. She never did it again, and always smiled at me when she came to the library after that.

I'm not a confrontational sort of person. I've never found that to do much good.

[SWBTATTReg]

70. Wise words. Like you, I feel that you can do more w/ honey than vinigar. Take care. NT

[dware]

28. Excellent OP MineralMan.

[MineralMan]

29. Thank you very much!

[dewsgirl]

31. K and R well done.

[MineralMan]

32. Thankee!

[left-of-center2012]

40. "Opinions. That's what DU is about. That is its strength. That is why it exists."

Wouldn't that be nice.

I have been attacked, mocked, and alerted on so many times for simply voicing an opinion different from another person's posted opinion or thread.

Makes me think twice before sharing my opinion.

[MineralMan]

48. Hmm...my opinions, too have been mocked, attacked, and alerted on.

I keep right on posting them, though. I try to be careful not to write them in a way that gets them hidden. Why? Because a hidden post can't be read by others. I have never hesitated to post my opinions, though. I'm not here to become a popular figure. I'm here to discuss politics. Politics, by its very nature, is contentious. There's no way around that.

DU is a site for Democrats and others who hold liberal and progressive views. It's not friendly to conservative viewpoints. That's a limitation of the website, but even among Democrats and others to the left in political views there is disagreement, so we see arguments develop here. That's natural.

The entire point of my post was to say that disagreements over opinions are not personal. We all have different opinions. Nobody should be attacked over their opinion. Nobody should be mocked for stating their opinion. Instead, we can offer our own opinions, if they differ from the opinions of others.

[PatrickforO]

41. Indeed. That's what I like about DU. n/t

[MineralMan]

55. Thanks for being part of it!

[Scruffy1]

42. Well said.

While I don't post here a lot I've learned a lot from reading other peoples opinions and information for the last nine or ten years. Most are well thought out and well supported by evidence. We can disagree if we want without being disrespectful.

[MineralMan]

51. There are a number of people here, some of whom I disagree with, who

do a great job of stating their opinion about various things. We have some good, thoughtful writers here who put together posts that inspire careful and serious thinking. Even if I disagree, I appreciate the time and effort they put into their posts. That doesn't mean I won't disagree with them in my replies, of course.

[Cheviteau]

44. My Opinion

MineralMan may be right...then again he could be wrong. And this is from a person who holds very strong opinions.

[MineralMan]

52. LOL!

[PatrickforO]

46. One other thought.

I do think some people on here are thought leaders, influencers. I even suspect that a few may be high level staff people, and there are definitely some media people.

This site helps me a lot because seeing the variety of opinions keeps me healthy - it keeps me from thinking that MY opinion is absolute gospel, because I've been proven wrong on here a few times.

And that, Mineral Man, is really good!

[MineralMan]

53. Yes. There are many though-provoking posts made here.

Exposure to a range of ideas is hugely important, I think.

[SCVDem]

47. Sometimes we just need a place to

Scream and vent!

That's usually when I get in trouble

It's never personal!

[malaise]

49. Great post

[MineralMan]

54. Thanks, malaise.

Someday, maybe, I'll catch up with you in my post count!

[malaise]

60. LOL

[mudstump]

56. ...as long as you tow the party line your opinion is welcome here.

Any post that goes against the party line is deleted. This isn't an open forum. It's a place for those who agree with each other.

[MineralMan]

69. I've not noticed that, actually.

This site IS for people who are Democrats, liberals or progressives. That's openly stated by the site's owners. It's not a particularly welcoming place for conservatives at all. That's why it's called Democratic Underground, I think.

[mudstump]

73. ...not my experience.

If you are a Bernie supporter or a progressive..your opinions are not welcome here.

[JonLP24]

74. I agree

I avoid the primaries forum like the plague plus I had 3 successful appeals of hides in that forum so it is easy to get a post locked in there if someone doesn't like your post. I actually had one of those appeals on hides in a thread started by the same OP as this one.

[MineralMan]

77. Well, there are many Sanders supporters posting here daily.

Some people disagree with them. That doesn't mean they're not welcome to post on DU. Anyone who expects everyone to agree with what they post is expecting more than is possible.

[WheelWalker]

61. I share your opinion.

Kicked and Recommended.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

64. I get called for jury duty way too many times.

People need to back off and stop alerting every time they see something they don't like.

People, you'll get over it.

[GusBob]

66. This post does not "link to tweet"

Lets ask oberliner for an opinion

Oh wait its not welcomed here any more

[MineralMan]

68. Well, that went right over my head.

I guess I don't get your references.

[GusBob]

71. Half the posts these days are link to tweets

Which contain no context or opinion offered

Oberliner was a contrarian who was right over half the time. He or she no longer posts

Contrarians are not welcomed here much

Actually surprised you didnt know those things

[MineralMan]

72. Virtually none of my posts are links to tweets.

I don't often stick around in threads that begin with Twitter links, either.

I remember Oberliner. I didn't notice that he/she was gone, though.

But, there are lots of contrarians here. I see them all the time. As long as they don't attack people personally, they're welcome, although they'll get a lot of disagreement from others.

I'm afraid I don't recognize your screen name, though, so I have no opinion about your posts.

[GusBob]

76. In which you prove my point

You post here everyday and they are great
Thanks for that

You are rare to post in threads other than your own by my reckoning

I dont start a thread everyday and do particpate in other discussions

Thats why you do not reckon my screen name

See how that works maybe?

[Wounded Bear]

78. I have formed my opinion, kindly don't try to confuse me with any facts...

Oh wait, that's for that other forum.

[First Speaker]

82. Stop making sense...

...it's a bad habit of yours...

[MineralMan]

84. I'll try, but that would be very hard for me to do.