Why I joined DU in 2005

[Drum]

(Edited for accuracy)

Yes, I know, that’s only 7000 or so posts from me in 17 years, overwhelming “replies.” 🤷🏻?♂️

It was Hurricane Katrina. I was going nuts because I couldn’t find news on what was happening in New Orleans, a place dear to me from a serial work gig that took me there numerous times in the late 1980s.

I then happened on Democratic Underground and it was sense-at-first-sight: DU presented as (and is) a clearinghouse for a super-diverse band of news media sources, but also a source of news via witnesses, court and agency records, editorials, and of course emotion, wit, snark, and so much love.

Drum/Tom

[Solly Mack]

1. There are people here that haven't be around as long as I have, and they have way more posts

than I do.

Some people simply post more than others.

I love DU.

I can be a bit of a smartass at times. That's my confession for the year.

[blm]

9. Heheh. Beautiful smart@ss.

🥰

[Solly Mack]

12. You just want me to confess more.

[blm]

14. Nah

We’d be here all night.

😛

[Solly Mack]

16. Ha!

Now who's the smartass?

[Evolve Dammit]

21. You two are killin' me!

[Solly Mack]

33. She started it.

[littlemissmartypants]

41. We love you Solly Mack! ❤️

[Solly Mack]

46. Awww

The check is in the mail.

[littlemissmartypants]

49. Perfect! ❤️

[lapucelle]

2. Wasn't Hurricane Katrina in 2005?

[Celerity]

4. the OP mistyped I think, they joined in 2005, not 2002

[lapucelle]

18. Yes, you're right. He joned August 18, 2005. N/T

[Celerity]

3. you joined in 2005, not 2002

About Drum
Statistics and Information
Account status: Active
Member since: Thu Aug 18, 2005

Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005.

[Joe Cool]

5. Katrina was in 2005

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

[BOSSHOG]

39. Hey Joe Cool

Thanks for the info teammate. Ya need a mighty big scorecard to keep track of hurricanes.

[Elessar Zappa]

6. Glad you're here!

[Drum]

7. Omg--eyesight! Didn't put on my "readers" 🤦‍♂️

Thank you lapucelle and celerity!

D’oh: I joined DU 17 years ago, in 2015

[lapucelle]

13. Yes, Katrina formed as a tropical depression over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005,

made landfall in Florida as a cat 1 on August 25, intensified and made landfall in Louisiana as a cat 4 on August 29.

[BOSSHOG]

22. OK drum you are freaking me out with the calendar

You joined DU 17 years ago. In 2015? Time flys but let me fly way back in time and say Dude??

We were 40 miles north of NOLA during Katrina. Far enough north not get get any major damage. Still, scary as hell.

[Drum]

25. 😃

[imaginary girl]

8. Howdy fellow lurker

I joined before you and look how many posts I have!

[Drum]

10. ...

[debm55]

15. I joined in 2004, I lurked forever, as you can see from my count. I always liked the posters and

messages, news,. It took me 18 years to stop lurking. But here I am.

[BOSSHOG]

26. Kinda on topic

My wife (little old lady) bought a new car in June 2019 and has less then 3,000 miles on it. She hasn’t “posted” much either. Hey, lurk, post, whatever. Glad you are here. I think there was a time when some folk would rather I not post at all.

[debm55]

27. Thank you.

[OhMcNo]

23. And not lurking for a brief moment in time

I’ve been here since 2003…under 40 posts.

[littlemissmartypants]

43. Maybe we could have a contest! Longest log in, fewest posts!

I think it would be fun and you might be the winner!

❤️

[W_HAMILTON]

11. I joined because I was becoming much more politically aware in my young life...

...and happened to be watching C-SPAN and a caller mentioned this website. I checked it out and it's been one of my go-to websites for almost two decades now...

You never know what little gesture may impact people and cause a butterfly effect.

[remo ymor]

17. I joined in 2005 also

Just had my anniversary last week I think. I have just over 1000 post.

I mainly use DU to catch up on the news and see some opinions on those news items. I am on DU two to ten times a day. It is my main source of information on the internet.

I was a lurker for about 4 years before I signed up.

[BlackSkimmer]

19. Too funny. I joined in 2005 also.

And also either before, during or after a hurricane lol.

I lived in the Keys then, and that year we called it the “hurricane of the month” year.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. The news angle is a big attraction for me too. . . . nt

[Evolve Dammit]

24. I "lurked" (not down with that term, BTW) for a decade. Kept me sane through Bush/Cheney cabal.

[k8conant]

28. I am even more silent than OP...

here since November 27, 2004 and 3006 posts. I'd still like to add that that's an average of about .4 posts per day, which seems like a fair share to me.

[Archae]

29. I've been here since 2001...

I think it was "Bartcop" I learned of this board from.

But most of the time I like it here.

[BOSSHOG]

30. It was bartcop for me

I’d send him a few bucks every now and then and one afternoon he called me. We had a great talk. What a wonderful, ass kicking citizen. God rest his soul.

[FakeNoose]

31. There's a mini-series out just recently "Five Days at Memorial"

It told the Hurricane Katrina story, but it focused on the doctors and nurses at Memorial Hospital in the 9th Ward. It's a wonderful, horrible, nightmare of a story, and I watched all 8 episodes. It really opened my eyes to how ill-prepared the emergency operations were, and how poorly managed FEMA and the state rescue operations were during that time.

It was really an eye-opener for me and I'm sure for many of us.

[WVGal1963]

32. Drum

Me, too!! I remember that exactly. Thank you!

[NewHendoLib]

34. I was so thrilled to find and join DU in 2004

running for someplace sane during the Dubya debacle.

[JHB]

35. I'd joined a little earlier than the event, but on 9/11 it did the same for me

All local (NYC area) news sites were jammed from the sheer number of people trying to access them, but people here relayed reports and posted links to sites that weren't overwhelmed by traffic volume.

[Cha]

36. Aww.. that's really a sweet

interesting story on how you got to DU, Drum!

I read about DU in a Nation Mag in NYC in 2021.. New Year's Day.

I bought a computer in 2002 so I could join and the rest as we say Is History!

[Grown2Hate]

37. I joined in March of 04' (steered here by Bartcop

right around my political awakening). And I think I have under 2000 posts still (I mostly share my Electoral mathematical prowess during close AZ elections; I probably posted 100 times in this past election alone)!

Love the community and the site, though (for a lot of your same reasons posited). Congrats!

[90-percent]

47. My first email to Bartcop was December 2008.

Thought I joined both Bartcop and DU early 2000's. I'm probably wrong on the date, as I started to pay attention to what DC was doing some time after Bush v. Gore SC partisan ruling. So I think it was DU early 2000's and Bartcop 2008. I emailed Terry now and then and he responded to every single email and even published maybe two of my screeds. I think he died 10 or 15 years ago, a shame for all lefties and all of humanity.

I think DU did some kind of reset 19 to 21 years ago, as my current profile says I joined 2004. Whatever. 2004 is something I'm proud of, so I'm good with all that.

I joined in my late 40's and now I'm 68. Thinking about all the time that has past since the start of this century is eerie and unsettling.

I am a lifelong Dem, but I never had to worry about DC until late 80's, when I finally started to understand what a monster Reagan was.

-90% Jimmy

And the current SC is a hell of a lot more un-American and anti-Constitution than it was back then. And the electoral college is stunningly anti-democracy, yet we still abide by it. At least the 2022 election almost drove a stake completely through authoritarian Republicanism. When all the wonderful laws Dems passed in the last two years start to kick in, in 2023, it will be a natural fact Dems care for middle class and lower class a hell of a lot more than Republicans, who only serve the millionaires and above.

[Joinfortmill]

38. Nice!

[AllaN01Bear]

40. ive been here since the gore v shrub debachle

i know what u mean though,

[Initech]

42. I joined right around the same time!

I joined because of that whole Terry Schaivo debacle and I was pissed then that the Christian right was overstepping its’ boundaries. I of course had no idea that 17 years later, they’d be going full fascist, bordering on Hitler-esque territory!

[littlemissmartypants]

44. I joined because I was on Facebook in my high-school reunion group and one of my classmates

Posted a DU Meme. I pranced right over and hope that I live here forever because I love it sooooo much! Facebook? I've been there maybe five times in the last three years. I despise it.

I'm here every day for hours. I learn so much! And it keeps me from being lonely. Plus the DU Braintrust has saved my bacon during some emergencies.

If you don't see me here then something's seriously wrong. Please send out a search party!

I love DU! ❤️

[lobointexas]

45. I joined in 2006

I joined in November of 2006 because only members were allowed to access DU on election night of 2004, and I was locked out. I actually lurked here beginning in 2002.

It was before the lead up to the Iraq war and I was searching for facts to make my case on why we shouldn't invade Iraq, to post in an discussion forum that was primarily for Ebay picture hosting. My initial search took me to a place called Free Republic. I thought to myself, WTH is this, but I saw a link to something called Democratic Underground. I followed the link and I've been here, almost daily, since that first click.

Those early members and discussions were quite intimidating, so I stayed on the sidelines. It's nice to see that people have less posts than I do, and have been here longer. I don't feel so out of place.

[Greywing]

48. I joined in 2011 because I was looking for like minded people

I mostly lurk as so many people have already expressed the views I hold by the time I read ... it's wonderful!

[megapuzzler]

50. I originally joined 2002-2003? under the user name dalai lllama

We were living in rural Missouri at the time, and a friend (wife of a dem state congressman at the time) told me about DU -- it was water in the desert for me for all the reasons you listed in your post. I never posted much (but more than I do now) and stayed away after 2016 as I knew knowing even more about what TFG was up to would send me spiraling into abject despair. Figured it was safe for my sanity to return after Joe won in 2020 -- ha! Lost all my info for dalaigh lllama, so started over as megapuzzler. The dumfuckery in the GQP is worse than ever, but I've pretty much become a lurker and leave the commentary to others. Only bragging rights I have here -- back in the day when DU had a store and the slogan contest, my slogans were chosen in two different contests: first was describing W "Manifest Density" which I have on a coffee mug; second was for "Freedom isn't free - you have to pay attention" which I have on a tote bag now.
Still my go-to site each day.

[druidity33]

51. Also here since 2005ish...

my profile says 2005, but i had another username prior to that. My computer fried itself. I think it was druid33? I certainly didn't have my pword so i just reset with a similar username. But i still have a few less posts than you. I'd say 20% of my posts are the K&R, nt. variety too. I just gotta be in the mood to comment... and have the space and time (small child caretaker here). Forget about OPs. It seems like if i want to ask DUs opinion on a subject, i need to open myself up for attack. Most recently:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217365386
I share your sense in the indispensibility of DU. IT's been an everyday checkin for so long it's totally automatic. And i always feel as if i've gotten a realer perspective on the issues of the day.

my favorite emoji