General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI hate to be paranoid, but I'm wondering if there's somewhere else we could all plan to meet besides DU if needed?
Is there a DU reddit, and does anyone use it? If there's not someone should make one, and if there IS ... how about we say "that's the place" now? Speaking of reddit, we should monitoring any kind of crackdown that happens there, just saying.
Sorry if this somehow violates TOS, I don't see that such talk is explicitly prohibited unless you want to call it "kooky", but before you alert on me, I just have to say, are we POSITIVE DU will make it through the current fascist crackdown on dissent? Cause I'll admit that I'm concerned given the level of rhetoric both in terms of content, and from how high up it's coming. It's better have a plan and not need it, is it not?
I'm also mainly saying this to say if that happens, I love all you guys/gals/other, its been a great run. Despite my short tenure as a member, I've been reading this site since 2002, kept me sane during the Bush years and IQ45's reign
Cha
(320,481 posts)Last edited Wed Sep 17, 2025, 04:01 PM - Edit history (1)
as far as the Deadly Nazi Murdering Treasonous Thieves
in the Fools gold house.
I actually have thought about the what ifs in relation to DU.
But I hadn't gotten as far as .. would there be some place else? We did go to The DU FB when we were hacked in 2016 Horror show.
https://bsky.app/profile/demunderground.bsky.social
probably more I don't know about
AZJonnie
(3,997 posts)Is it a zombie group or something? Why is there 0 activity?
Figarosmom
(13,259 posts)usonian
(26,569 posts)The underground had highly trusted meeting places, totally excluding others, and means of sharing information between them.
That would need to be set up as small, free forum instances (I was an early Moodle adopter, so something of the sort that allows collaboration and a bit of a knowledge base, which most forum software lacks). For example, could you plan something on DU? Hardly. It would be a shoehorn effort.
Tonight I proposed that we write our own democratic platform, given the invisibility of the party between elections, WHEN ATTITUDES AND MINDS ARE CHANGED!
See my post
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20649225
In this thread:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220648755
"What IS the unified Dem vision?"
A. Let's write our own if others don't and let's beat on oligarchy, which others fear to do. (IMO)
I gave some "starter" ideas.
So look to sites like nokings and indivisible for examples, and riseup.net has tools and software instances that you can sign up for (and I think, actually host) I did set up Moodle instances on servers and laptops, if only to store documentation of my projects. The fact that others could collaborate and comment on the info there was a plus that was never needed. (and TBH, a content editor that puts this markup to shame, but I understand the risks involved in getting away from it)
Matter of fact, looking at https://riseup.net it's a goldmine. I use their VPN at times.
snippet:
Can you rely on a corporate email provider for confidentiality of your sensitive email communications? Not only do they typically scan and record the content of your messages for a wide variety of purposes, they also concede to the demands of governments that restrict digital freedom and fail to have strict policies regarding their users privacy. Not to mention their obviously commercial interests put commercial email providers at odds with what we are doing. The U.S. government practices full pipe monitoring and association mapping, which gives them the ability to build a detailed map of how our social movements are organized, worse this gives them precise information about what linkages should be disrupted in order to disrupt large social movements.
We believe it is vital that essential communication infrastructure be controlled by movement organizations and not corporations or the government.
We strive to keep our mail as secure and private as we can. We do not log your IP address. (Most services keep detailed records of every machine which connects to the servers. We keep only information which cannot be used to uniquely identify your machine). All your data, including your mail, is stored by riseup.net in encrypted form. We work hard to keep our servers secure and well defended against any malicious attack. We do not share any of our user data with anyone. We will actively fight any attempt to subpoena or otherwise acquire any user information or logs. We will not read, search, or process any of your incoming or outgoing mail other than by automatic means to protect you from viruses and spam or when directed to do so by you when troubleshooting.
Riseups Purpose
The Riseup Collective is an autonomous body based in Seattle with collective members world wide. Our purpose is to aid in the creation of a free society, a world with freedom from want and freedom of expression, a world without oppression or hierarchy, where power is shared equally. We do this by providing communication and computer resources to allies engaged in struggles against capitalism and other forms of oppression.
We value, support, and engage in struggles for human liberation, the ethical treatment of animals, and ecological sustainability. We join in the fight for freedom and the self-determination of all oppressed groups. We oppose all forms of prejudice, authoritarianism, and vanguardism.
We organize on the basis of autonomy, mutual aid, resource sharing, participatory knowledge, social advocacy, anti-oppression work, community creation, and secure communication.
We work to create revolution and a free society in the here and now by building alternative communication infrastructure designed to oppose and replace the dominant system.
We promote social ownership and democratic control over information, ideas, technology, and the means of communication.
We empower organizations and individuals to use technology in struggles for liberation. We work to support each other in overcoming the systemic oppression embedded in the use and development of technology.
Sounds better than starting from scratch and you may want to ask them the same question you posted here. How durable is the site and the tools there? and are they open source so that small groups can set up their own, perhaps on the onion/dark web, hard to find?
Signal Messenger offers secure messaging (provided nobody hands over unlocked devices) and conferencing. I try to get friends to use it, but the very small effort it takes to set up seems too much for them. Sigh.
I think you know the price of laziness.
AZJonnie
(3,997 posts)Do we know that riseup is legit and not a honeypot operation?
usonian
(26,569 posts)From the person who trusts nobody (well, almost nobody)
Check them out yourself, and ask questions.
ancianita
(43,339 posts)I hope those who use it can share their experience.
I just can't see how this scales up to change other Americans' hearts and minds.
There is such a thing as being too wrapped up in a kind of mindset that, without action, there's no larger effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riseup
yellow dahlia
(6,438 posts)Did you turn these thoughts into an OP yet?
usonian
(26,569 posts)Will do soon. Thanks.
msongs
(74,158 posts)True Dough
(27,263 posts)There could be worse spots to get together. Running awfully low on water, though.
AZJonnie
(3,997 posts)I'm kidding it's AZ I ain't got a fireplace lol
calimary
(90,735 posts)Worst case scenario, we have a haven.
Best case scenario, weve worried for no reason, and everything carries on the way were used to it.
livetohike
(24,410 posts)Yahoo had groups.
hunter
(40,851 posts)If everything truly goes to shit those relationships will be the basis of any effective resistance.