Last Trip Through Memory Lane... I Promise... (I Think)...

[WillyT]

Ok.. Hold Onto Your Hats... I'm Going Positive... With Much Love To DU !!!

Many moons ago, three dudes named Skinner, Elad, and EarlG, started this weird website that would eventually become... muscular. Out of a sense of hopelessness over the travesty of the 2000 Presidential Elections, they started a journey. That journey led to millions of views and posts, and is why you are looking at these pixels right now.

Now I wasn't there at the very beginning, and I would love to know what the view/post count was after the first week. But after being laid-off after 9/11, and with plenty of time on my hands, I found DU through a website recommendation article through a local newspaper about this new fangled WorldWideWeb. When I found DU, it had been going for several months by then, and I recognized it as my home.

Backing up... you of tender years need to recognize that when a lot of us grew up: A.) TV was Black & White, B.) There were only 3 Channels: ABC, CBS, & NBC. And C.) THAT WAS IT!

And although the argument can and should be made that those entities were far more independent, investigative, and broke/covered stories that the MSM might never cover now... a funny thing happened. At the same time that the "Inventor of the Internet" ( ) was getting screwed out of his rightful election to the presidency... the internet started bypassing the MSM.

Now this took some time to occur, and some think that the Y2K "threat" might have helped to accelerate this... Windows 3.11/95/and just barely 98 being the predominate OS's at the time... But whatever happened... things have progressed.

In the last 10 years or so, we now have Facebook, Twitter, I-Phones, "Social Media", et. al.

We The People are bypassing the MSM on a daily basis... at high-speed.

But I, here tonight, want to thank some of the pioneers of this reality... and snark at some if you must, but remember... while every pioneer wasn't necessarily sucessful, they ALL led the way.

So I'd personally like to thank DU, once I found DU, for BEING DU, and for pointing me towards things/people with names like Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, Crooks & Liars, Digby, DailyKos, Air America, Al Franken, Rachel Maddow, Sam Seder, Cenk Uygur, Anna Kasparian, Ed Schultz, FireDogLake, ThinkProgress, Truthout, RawStory, BradBlog, TPM, and I'm gonna feel like a real shit when I post this because I sure I've left people out... NOT my intent.

Point being... whether it's FDR, or Barack Obama... we WILL hold your feet to the fire, and we will plead our case, state our feelings, shed our tears, and hold each other close... even mourn the passing of those who we cannot know... if they got to see the end of the play... although I'm pretty sure NONE of get to see the end of the play... "We Are Merely Players"...

But... on this first Friday of the New Year... I would like to thank ALL of the afore mentioned, those that my aging brain forgot to mention, and all of the DU family here. Like any wonderful family... we may fight some days... but it is with much love... and hope for the future of everyone.

And... P.S... Huffington Post Tries... But with all of OUR eyes... DU is the best information clearinghouse on the Net. By far, So there...





Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002131493

[Generic Other]

1. No one will believe this but I didn't speak for months

because I was too scared to post. Literally shaking in my socks in front of my keyboard.

DU certainly helped me get over that problem. Probably saved me money on counseling over the years as well.

I have been in some heated discussions here. LOL.

[WillyT]

2. Oh... Moving From Lurker To Poster Is A Major Step...

I was scared too.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I was scared to death!

I'd never been on any sort of message board before. So you can imagine that I was in a blind panic when I got a reply on my very first post!

But it was newyawker99 welcoming me to DU. Like she used to say, it really does mean a lot. Who knows if I would have stayed if it hadn't been for her lovely welcome? But DU quickly became my online home and I've learned more here than I can possibly say. And made quite a few friends, too...

[RainDog]

3. A shout out to you!