Is DU still relevant?

[kentuck]

Is DU still an important part of the debate?

35 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	it's more important than ever?
	21 (60%)
	its relevance has been diluted in some small way since the hack by the Russians on Election Day?
	0 (0%)
	it's lost some relevance because a lot of "old timers" have moved on or passed on?
	2 (6%)
	it's not important - it's only a discussion group?
	12 (34%)
	it's relevant so long as it pursues the truth?
	0 (0%)
	Other comments:
	0 (0%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[madokie]

1. Without DU

I wouldn't know 99.9 Percent of what I know. Not saying I know that much but...

[underpants]

2. What's DU?

[kentuck]

4. :-)

[underpants]

7. :-)

[annabanana]

31. I dunno.. WHat's DU with you?. . . . n/t

[madinmaryland]

38. Dirty Underpants.

😂

[underpants]

39. Makes scents it's named after me

[Glorfindel]

3. There shouldn't be a comma in the second "it's." And of course DU is relevant.

[kentuck]

6. Sorry about that.

[zipplewrath]

9. Apostrophe

I think you meant an apostrophe.

[kentuck]

11. Should there be a question mark?

Or is it "pie are round, cornbread are square"?

[A HERETIC I AM]

33. That's a statement...

Not a question

[Glorfindel]

13. I did, zipplewrath. I should never post before I've had coffee.

Apologies all around.

[zipplewrath]

15. Oxford Comma

'Tis okay. Just didn't wanna start the whole "oxford comma" spat again.

[NurseJackie]

5. Relevant to whom? Important, how? Define "relevance" and "importance"... how would it be measured?

It's its own "ecosystem" and it's important primarily to the the people who participate here, but I think it has no (or very little) importance or influence on the outside world. I think it would be fair to say that DU probably has less influence than Kanye West. To put it into perspective, I'd read that Myspace.com gets more visitors than DU (someone had the exact figures, but I can't recall them now.)

[Docreed2003]

10. MySpace is still a thing????

Wonder if I can still access my wall from circa 2006?? I remember the first time I saw Facebook and said, "That site looks like crap...no way it will compete with Myspace!" So naive of me...

[hamsterjill]

32. More important than that

Define "old timer"???!!! LOL

[NurseJackie]

35. Now that you mention it... YES!! :-D

[uponit7771]

8. After the election day hack? More than ever

[Iggo]

12. Those are all statements with question marks at the end?

[kentuck]

14. I see what you did.

with the question mark.

[pwb]

16. We are preaching to the choir.

Some of our thoughts do get passed around so it is still irelevant.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. In the Big Picture? Not particularly.

It hasn't been in a very long time. Contrast it to the days when there were direct actions taking place almost daily, when DU actually USED it's Activist Corp. Most of the real activist have left/been chased off. The real action, the real places of relevancy are now elsewhere with the various social media tools we now have. DU is now more habit and old friends than anything else.

[socialist_n_TN]

40. I used to get a lot of info on things like the Wisconsin uprising........

and Occupy on here. Factual things about those movements. Not so much anymore.

I think that management has succeeded into turning the "Underground" part of DU into a marketing strategy for the Democratic Party. It seems that it's now little more than a reflection of the "Party line", handed down from the lobbyists on K Street. We actually did get into pretty good discussions on here from a variety of ACTUAL left positions. We even had Trotskyist/Stalinist debates! Not much of that anymore.

The price of fame I guess. DU got popular and gathered attention, so it had to be brought under control.

[GreenEyedLefty]

18. I often get breaking news here before many news outlets pick up the story.

I also use DU to check my reaction to news and issues.

[meow2u3]

19. If DU weren't important

the russkies wouldn't have hacked us and taken us down this past Election Day.

[Willie Pep]

34. True, apparently somebody thought DU was important enough to hack. nt.

[jalan48]

20. We're pretty much the choir and we love preaching to one another.

[CherokeeFiddle]

21. It's a micro chasm of sorts. Relevant? Yes

but it is a very small niche. We can see this in the threads about Bernie as example, whereas Twitter which is much much larger shows the exact opposite of opinions.

What I love here are all the subforms! You can get lost in those for days! So. Much. Information!

[Binkie The Clown]

30. If the Grand Canyon is a chasm, then is a crack in the sidewalk a "micro chasm"? nt

[Orrex]

22. I'm only here because I was told that refreshments would be served.

Another lie.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

23. It's the vital epicenter of the Bernie vs Hillary debate!

[CherokeeFiddle]

24. lol DU has NOTHING on twitter for that

No where even close lol

[ismnotwasm]

25. It competes with Twitter and Facebook for attention

As well as a myriad of other boards, blogs and sites. People come and go. Personally. I’ve learned a lot about on-line behavior in my time here, my own included, about the faces people present/appear vs. who they actually are. I can’t for example, tell gender with any degree of accuracy whatsoever.

Do you mean does DU make any difference whatsoever in outcomes? Probably not, but it does, at its best (and it’s not, right now at its best) reflect certain trends, including national trends. It’s valuable in that way.

Relevant to whom? I remember when the lounge was a veritable hotbed of intrigue and hurt feelings. That passed, as did those who were involved. I’m sure it was important and relevant to the participants.

[no_hypocrisy]

26. DU has been my anchor for a long long time.

In NYC, the progressive community lost our ability to reach out to each other when ABC/Disney bought the only progressive radio station, WEVD and replaced it with ESPN.

I don't have to agree with everyone and everything on DU. It's just enough that you're there, always there.

[bearsfootball516]

27. I wasn't here back in the day, but

It seems like it's more of a discussion group than a real activist forum. It's also a place where a lot of people come to vent, when they have no one else to vent to.

I'll probably ruffle some feathers by saying this, but the website as a whole is largely irrelevant when it comes to making a real impact on politics. But it's a nice place to have a conversation with people who you know share your views (for the most part).

[melman]

28. No

It was back in the days of Buzzflash and MWO, but not really anymore.

[Binkie The Clown]

29. As long as n2doc does TOONS, it's relevant.

If he retires, then pfffft! Who cares?

[Willie Pep]

36. Relevance is overrated.

DU is not as big as Facebook or Twitter but I have learned that bigger is not always better when it comes to discussing things. Smaller, well-moderated communities usually have better discussions and this is just as true for politics as it is for other stuff. I prefer small sports forums to discussing sports on big social media platforms, for example.

Also, the last election revealed how the proliferation of big social media platforms can be a bad thing when it comes to accurate information. The larger communities seem to feature a lot of fake news, trolls, harassment, etc. Look at how Trump and his followers used Twitter to drum up support for his campaign and spread his BS. Give me a well-moderated, well-run old school forum over the Twitterverse and Facebook any day.

[Initech]

37. It's where I come to unleash my frustrations over the alt right.