They. Are. Screwn..

[davsand]

52. Green wars, Kudzu, and an honest to gosh Underground portion of the site.

Yep. I've been here a day or two. LOL! I joined in June of 2001 and I'm still here. I'm not on here much anymore--at least compared to the early days--but I'm still here. In the early days we had "Green Wars" with discussions about Greens and were they people that should be here. We also had a "hidden" or secret section of DU that was called The Underground that required a minimum number of posts and, later on, a donation to be allowed in there. We also had a long running thread in The Lounge that was about Kudzu. That thread ran for a very long time and was the source of MUCH hilarity. There was also a long running thing that everyone here was actually Will Pitt disguised as the different posters. That got it's start over at the arch rival GOP website that I still do not name here--20 years later. (The initials are FR if you need a clue!) LOL!

In the early days, DU was a haven for Democrats and liberals. There were very few safe places for folks like us to go to in 2001, and it was a very dark time for us all. DU offered that safety. The posters here did an excellent job of citing sources in the posts, and there were several folks that were well researched and quite willing to share their knowledge. Something that was a custom and quite endearing, was the practice of saying Welcome to any new poster you ran across on here. It was what you did. I'm sad that has diminished really. Our community was vibrant and kind--civility was a lot more common then. There were no mods in the early days, Earl, Skinner, and Elad were it, and when our community was growing they were able to keep up with it and do a good job.

We've lost some amazing folks over the years. Some names you may recognize, others you may not. Kephra was a friend of mine, and he's one of the losses from our community. Scott was an absolute whiz at staying on top of LBN. FifthGenDem was another friend, who is now gone. John was an amazing man and maybe one of the funnier people I've ever met in an online forum and real life. Both of those men were at my house when I hosted a DU meetup. It was amazing and wonderful to be able to meet folks in person that I'd only been able to interact with online. There was about a minute or so at first where we had to get used to the physical presence, but after that it was like getting together with old friends. Quite a remarkable experience. I've been lucky enough to meet other DUers in the flesh and every time it was a good experience.

Things are not at all as they were back then but our world is not the same either. If DU wants to stay relevant it will, and we'll have another 20 years together.

Love to you all!



Laura