question

[seeinfweggos]

what about the "we need a third party" posts? those seem to be against the rules? but aren't there a lot?

[FrenchieCat]

1. Yep. Those types of posts are everywhere....

here, at the Democratic Underground!

[CTLawGuy]

11. alert on em

I try to.

The mods are good about deleting them.

[RoyGBiv]

2. Those have been here a long time ...

... at least as long as I've been here, and I'm sure longer consider some of the most notable of third-party advocates have been here since the website began.

I attempted to engage some of these at one point, but it was pointless, and it seems to be one of those pieces of the rules that are silently ignored. Actually, the rules are somewhat unclear/contradictory on that point. The rules state this website is for Democrats and "other progressives" but also states that no one can use it to attempt to defeat Democrats. Since some self-described progressives have no desire but to defeat all candidates from the two major parties, this creates problems.

[seeinfweggos]

4. yeah, the working to defeat dems part is what I was referring to.

I didn't know if those should be alerted on or not. but it sounds like there's no point.

[Cha]

10. ..

:rofl: Sorry, this is serious but I'm laughin' instead of the other thing.

I use to alert all the time on basic against the rules stuff and then it was just on the most vile posts I came across..now, I getting less and less interested in fighting the tsunami of delusion.

The rules should be updated if they aren't going to be enforced, imv.

[HughMoran]

3. That's been a common refrain between election cycles

It's actually an interesting topic to discuss from a purely academic perspective. The problem is that most of the time the third-party talk is based on anger at the Democratic party & a desire to replace Dems with 'third party' candidates. This isn't really productive and discussions like that will be shut-down when elections draw near.

[still_one]

5. Actually, as I understand it, as long as they are progressive it is ok /nt

[NJmaverick]

7. This is from the DU rules

Democratic Underground may not be used for political, partisan, or advocacy activity by supporters of any political party or candidate other than the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates. Supporters of certain other political parties may use Democratic Underground for limited partisan activities in political races where there is no Democratic Party candidate.

[treestar]

9. I would think it crosses the line to advocate going to another party then

I guess the reason they get away with staying here is they are "constructively" criticizing the Democrats. But if they mention quitting without advocating a specific candidate, are they considered to be within bounds.

[NJmaverick]

6. Best thing to do is alert on posts that violate the rules

push the moderators to do something

[ismnotwasm]

8. Seem to be

The 'viable'(barely) third parties I know about, with the exception of Greens, are NOT any I want running the country. We have Randians, Libertarians, and God knows what else running around spewing their ugly bullshit.


I have a soft spot for Greens, but not when they're hateful and full of anti-Democrat bile.

[sandnsea]

12. Actually I wish we had a strong Green/Progressive Party

I've been begging them to get serious about governing for 5 years. The split in the Republicans was obviously coming and if we had a really strong left right now, they could move up and the two party system would be Green and Democrat. Wouldn't that be awesome!! The fact that none of them could see it, or even if they did, do anything about it, is evidence of their inability to do anything except throw fits. It's sad really because they're right on about 80% of the issues. They just keep focusing on the 20% that goes too far.