Hannity Forum Compared to DU Forum by New Member

[pdmike]

I have just spent three weeks or so in the Hannity Forum. I thought it might be fun to go in there, muck around a bit, poke a little fun and have some serious discussion at the same time.

Whoa! Didn't quite work out the way I had anticipated . . .

Have any of you been there and seen what goes on? It is quite an experience. If I had to pick one word to describe it, that word would be "hate." Anger EXUDES from every corner of that forum. There are a number of "regulars" who apparently have no life except that which exists for them through their participation in the Hannity Forum. Their primary enjoyment seems to come from flaming anyone who disagrees with their point of view and, on occasion, each other.

Very little serious discussion actually goes on. Whenever someone attempts to get into a legitimate discussion, they are quickly flamed out and/or the thread gets hijacked.

Little cliques and in-groups abound, each with their own private joke. There is even a closed thread where only those "deemed worthy" can be admitted. There is a thread for reporting abuses (flaming, "trolling," etc.) and it is filled with complaints. Moderators are constantly banning people from the forum for violating the rules.

There will be no dirty language on the Hannity Forum. The asterisks abound whenever anyone attempts to use any kind of profanity or, for that matter, any word that even contains a combination of letters that might remotely be construed as making up an unacceptable word.
I once made reference to our Vice President as Dick Cheney. The post read: **** Cheney. Some poetic justice there, I suppose.

I am new to this forum. I found out about it through the Hannity Forum where I was invited, on more than one occasion, to take my "sorry a**" over to the DU's. In reading through a number of threads on this forum, I notice an ENTIRELY different tone. I don't see anywhere near the animosity that seems to PERVADE the Hannity Forum.

I started with the Hannity Forum only because I found myself listening to what I call Hate Radio (i.e., ANY conservative talk show)
while driving in the car and I wandered into the online forum for Hannity because someone mentioned it on his show.

I think I'm going to like it here much better.

pdmike

[Kahuna]

1. Welcome to DU Mike!!

:hi:

[pdmike]

4. Thank You, Kahuna

Well, thanks for the hello there, Kahuna! And even more thanks for that inspiring image of Our Leader. I feel SO much better now!

pdmike

[DenverDem]

2. Welcome to DU, bro.

We have a different brand of humanity over here.

[salinen]

3. Welcome Mike

Say anything you fucking want to say here at du.

[pdmike]

6. Wahoo!

I LOVE IT!!!!

pdmike

[drdigi420]

almost anything

picking on religion seems to be a no-no around here,

[physioex]

22. Nooo I do that all the time...

I constantly criticize the Christian Fundamentalists. The touchy topic around here is the issue of foregin aid to Israel...

But welcome to DU, I like this forum because we discuss issues and do not attack people invidually. Any point of view is welcome as long as you are civilized... :hi:

[gratuitous]

33. No, the touchy issue at DU

Is what the touchiest issue at DU is. Fortunately for all of you, I'm here to set you all straight. Except for arwalden, that is.

[sweetladybug]

14. Hi Mike, I hope you enjoy visiting DU and hope to see you here often

You have a right to a difference of opinion here. I think we're more opened minded than hardcore Republicans.
ELECT KERRY 2004!!!!

[TransitJohn]

5. Hola!

Welcome to town.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Welcome, Mike! :^D

[eissa]

8. Welcome pdmike!

It's much nicer here in the light -- and feel free to say anything you fucking want -- just like our VP!

[tom_paine]

9. Welcome to DU, pdmike!

:toast: :toast:

Oh, it gets heated here sometimes, but NOTHING like the wilding insanity on Insannity's website.

Anyway, it looks like before long you'll have seen the Best and Worst of DU.

Remember, anytime you get 5000+ people together, you are going to find some extremes in the group.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

10. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[doni_georgia]

11. Welcome to DU Mike!

We have our moments of "heated debate" here as well, but overall the tone is quite civil. Hope you enjoy your stay!

:hug:

[apnu]

12. sweet pdmike! good to have you around n/t

[TexasSissy]

13. Is that all the Repubs have as a forum is the Hannity one?

[pdmike]

16. Not Sure

I don't know. I don't think so. What's his face - O-Reilly - has a Web site, but no forum or message board.

Frankly, at this point, I don't care.

pdmike

[librechik]

15. Thanks for noticing we are NOT a hate site like Hannity.whore

some would like to portray us as equivalent to each other. Not so.

welcome to DU!

[Cat Atomic]

17. I've checked out the Hannity forum myself. I think it's

interesting that they don't even delete obvious troll posts. I think it's because they feed on hate, as you mentioned. It's a little rage carnival over there, just like Hannity's show.

I think Sean Hannity knows that his schtick depends on sustained rage from his listeners. They want to shout someone else down, and that means they need a few liberal posters around.

I used to hear his show on my commute sometimes, but I don't listen to any of that crap anymore. It's corrosive.

[physioex]

23. Yes it is corrosive....

But for some reason I can tolerate El Drugbo. Hammity is just plain annoying and I can't stand the way he whines....

[Canuckistanian]

18. Welcome, welcome, pdmike!

Just curious, but what was the reason you stayed on the Hannity forum for so long? You seem to be intelligent and even worse, completely literate! And you don't appear to be of the conservative persuasion. Or did you just want to be neutral?

I've been on chat boards since before there was an internet (remember BBS's, anyone?) and I've seen my share of RW boards or serious boards that were ruined by trolls or malicious disruptors. I quickly learned to avoid them.

Cheers!
:toast:

[pdmike]

29. Excellent Question

Excellent question. No, I am definitely not of the conservative persuasion. I had truly never been involved in a message board before, at least not one like that one. I thought, at first, that I was dealing with serious people who would be willing to enter into rational discussion of topical issues.

As I said, I was propelled into the HF from listening to Hate Radio. One might ask the same question about that - why stay listening to Hate Radio once you find out what it really is?

I guess that's the answer - it just took me a little bit longer than average to realize what I was really dealing with in both cases.

You know, watching a train wreck is probably not a good idea, but most people will still do it . . . ;)

pdmike

[shockingelk]

32. Here's what happened

It used to be a great place to actually debate.

The non-childish conservative members (ie the ones capable of writing of politics without necessarily having to rely on the words "communist", "socialist", "chappaquiddick", or "Wellstone memorial") had a password protected forum "the Darths" of their own.

Whoever decides to let people into that private forum or not started letting people in who do nothing but intentionally disrupt conversations ... around the same time, there were hostile confrontations among other "Darths", dunno, maybe stuff like arguing who loves Bush more or hates taxes the most.

So most all of the conservatives who you could have a reasonable, if not rational argument with left.

So I left to - I think I was coming up on 4000 posts there. I found this the other day - is not high traffic, but there is some actual debate going on: http://www.politicalcrossfire.com/

[Kazak]

19. You finally made it.

What took you so long?

Welcome.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MsUnderstood]

21. Welcome to DU

and may I say what a unique way to gain posting points by starting an "I'm XXX, ask me anything thread". Just kidding!

It is scary the stuff you can get into on the internet. Have fun here!

[pdmike]

31. Posting Points

Hi. Thanks for the welcome! I truly don't know anything about posting points. Didn't intend anything there. Just glad to be aboard.

pdmike

[MsUnderstood]

35. As your addiction becomes more complete

And you scan every 20 minutes for the latest on the LATEST page, you will notice 3 things:

1) There are a lot of "ASK ME ANYTHING. . ." threads for those trying to reach the 1000 club

2) There are a lot of comedians who take the subject of one post and morph into something else (ie Have you fed your cat will change to Have you fed your Yak to have you Yakked your feed. . .)

3) There are not enough people talking to keep your addiction well fed.

[Cheswick2.0]

24. Welcome

I hope you do like it here better. Be forwarned though we do have our days of anger and occasionally the 3 minutes of hate for particularly disgusting right wingers.
If you write a post about how "we" shouldn't post certain opinions because it makes "us" look bad, you are likely to get your butt kicked for being a net nanny. Other than that we are a very diverse bunch.

[RubyDuby in GA]

25. Greetings from Dixie

A great big ol' HEY to ya!

[pdmike]

30. Well Bless Your Heart!

Well, bless your heart! Thanks so much for the nice welcome. We have friends in y'all's part of the country, on up Augusta way. Gonna drop in on 'em next April, come Masters time.

Hope to see you round the Forum here . . .

pdmike

[LastDemocratInSC]

26. This reminds me of something in Walter Cronkite's book "A Reporter's Life"

Cronkite wrote that when he was the United Press reporter in Moscow during the late 1940s he hired several Russians to work for him. One was a translator and the other two were messengers. He said that their behavior toward each other, within their small group, was a microcosm of the larger culture in which they lived. Each told Cronkite that the other two were bad people, that they were reading his private notes and keeping track of his activities and couldn't be relied upon. Cronkite realized that in their culture, loyalties existed only between individuals, that there was little loyalty to a larger community, and every person was prepared to sacrifice anyone else to receive the loyalty of an authority figure.

I've lurked a bit at some local right-wing message boards and these people consume each other like spiders. There is no sense of community among these "local control" and "family values" types. They live in a Darwinian world of strike and counter-strike where even the slightest shift in one's opinion may lead to charges of disloyalty or worse. That is the base culture of the right-wing ... a Stalinist view of politics and a suffocating lack of community.

Cronkite was right - authoritarian cultures create and promote this point of view.

[gpandas]

34. very good post...

without cursing and vitriol, you destroyed and exposed these people for what they truly represent. thank you

[ElsewheresDaughter]

27. it 's much nicer here on the sunnyside of the street..grap a comfy seat

:hi: and get to knows DU better....it's a great place and hacve a :beer: on me :7

[WilliamPitt]

28. Please report to delousing, room 312

and welcome aboard!

:toast:

[AspenRose]

36. Cannibalism alert

"In reading through a number of threads on this forum, I notice an ENTIRELY different tone. I don't see anywhere near the animosity that seems to PERVADE the Hannity Forum."

That's because we sometimes eat our own
;-)

But it's all good....believe me we stand strong and united against the tyranny that is the BFEE.