I want to thank all duers who acknowledge replies to posts.

[saracat]

And I also want to thank all DUers who thank people for help.So thank you for not leaving people swinging in the wind and thank all of you for being gracious with your thanks. SOOO Thank you.

[MikeG]

1. You are eight posts away from a thou, saracat.

[saracat]

6. Thanks. I was so busy ranting today, I didn't notice!

I guess now its seven! Wow!

[NMDemDist2]

13. what rants? what got your redheaded temper up today?

besides:

false terror alerts
media spinning the polls
bushie's latest "press conference"


what made your list today?

:hug:

[saracat]

14. All of the above and you have made this 999 AZDemDist6!

Are you going to come to anymore meetings?

[NMDemDist2]

16. when I save my company and stop working 50+ hours a week

but I am walking my precinct at least once a month and will increase as the weather starts to improve :)

I'd still make the meetings, but have to be up at 4AM and i'm in bed by 8 every nite

Nite-nite :hi:

[hang a left]

2. There was a thread a few months back in the Lounge respecting

DU edicate. I learned alot from that thread. Even though I have been around for a while, DU was my very first internet posting experience. I have learned so much being here and am hopelessly addicted.

I will go search for that thread. It is a must read for everyone.

on edit: etiquette...boy was I off on the spelling. I am still searching, having a time finding it.

[saracat]

5. I would love to see that post if you find it .Thank you.Grin

[hang a left]

8. Aha. I finally found it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1059612

undisclosedlocation (1000+ posts) Mon Apr-26-04 02:35 PM
Original message
Lounge Manual: How To DU (not a sex thread, I swear)


I've been noticing a lot of GREAT new posters around lately (Welcome to DU, all, if I haven't already welcomed you personally). Here then are some thoughts, observations, suggestions, directions translated from Japanese, and random foolishness intended to lessen your confusion, show you the ropes, or at least wear out my comma key. They are in no particular order:

1: If Matcom, ZombyWoof, or CatWoman call each other assholes, they're KIDDING. Be not alarmed.
Relatedly, a lot of people believe that there are cliques on DU. There are certainly in-jokes aplenty here and as with any group of people real or virtual, there are people who know each other better than others. However, unless they've been hiding from me really well for the last 15 months, there aren't any EXCLUSIVE cliques, and that's all that counts. If you're having trouble getting replies to your threads, edit the subject line (you can edit for an hour after posting) to include yaks, Mike Hunt, or ABBA. (What was I just telling you about in-jokes?)

2: A big one: IF YOU ASK FOR HELP AND RECEIVE IT, SAY THANK YOU. First, it's simple courtesy. Second, it much increases the probability that should you need to ask again, you will again receive assistance. It's not like it's hard; you just have to check My Posts and the replies there; if somebody answers your query, click on Reply and thank them. Failing to do so reflects very unfavorably on you.

3: Please kick posts that show effort. There was once a grand tradition (ok, a tradition) in the Lounge of posting a lot of photoshopped or otherwise manipulated images making fun of Bush, Republicans, neocons, or anything else that occurs to us. This has fallen into abeyance, partly because they consistently get ignored. If you see a thread where the original poster has clearly put in some time and effort, it's really really nice if you would add a little reply (just a LOL or thumb's up will do) to keep it up at the top for a while.
By the way, kicking a post means the same thing as "bump" or "bttt" elsewhere. Our arch-nemeses at Free Republic use "bump" so it was thought more seemly for a Democratic site to use kick (as in a donkey kick). There's even a little kicking donkey for the purpose, found up dere in the Smilies lookup table.

4: Similarly, if something makes you laugh out loud, you're that much closer to heaven, nirvana, karmic cleanliness, whatever, if you post a reply saying as much. Not only will it make the original poster feel better that people are seeing and laughing at his/her stuff, but more people will get to see it which is a good thing, no?

5: n/t & eom (meaning "no text" and "end of message") only help if you put them in the subject line. The point of using these is to tell the browsing reader that there's no other text but the subject line. If you put n/t or eom only in the body of the message, it totally defeats the purpose. While I realize that folks without a signature have to put something in the message body to be allowed to post, let me offer this suggestion: put it in the subject line AND the message body. Not hard, really.

6: It's actually legal to look below the top half of the front page. At any given moment, there are lots of neat threads that have fallen off the front page. When things are going quick, the front page will turn over in less than a half hour, sometimes as little as 15 minutes. You can miss a lot unless you scroll down, scroll through a few pages, sort by number of replies and check out the ones with the fewest-- there are all kinds of neat approaches to DUing apart from just checking out the latest and hottest.

7: Proofreading is fun! Ok, maybe not fun, but it barely takes any time and helps improve the clarity of your message. At least please proofread to the point that you aren't posting stuff like:
Those freepers is illitaret!" That's just embarrassing.

8: Major, major thing: READ before you reply. Do NOT just haul off and reply to someone's subject line BEFORE (ok I'll quit with the all-caps) reading the actual message. PARTICULARLY (ok I lied) in the Lounge, we often put smart-ass subject lines and then make clear in the message body that it's a put-on. And you know how foolish you'll feel when you post a reply calling somebody a Bush-loving neocon freeper (don't do that anyway as it's against the rules) and then immediately see the or .

9: Minor, minor thing: Reply to the correct post. It's really easy to get this wrong. If you do, there's no shame in editing that post, erasing everything and just writing "Delete" or "Sorry, replied to wrong post." Then reply to the one you meant to respond to in the first place. Doing so obviously much increases the probability that the person you're replying to will see your response and afford them the opportunity to reply in turn. Hey, it's a message board! Dialogue's the name of the game.

Ok, there are my thoughts on How To DU. Feel free to add your own, sneeringly point out any typos I made, call me anal-retentive (like I've never heard that before), send bouquets, dark chocolate and large sums of money, or just keep the damned thing kicked for a while (ie, follow #3 above). Newbies, if this helped at all, I'd be extremely grateful if you'd let me know.

[Longhorn]

20. Thanks, undisclosedlocation AND liberalnproud

for the original post and bringing it back to life! I hadn't seen it or the accompanying comments and find it very helpful. I've always wondered about replying more but didn't know if that was considered bothersome. Then again, I always enjoy getting replies to my posts! DUH!

You know, there are lots of nice people here and I sure enjoy reading and posting on DU! :yourock:

[Eloriel]

3. Don't be too hard on those who

don't acknowledge replies to posts. Some of us never make it back to threads we posted in.

Too, I've seen threads where the originator felt the need to respond to virtually everyone, and they get too big too fast and tend toward the boring, esp. when the poster has to make an effort to say SOMEthing, anything.

[arwalden]

7. There's Nothing Wrong With Those Threads...

... especially the "congrats on xx,000 posts" or "happy anniversary". Each post from people offering their kinds words is like a gift and each person's gift deserves a personalized thank-you reply rather than a single group-thank-you.

Besides, you can always use the "hide thread" feature, eh? That's what I do when we get a floater thread that just won't flush away.

-- Allen

[ldf]

11. that's my case

by the time i go back, it is long gone, plus, i read so many i tend to forget what the name of the thread was that i posted to.

on top of that, i hardly ever do anything except post my opinion. i don't do tit for tat well, and am not expecting a reply.

and then a lot of times someone has pissed me off and i just want to vent. (hopefully in a responsible and reasonable manner, with a minimum of misspellings... :-) )

AND it seems that threads really take off in the early am, after i have already gone to bed. i hate missing chiming in on a thread only to find it after it has over a hundred responses. by then everyone has already read it, and it's a dead horse that shouldn't be beat any longer. (with the exception of those awe inspiring plame threads!!!)

[Cha]

4. You're quite welcome...that's what makes it a good political message

board. That and all the intense research on the web and other outlets. This is all a very..{speaking of] "intense" time for us and I can hardly stand to be away from reading any of the latest on what's up with Kerry/Edwards and all our Dem Champions.

We've come so far and we're going into the home stretch now..just a few more months! Whew!

[Aunt Anti-bush]

9. Thank you Saracat.

It's nice to know that we're all being patted on the back for being pretty polite and courteous here. I know I try my best to reply to posts, but sometimes I miss a couple. :)

[saracat]

12. Your Welcome. Twice!

[Aunt Anti-bush]

10. Thank you, Saracat.

It's nice to know that we're all being patted on the back for being pretty polite and courteous here. I know I try my best to reply to posts, but sometimes I miss a couple. :)

[K-W]

15. Perhaps I misunderstand, but expecting acknowledgements for posts is

unreasonable.

In essance a messageboard is like a conversation between hundreds of people. It simply isnt reasonable to expect that every individual can always give personal attention to every individual that replies to them on every thread on the forum.

If you ask for information, certainly thank you's are in order for helpful posts, though if your request creates and entire thread of people its certainly ok to thank everyone in one post.

I mean, its a common sense issue. If someone put alot of time into replying to you or giving you info you thank them. But if you want more personal conversations, you need to find a smaller forum or some kind of chat program.

[saracat]

17. Of course I didn't mean ALL posts. I was referring to those posts

which requested assistance or were specifically posted in response to a poster.I also think it is a nice gesture to thank someone who posted something that makes you laugh or is informative or thought provoking.But that is up to the individual.A nice gesture is always appreciated. Maybe we could start a DU Board random acts of niceness? LOL.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. George Bush is sending you this personal message

Saracat,

I thank you is got enough thanks already now.

W

[saracat]

21. giggle. Snort. Tee Hee!

[lottie244]

19. Thanks to the poset who turned me on to Cursor.org...great site.

I appreciate receiving any links to good sites on current events.