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How did you find DU? I was on Huff Post and it was menitioned there . Came over and signed up June 12, 2004, How about (Original Post) debm55 14 hrs ago OP
Bartcop EYESORE 9001 14 hrs ago #1
Thank you very much EYESORE 9001. Thank you very much and glad you are here. debm55 14 hrs ago #3
Nov 9 2004 KarenS 14 hrs ago #2
Thank you KarenS. I lurked too. But I am glad you are posting now. debm55 14 hrs ago #4
Bartcop HappyH 14 hrs ago #5
Thank you very much, HappyH. Glad you are here debm55 14 hrs ago #6
Saw Skinners & EarlG's sign for DU on C-Span: Inaugural Protest January 20, 2001 (George W. Bush* "selection" ) hlthe2b 14 hrs ago #7
Hahaha. Thank you hlthe2b. so glad you are here. debm55 14 hrs ago #8
Can't remember, but vaguely sounds familiar; I was slower: July 17 Bernardo de La Paz 14 hrs ago #9
Thank you Bernardo de La Paz. I felt the same way about Huff Post and needed another site. Thank you for being here debm55 13 hrs ago #12
You're exactly right. Back in the Arianna Huffington days, the Huffington Post was so good. MIButterfly 11 hrs ago #32
Doing my usual exploring on the internet, mwmisses4289 13 hrs ago #10
Thank you very much, mwmisses4389. We are glad you are here. debm55 13 hrs ago #13
I was researching how susceptible online polls were to manipulation bottomofthehill 13 hrs ago #11
Thank you very much, bottomofthehill. I trolled on FR until I got tossed of. I am glad you are with us. debm55 13 hrs ago #16
found du after the gore v bush debachlle . been here ever since under various screen nicks AllaN01Bear 13 hrs ago #14
Wow you been here a long time. I glad you are on DU.Thank you AllaN01Bear. We love you debm55 13 hrs ago #15
Knew about DU for years, House of Roberts 13 hrs ago #17
Thank you, House of Robert, I am used to the layout here. If I remember correctly there was no Lounge when I started. We debm55 13 hrs ago #18
Started lurking in October 2004 when my friend told me about DU and shared the link. Basso8vb 13 hrs ago #19
Thank you very much, Basso8vb. we are are glad you are here sharing your thoughts. debm55 13 hrs ago #20
The Well quaint 13 hrs ago #21
Boy , you had a journey. quaint. Thank you for sharing with us and don't get booted again. debm55 13 hrs ago #22
I try not to impulse post these days. quaint 13 hrs ago #23
I am happy for you. debm55 13 hrs ago #24
Bartcop. May his legacy live on. Midnight Writer 12 hrs ago #25
Summer 2004 Ruby Zee 12 hrs ago #26
Read about it on Democrats.com years ago Wicked Blue 12 hrs ago #27
The website of the talk show host, no_hypocrisy 12 hrs ago #28
Came here from Firedog Lake. FalloutShelter 11 hrs ago #29
I was over on National Zero when some mention was made of DU by a poster there. Dorothy V 11 hrs ago #30
I don't remember how I found DU, but I'm so glad I did. I lurked for many, many years until I finally signed up MIButterfly 11 hrs ago #31
I... don't remember. sakabatou 10 hrs ago #33
You may not remember, sakabatou, but we are glad you are a member of out DU family. debm55 7 hrs ago #50
Saw it in a bartcop forum IIRC. BootinUp 10 hrs ago #34
Thank you very much BootinUp for joining our family at DU. We would miss you. debm55 7 hrs ago #49
I was a refugee from SmirkingChimp. If I recall correctly, and perhaps I don't, someone over there mentioned DU. NNadir 10 hrs ago #35
Thank you very much, NNadir and for sharing with all of us DU debm55 7 hrs ago #48
I heard it mentioned on the Bill Maher forum. I was looking applegrove 10 hrs ago #36
Thank you very much applegrove, Thank you for sharing on DU debm55 7 hrs ago #47
Thom Hartmann mentioned DU on his show LogDog75 9 hrs ago #37
Thank you very much LogDog75 for sharing with us. We are glad you are here debm55 7 hrs ago #46
Bartcop Wednesdays 8 hrs ago #38
Thank you very much Wednesdays. We are all glad for you sharing with us. debm55 7 hrs ago #45
I can't remember if it was Bartcop or Smirking Chimp. catbyte 8 hrs ago #39
HAHAHhah. Thank you catbyte for your wonderful posts and videos. Glad you are here debm55 7 hrs ago #44
Actually it was a right-wing site that pointed me here (The good, the bad, and the ugly) Angleae 8 hrs ago #40
I know of the forum of which you speak. It is about empty. Thank you for finding DU, Angleae and sharing with us. debm55 7 hrs ago #43
bartcop msongs 8 hrs ago #41
Thank you very much, msongs, and we are glade you are here. debm55 7 hrs ago #42
Friends from work told me to check it out JT45242 7 hrs ago #51
Thank you very much for joining the family here at DU. JT45242 debm55 7 hrs ago #52
Member since: Sat Feb 9, 2008, 08:41 PM List left 7 hrs ago #53
The "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" feature caught my attention in 2004. subterranean 7 hrs ago #54
HAHAHAHHAHAH. thank you so much subterranean. I'm glad you found our DU family. debm55 7 hrs ago #57
Nov 10, 2004 must have been stillcool 7 hrs ago #55
Thank you very much stillcool. We are glad you joined our family at DU debm55 7 hrs ago #56
The media shaming of everything/anyone liberal inspired me to google, "When did liberal become a dirty word?" CrispyQ 7 hrs ago #58
Thank you very much CrispyQ for your posts and making DU your home. debm55 6 hrs ago #61
Maybe bartcop? UpInArms 6 hrs ago #59
Thank you very much UpinArms. I love it here. And I love you being here. Thank you for making DU your posting home. debm55 6 hrs ago #60
The check from George Soros cleared. flvegan 6 hrs ago #62
I was on the EXCITE political bulletin board arguing with some guy about useless bush jr... Tikki 6 hrs ago #63
Back in '01, CSPAN Was Interviewing... ProfessorGAC 6 hrs ago #64
Thank you very much ProfessorGAC, I am so glad you found DU and I enjoy your wonderful posts. debm55 5 hrs ago #65
Bartcop MustLoveBeagles 4 hrs ago #66
Been on line since '95. But not really doing *political stuff for the most part. Then W... electric_blue68 2 hrs ago #67
23 years ago is too far back to remember electricmonk 1 hr ago #68
Don't remember exactly Figarosmom 38 min ago #69
We used to watch Michael Moore movies Tree Lady 9 min ago #70

hlthe2b

(110,096 posts)
7. Saw Skinners & EarlG's sign for DU on C-Span: Inaugural Protest January 20, 2001 (George W. Bush* "selection" )
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:22 AM
14 hrs ago

followed the url on the sign and lurked for sevveral weeks/months before registering July 2, 2001.

I likewise was following Bartcop and a couple of other newly emerging Democratic forums and all ended up pointing back to the newly established DU as one to consider joining.

Bernardo de La Paz

(56,282 posts)
9. Can't remember, but vaguely sounds familiar; I was slower: July 17
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:33 AM
14 hrs ago

Probably took me a month to check it out and think it through. I know I was reading HuffPo a lot then as it was quite good at the time (Arianna was running it). It began to go downhill not too long after (become Cosmopolitan-lite) and then after it got sold to AOL it really went downhill.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
12. Thank you Bernardo de La Paz. I felt the same way about Huff Post and needed another site. Thank you for being here
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:40 AM
13 hrs ago

MIButterfly

(556 posts)
32. You're exactly right. Back in the Arianna Huffington days, the Huffington Post was so good.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 01:02 PM
11 hrs ago

They were left-leaning and had a lot of excellent guest writers. It was mostly opinion. Now that they're HuffPost, they're just another website with news you can get anywhere, with no opinion pieces. I glance at it every so often, but rarely click on any of the stories.

mwmisses4289

(1,228 posts)
10. Doing my usual exploring on the internet,
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:34 AM
13 hrs ago

as I was following the 2015-2016 election season. Iirc, it was link huffpost embedded in an article.
I spent several years lurking, finally joined a couple of years ago.

bottomofthehill

(9,193 posts)
11. I was researching how susceptible online polls were to manipulation
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:36 AM
13 hrs ago

In the very early 2000’sFree Republic was skewing online polls and I was looking at other organizations that were trying to also and I came across a post that said DU this poll. Started to read the content on the sight and soon was addicted. Not always in agreement but addicted just the same.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
16. Thank you very much, bottomofthehill. I trolled on FR until I got tossed of. I am glad you are with us.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:56 AM
13 hrs ago

AllaN01Bear

(25,502 posts)
14. found du after the gore v bush debachlle . been here ever since under various screen nicks
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:46 AM
13 hrs ago

debm55

(45,473 posts)
15. Wow you been here a long time. I glad you are on DU.Thank you AllaN01Bear. We love you
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:53 AM
13 hrs ago

House of Roberts

(6,049 posts)
17. Knew about DU for years,
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 10:56 AM
13 hrs ago

but never understood the forum system used, until I finally found Latest Threads, now Latest Discussions, and liked the chronological option, which is about all I ever work with. I still don't get the appeal of the forum layout. Places I had been before, posts came in chronological order with the most recent at the top of the main page. Now most of the sites I used to frequent have a main page meant to look like a newspaper front page.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
18. Thank you, House of Robert, I am used to the layout here. If I remember correctly there was no Lounge when I started. We
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:03 AM
13 hrs ago

are glad you are here.

Basso8vb

(1,079 posts)
19. Started lurking in October 2004 when my friend told me about DU and shared the link.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:06 AM
13 hrs ago

It immediately became my go to place for news and discussion as I'd turned off TV news for good in 2003.

Finally started by account in 2016 because DU was being overrun with bots and trolls and I needed to bring out the block button.

Started commenting last year.

I've never been a huge online guy, but I've been coming here daily for over 2 decades.

quaint

(3,897 posts)
21. The Well
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:12 AM
13 hrs ago

Signed up in 2001, forgot my username, lost my password, came back again (as antiquie), got booted, came back through under-the-bridge amnesty.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
22. Boy , you had a journey. quaint. Thank you for sharing with us and don't get booted again.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:15 AM
13 hrs ago

quaint

(3,897 posts)
23. I try not to impulse post these days.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:19 AM
13 hrs ago

I don't want to be kicked out of this family.

Midnight Writer

(24,143 posts)
25. Bartcop. May his legacy live on.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:20 PM
12 hrs ago

Just one guy who spoke truth to power.

Did he make a difference?

I think he did.

Ruby Zee

(203 posts)
26. Summer 2004
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:27 PM
12 hrs ago

I don't remember the date or my first login name. Was working on canvassing and registering voters for John Kerry in North Carolina. I also found DU after a mention on HuffPost. Been here ever since even though I don't post much. I don't know what I'd do without DU.

FalloutShelter

(13,409 posts)
29. Came here from Firedog Lake.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:34 PM
11 hrs ago

Lurked for a while, but joined when the DU crash happened in 2008. Here and active ever since.

Dorothy V

(330 posts)
30. I was over on National Zero when some mention was made of DU by a poster there.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:48 PM
11 hrs ago

A poster I know and trust - I've known some of the folks at NZ from back in the days when CNN took comments. It was early this last January, and yes, I still feel newbie-ish over here. I was trying to cope with Hubby's passing and the fear that set in on Election Day. So when I came over to check DU out, the Lounge here looked like just what I needed!
I subscribed after less than a day of lurking! So glad I did! Y'all have helped me cope more than you know. I still feel fragile, not a feeling I am used to, but by ned I'm here and kicking!

MIButterfly

(556 posts)
31. I don't remember how I found DU, but I'm so glad I did. I lurked for many, many years until I finally signed up
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:50 PM
11 hrs ago

last summer and then I didn't start posting anything until earlier this year. I love this website and the people here. DU forever!!!!

NNadir

(35,977 posts)
35. I was a refugee from SmirkingChimp. If I recall correctly, and perhaps I don't, someone over there mentioned DU.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 02:04 PM
10 hrs ago

SmirkingChimp was (or is, if it's still around) the first liberal blog I ever came across.

I can't remember much about my tenure there, except a vague feeling on being unhappy with it although I can remember no specifics, but eventually I came to DU and have been here, in my sometimes curmudgeonly fashion, for 22 years.

I do recall that the general topic of SmirkingChimp was in those days long ago, a lot of discussion of whether Ralph Nader was a saint or satan. I generally sided on the latter.

My screen name here is a truncated version of my screen name there, which I also used in other places, including my terminated tenure at DailyKos.

applegrove

(126,259 posts)
36. I heard it mentioned on the Bill Maher forum. I was looking
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 02:24 PM
10 hrs ago

to get away from a mixed board. I couldn't stand the neocons and trickle downers there. Came 20 years ago in March I think.

LogDog75

(489 posts)
37. Thom Hartmann mentioned DU on his show
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 03:25 PM
9 hrs ago

After a couple of times being mentioned I decided to Google DU and found this site. I lurked for year before finally joining.

Wednesdays

(20,528 posts)
38. Bartcop
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 03:43 PM
8 hrs ago

Wayyyy back in 2001. I often crossposted things both here and on Bartcop's forum.

Back then, my user name was "Tuesdays" (I was a Tuesday child). I changed it to Wednesdays a couple of years later.

catbyte

(37,051 posts)
39. I can't remember if it was Bartcop or Smirking Chimp.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 03:57 PM
8 hrs ago

My profile says I've been a member since Tuesday, March 5, 2002, at 5:00 a.m. (5 a.m.? WTF?) Shrub must've done something obnoxious overnight.

Angleae

(4,715 posts)
40. Actually it was a right-wing site that pointed me here (The good, the bad, and the ugly)
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 03:58 PM
8 hrs ago

Then on ezboard (now tapatalk). I haven't been over there for a couple of years now, but even then, the 2 remaining regulars were ancient (they were late 50s early 60s back in 2000-2001 when I first was there). As such, it has very little traffic now.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
43. I know of the forum of which you speak. It is about empty. Thank you for finding DU, Angleae and sharing with us.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 04:37 PM
7 hrs ago

JT45242

(3,376 posts)
51. Friends from work told me to check it out
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:04 PM
7 hrs ago

Back in the before times when we actually all worked in the building

List left

(642 posts)
53. Member since: Sat Feb 9, 2008, 08:41 PM
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:17 PM
7 hrs ago

If I remember correctly Huff Puff was also where i found first saw reference to DU. I still read Huff Puff for a while longer but along with Raw Story they became so sensationalist I stopped, and DU became my go to portal to the news and good company.

subterranean

(3,630 posts)
54. The "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" feature caught my attention in 2004.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:17 PM
7 hrs ago

I don't remember how I first found it, but that's what drew me in. Then I was a frequent lurker before I decided to sign up as a member.

stillcool

(33,989 posts)
55. Nov 10, 2004 must have been
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:17 PM
7 hrs ago

an election thing that made me sign-up. I'd been a lurker, between here and Kos, and a news-junkie. Kerry's election was probably the beginning of my separation, eventually leading to divorce from cable news. This place taught me so very much about so many things. I wished I'd saved, printed out, a small portion of the information that transformed my brain.

CrispyQ

(39,764 posts)
58. The media shaming of everything/anyone liberal inspired me to google, "When did liberal become a dirty word?"
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:30 PM
7 hrs ago

The first hit was a DU opinion piece about how the right had targeted the term during Reagan's first campaign & then demonized it. Also, how the dems backed away from the word instead of embracing it. I thought, this might be a community for me if they're posting this kind of stuff. I joined a few weeks later in May of 2004.

Fahrenheit 9/11 came out in June. I'm vague on all of it now, but I remember feeling that movie was a turning point in the Bush years, IMO. It shone a light on a couple of messes that hadn't been reported on. The hijacking of the vote count in FL, & the lies to go to war. It was nice to have a community that was like-minded but also knowledgeable about events.

UpInArms

(52,854 posts)
59. Maybe bartcop?
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:34 PM
6 hrs ago

Maybe media whores online?

Maybe liberal slant?

All of them are gone, but not forgotten.

Kephra and William Pitt taught me how to post … this has been my home so long that I would be lost without all of you.

Thank you, EarlG, Elad and Skinner for making this safe space ❤️❤️❤️

and, thank you, Deb, for starting such great conversations 🫂

debm55

(45,473 posts)
60. Thank you very much UpinArms. I love it here. And I love you being here. Thank you for making DU your posting home.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:41 PM
6 hrs ago

flvegan

(65,051 posts)
62. The check from George Soros cleared.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:52 PM
6 hrs ago

Not really. I think it was Buzzflash had a DU blurb on it and I think I was like, those sound like my people. Lurked for a couple months, then signed up 8/2004.

Tikki

(14,834 posts)
63. I was on the EXCITE political bulletin board arguing with some guy about useless bush jr...
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 05:57 PM
6 hrs ago

when someone posted that all the right-wingers, republicans and cons should go to
Free Republic and the Liberals and Progressive Democrats should find their way to
Democraticunderground.

I lurked for a bit and then signed up in July of 2002.
I picked the name of a pet..Tikki (rip) for my username because I wan’t sure I’d
remember any other name in case I didn’t sign in at DU very often.

I have read DU every day. Don’t want to know what it would be like without DU.

Tikki

ProfessorGAC

(73,008 posts)
64. Back in '01, CSPAN Was Interviewing...
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 06:26 PM
6 hrs ago

...political website owners on Saturday & Sunday mornings' Washington Journal.
They interviewed David Allen (Skinner) on one of those mornings.
I still had dial-up then, so I waited until I got to work on Monday & started perusing.
I didn't join immediately, but it wasn't long after that. August 2001.

debm55

(45,473 posts)
65. Thank you very much ProfessorGAC, I am so glad you found DU and I enjoy your wonderful posts.
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 06:49 PM
5 hrs ago

electric_blue68

(21,676 posts)
67. Been on line since '95. But not really doing *political stuff for the most part. Then W...
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 09:42 PM
2 hrs ago

...was elected. I figured I needed more. So I went to this big 24/7 Internet Cafe. I typed in "democrat". A few things popped up included DU. It was probably 6 - 8 months "old" then.
However without a computer at home I didn't pursue it.

About 25 years later I was disappointed in a different site w a off topic political sub forum.
Out of the depths of my memory I typed in "democratic underground" at another internet cafe, or my library.
I wasn't expecting anything.

But "Ta Da!" 🎉 there it was! Wow, was I surprised. I jumped right in.
I had my 5 year anniversary a few days ago. Deeply appreciate being here.

So...Thank you Elad, and Earl G!


*I did political stuff, just not really on line back then.

electricmonk

(1,914 posts)
68. 23 years ago is too far back to remember
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:09 PM
1 hr ago

but probably Buzzflash or Bartcop like lots of others have said.

Figarosmom

(6,132 posts)
69. Don't remember exactly
Mon Jun 9, 2025, 11:55 PM
38 min ago

I was trying to make sense of the 2000 election. The site was a bit hard to navigate back then, but once I got the hang of it I joined. I was a bunch of random letters. Something like xcajiy or something, then we were offered the chance to change our user name and I became EC. Well, then I was off line for a while and forgot all my usernames, what email I was using and passwords. So I changed my name again. I remember Bartcop and Buzzflash and ablog that Will Penn did I think.

Tree Lady

(12,428 posts)
70. We used to watch Michael Moore movies
Tue Jun 10, 2025, 12:23 AM
9 min ago

he had a link to DU on his site, that was May 2004 few weeks before you. Been here ever since.

I was working on the Kerry campaign in bay area with Sierra Club and doing out of state trips to Nevada with them.

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