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

[debm55]

you?

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Bartcop

Sure had fun on that site 😄

[debm55]

3. Thank you very much EYESORE 9001. Thank you very much and glad you are here.

:

[KarenS]

2. Nov 9 2004

I had been lurking for awhile.

[debm55]

4. Thank you KarenS. I lurked too. But I am glad you are posting now.

[HappyH]

5. Bartcop

Great site run by a good person, I still miss him.

[debm55]

6. Thank you very much, HappyH. Glad you are here

[hlthe2b]

7. Saw Skinners & EarlG's sign for DU on C-Span: Inaugural Protest January 20, 2001 (George W. Bush* "selection" )

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.

[debm55]

8. Hahaha. Thank you hlthe2b. so glad you are here.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Can't remember, but vaguely sounds familiar; I was slower: July 17

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]

12. Thank you Bernardo de La Paz. I felt the same way about Huff Post and needed another site. Thank you for being here

[MIButterfly]

32. You're exactly right. Back in the Arianna Huffington days, the Huffington Post was so good.

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]

10. Doing my usual exploring on the internet,

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.

[debm55]

13. Thank you very much, mwmisses4389. We are glad you are here.

[bottomofthehill]

11. I was researching how susceptible online polls were to manipulation

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]

16. Thank you very much, bottomofthehill. I trolled on FR until I got tossed of. I am glad you are with us.

[AllaN01Bear]

14. found du after the gore v bush debachlle . been here ever since under various screen nicks

[debm55]

15. Wow you been here a long time. I glad you are on DU.Thank you AllaN01Bear. We love you

[House of Roberts]

17. Knew about DU for years,

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]

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

are glad you are here.

[Basso8vb]

19. Started lurking in October 2004 when my friend told me about DU and shared the link.

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.

[debm55]

20. Thank you very much, Basso8vb. we are are glad you are here sharing your thoughts.

[quaint]

21. The Well

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]

22. Boy , you had a journey. quaint. Thank you for sharing with us and don't get booted again.

[quaint]

23. I try not to impulse post these days.

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

[debm55]

24. I am happy for you.

[Midnight Writer]

25. Bartcop. May his legacy live on.

Just one guy who spoke truth to power.

Did he make a difference?

I think he did.

[debm55]

73. Thank you very much Midnight Writer. We are glad you are a member of the DU family

[Ruby Zee]

26. Summer 2004

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.

[debm55]

74. Thank you very much . Ruby Zee and we are happy you are a member of the DU familly

[Wicked Blue]

27. Read about it on Democrats.com years ago

Originally joined in 2002.

[debm55]

76. Thank you very much for sharing with us, Wicked Blue. We are glad you are a member of the DU Family.

[no_hypocrisy]

28. The website of the talk show host,

the late Lynn Samuels.

[debm55]

91. Thank you very much. no_hypocrisy. and thank you for being part of the DU family.

[FalloutShelter]

29. Came here from Firedog Lake.

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

[debm55]

90. Thank you very much for sharing FalloutShelter for being part of the DU Family

[Dorothy V]

30. I was over on National Zero when some mention was made of DU by a poster there.

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!

[debm55]

93. Thank you very much . Dorothy V. I am glad you are here and a member of our DU Family.

[MIButterfly]

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

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

[debm55]

94. Thank you very much MIButterfly. We are glad you are here and a member of the DU Family

[sakabatou]

33. I... don't remember.

Too long ago, and it was before my brain injury.

[debm55]

50. You may not remember, sakabatou, but we are glad you are a member of out DU family.

[BootinUp]

34. Saw it in a bartcop forum IIRC.

I was looking for a place to vent about the Iraq war.

[debm55]

49. Thank you very much BootinUp for joining our family at DU. We would miss you.

[NNadir]

35. I was a refugee from SmirkingChimp. If I recall correctly, and perhaps I don't, someone over there mentioned DU.

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.

[debm55]

48. Thank you very much, NNadir and for sharing with all of us DU

[applegrove]

36. I heard it mentioned on the Bill Maher forum. I was looking

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.

[debm55]

47. Thank you very much applegrove, Thank you for sharing on DU

[LogDog75]

37. Thom Hartmann mentioned DU on his show

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

[debm55]

46. Thank you very much LogDog75 for sharing with us. We are glad you are here

[Wednesdays]

38. Bartcop

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.

[debm55]

45. Thank you very much Wednesdays. We are all glad for you sharing with us.

[catbyte]

39. I can't remember if it was Bartcop or Smirking Chimp.

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.

[debm55]

44. HAHAHhah. Thank you catbyte for your wonderful posts and videos. Glad you are here

[Angleae]

40. Actually it was a right-wing site that pointed me here (The good, the bad, and the ugly)

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]

43. I know of the forum of which you speak. It is about empty. Thank you for finding DU, Angleae and sharing with us.

[msongs]

41. bartcop

[debm55]

42. Thank you very much, msongs, and we are glade you are here.

[JT45242]

51. Friends from work told me to check it out

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

[debm55]

52. Thank you very much for joining the family here at DU. JT45242

[List left]

53. Member since: Sat Feb 9, 2008, 08:41 PM

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.

[debm55]

95. Thank you very much List left. You are a great member of our DU family.

[subterranean]

54. The "Top 10 Conservative Idiots" feature caught my attention in 2004.

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.

[debm55]

57. HAHAHAHHAHAH. thank you so much subterranean. I'm glad you found our DU family.

[MIButterfly]

96. I LOVED "Top 10 Conservative Idiots"!

I used to print it out so I could give it to my mother. She loved it too.

[stillcool]

55. Nov 10, 2004 must have been

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.

[debm55]

56. Thank you very much stillcool. We are glad you joined our family at DU

[CrispyQ]

58. The media shaming of everything/anyone liberal inspired me to google, "When did liberal become a dirty word?"

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.

[debm55]

61. Thank you very much CrispyQ for your posts and making DU your home.

[UpInArms]

59. Maybe bartcop?

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]

60. Thank you very much UpinArms. I love it here. And I love you being here. Thank you for making DU your posting home.

[flvegan]

62. The check from George Soros cleared.

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.

[debm55]

89. HAHAHAHAHAHH. Thank you very much fivegan for being part of the DU family.

[Tikki]

63. I was on the EXCITE political bulletin board arguing with some guy about useless bush jr...

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

[debm55]

92. Thank you very much, Tikki, I am very glad you found DU and are a mumber of the family.

[ProfessorGAC]

64. Back in '01, CSPAN Was Interviewing...

...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]

65. Thank you very much ProfessorGAC, I am so glad you found DU and I enjoy your wonderful posts.

[MustLoveBeagles]

66. Bartcop

During the Bush v Gore debacle. Didn't have the courage to sign up until 2017.

[debm55]

88. Thank you very much, MustLoveBeagles. Glad you are a part of the DU Family.

[electric_blue68]

67. Been on line since '95. But not really doing *political stuff for the most part. Then W...

...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.

[debm55]

87. Thank you so much electric_blue68. For being part of the DU family.

[electric_blue68]

97. Awww, ty! It -was- really startling in a Good Way to find it so much later on!

[electricmonk]

68. 23 years ago is too far back to remember

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

[debm55]

84. Thank you very much electricmonk. Thank you for being a member of the DU family.

[Figarosmom]

69. Don't remember exactly

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.

[debm55]

81. Thank you very much Figarosmom for being part of our family here at DU

[Tree Lady]

70. We used to watch Michael Moore movies

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.

[debm55]

80. Thank you very much Tree Lady. Thank you for all you share with our DU family.

[nuxvomica]

71. Two work friends turned me onto it 2002, IIRC

Neither has posted since. I lurked for a little while until I felt compelled to post a reply because I knew something important about a thread topic that wasn't already mentioned. (Have we all not felt that compulsion at times?) So I registered and posted and became a "lounge lizard" for a long while.

[debm55]

79. Thank you very much nuxvomica. Thank you very much for sharing with our DU family.

[TommieMommy]

72. It was a happy accident looking for something on democratic support. So glad I did 😁

[debm55]

75. Thank you very much TommieMommy and Glad you are here

[murielm99]

77. Probably mediawhores online.

It may have been bartcop. My brother pointed me here through one of those. I lurked for a year.

[debm55]

78. Thank you very much for sharing with us, murielm99, You are a great member of the DU family

[CanonRay]

82. You beat me by a month. July 23, 2004 ismy DUversary.

For the life of me I can't remember how I found it.

[debm55]

86. Thank you very much, CanonRay. We enjoy having you as a member of the DU family.

[brush]

83. Hupo or Excite.com, one or the other. Around '05 or '06.

[debm55]

85. Thank you very much brush. Glad you are part of the DU family.

[Rizen]

98. I legitimately hate anyone who's not a Democrat.

So I searched for groups for Democrats. If you're not voting a strait Democratic ticket you're part of the problem.