Democratic Underground

Signed up, thought had found good site for Dems. Unless u toe the line write nothing negative about Israeli treatment of Palestinians, Bernie sander u will be blocked fr responding to many posts. Too many postings about animals, artwork. Too many opinion pieces passing as news, too many links to Twitter. If I were interested in Twitter, I would sign up Have never voted for republicans, strongly support BDS, if this is u, don't bother signing up, and egads, they won't let u delete ur acct. WTH if u r a pic suggest news one, the root, where u can post what u want, or rawstory, which I love

I'm as left as can be and got booted off the site very quickly. Being Left means you have ocassional constructive criticism of the Dems too. This is not allowed. Dem Underg will ride their cursing and happy-talk train to the same place it took them in 2000, in 2004, in 2016...

I was a member of DU for several months. Recently, there was a plethora of anti AOC posts and I finally got upset. I wrote a post asking how a seated Democratic legislator could be attacked so often by supposed Democrats on DU. I was highly critical of those members who were anti AOC but didn't name anyone in particular, and said nothing abusive. Next thing I know, the idiots in charge of the site sent me a message that told me to essentially defend my position or be banned from the site. It also stated I might not hear back from them at all. So democratic of them. I told them to stuff it, and I would not be using their gestapo-like anti progressive "Democratic" website. It's truly bizzarre how weird and authoritarian the admins are about what people are allowed to say. They never responded to my comments because their only intent is to purge anyone progressive or "too liberal."

I was, a long time ago mind you, one of the more active members of the site. Being that I was there from almost it's inception. Now in this day and age I can tell you that you should just look elsewhere.
The site is full of nothing more than one poster doing their best to spew hate about one person, or an entire demographic and yes, that does mean spew in the most egregious racial terms as well. With no one ever batting an eye at how gross such statements tend to be. They will even join in and do much of the same to whatever target the original poster had first chosen. And I've seen everything from hard racial slurs. To avocations of pedophilia being used as means of punishment for those who's only crime was having the wrong political stance, or something as simple as a different opinion.

I tried to return once and that was over a year ago.
The very first post I replied to was on the main forum and it was nothing but bile against republicans, with nothing even resembling rhyme, or reason. I asked for some form of dialogue to be brought up about the actual topic on discussion and within six hours my new account was permanently banned.

Once again. Stay away from this site at all cost.

It is amazing how narrow minded this forum is. Any disagreement with the beliefs or thoughts of anyone will get you booted. Example, I recently commented on an article that missed a few facts, follow up comments proceeded to malign and slander the person in the story which shows that everyone who did comment never even bothered to review the story and see if there was any other info to be had. If so they would have realized that there were a few points missing that the original story missed.
I pointed this out and had my posting privileges revoked by an enthusiastic and misguided member who felt that my comments were not valid... all I did was point out that there were some facts missing from the original story. I never made a comment of the person in the article.
If you are looking for thoughtful and intelligent discussions... look elsewhere.

I joined this site years ago. When I first joined it was a great site for discussions. It was civil. Citations were expected. Different views were accepted and respected. That was then, and is certainly not now. Express a view different from the cool table, and expect insults, abuse, and disrespect. But perhaps the most unique time to be around this site is the week (or so) before Valentine's Day. The administrators sell hearts as a fund raiser. This is kicked off by giving each subscriber one heart that is displayed on their posts. Members can buy additional hearts and share them anonymously with others on the site. The week (or so) before Thanksgiving is flooded with middle-school-like posts thanking members for the gift of a heart. The topic page is flooded with "Thank you for my heart!", "Thank you for all of the love!", "Thanks for the heart whomever", etc. Strings of hearts at the bottom of one's posts are signs of popularity. It is right out of middle-school. I cannot imagine the outrage should this fine tradition be criticized on DU.

I wrote the first blogging thread when Senator Tom Cotton advised activating the military and "taking no quarter." the blog was written very shortly after the NYT first published the article. DU "froze" my thread because they said that the story was an "opinion" and was not "newsworthy" enough for their "late breaking news" category. I feel that that is an insane response because when a national leader writes an op-ed, it is not the same as when David Brooks, Jennifer Rubin, etc. produce their op-eds because the national leaders words are based on what they are pushing thru as legislation (ex-Pelosi and HR-1) and dramatically affect ALL of our lives in a very direct way. DU is also very inconsistent in whose blogs are frozen... for example, a lot of bloggers are still submitting their opinion only, with NO media references & nothing is done... i had been attracted to it as a liberal source of the news but their rules are insane, inconsistently enforced, abusive... have religiously followed Wapo, NYT for years &, if you want libersl, add the Daily Kos, not DU...

Great site if u want to click on interesting site header, only to find it's about a dog, or cat. Also, unless you are pro illegals, and pro Israel, u will get blocked. Not all Dems are pro illegals, or pro Israel.

DU devolved into the echo chamber/circle jerk others describe. I was banned for taking issue with Obama's regime change wars, and his hypocrisy in criticizing Russia for not being 100% pro-LGBTQ when gays and lesbians still couldn't marry in many states here. Only Obama's views could evolve, apparently. Many here point out DU was a hard-core HRC propaganda forum, but no criticism of Obama was allowed, either. Just the worst of the worst, and a harbinger of what the "Left" was to become post-Trump.

They can make all the announcements they want. They can change the rules (allegedly) all they want. Let's face facts. Democratic Underground is a place for white, straight, cisgender males who worship Hillary Clinton. You're a cisgender woman? Expect micro-aggressions. Gay? Get lectured about wanting ponies and hearing about how they stand for "marriage". And if you're transgender, count on being absolutely bullied. Get out of sports, get out of restrooms, be accused of "costing us elections", and even be told that it's okay to deny you the right to change your name, deny you your gender-affirming care, and be told it's "good" to stop your transition because you might "respect how you were born."

When it comes to LGBTQ issues - ESPECIALLY the T - this place is no better than Free Republic or Fox News.

The owner of the site is more than happy to let vulnerable minorities be abused for the sake of "appealing to the center."

And for those of us who stand up and fight back against the institutionalized bigotry? We get banned. Bigotry is just fine... Fighting against bigotry will get you "flagged for review". For eternity.

Welcome to Bigotry Underground.

In Feb I was suspended for further review. Never heard back from them again. It was impossible to contact them for status of my acct... What happened was I made a long post telling them my work history... I am 68 year old female and have quite a varied and long work history. This was when Amy K was accused of being nasty to women staffers. I said in 68 years I had never had a GOOD woman boss. Except for 1. And I gave them examples. I was not generalizing. I said I don't with my vagina. Oh Dear Lord, they decide as a group who to hate, Thom Hartmann, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, Bernie, and who to worship, Hillary and Biden. If you don't hate who they hate, the ostracize you. I was a disgrace to women. Now I am a domestic abuse survivor and I counsel others. I also have been raped 4x... none of that mattered. I was a woman hater. They are in no way progressive, but quite juvenile. And the dumb ones are taking over, sadly. Correct someone's grammar and you are the bad guy... Correction: I said I don't VOTE with my vagina. Sorry for error..

Within a thread I posted a comment in response to a prior anti-Bernie comment. I commented on Hillary's somewhat recent comments about Bernie and the 2016 election. I commented that Hillary needed to get over it and stop blaming others for her failed campaign. My comment was removed. I was informed that I could appeal. I did, very politely explaining why I made the comment. Logged in not long after that and was informed that I had been banned from posting anything on the site. Terms of Service violation was why my original comment was removed. Totally unclear why I was banned from any future discussion. Better conform to the rules despite all of the stupid $#*! that gets posted on that site and is allowed to remain. Open honest discussion not allowed on democraticunderground.com. Wish the rating scale allowed a zero rating.

This was a place where liberals could get news, discuss just about anything, and commiserate about the problems in the country. Now, all they do is make excuses for losing the election and praising Hillary. No dissent is allowed. They are still fighting the primary instead of fighting the Trump administration. I don't feel welcome anymore.

DU has become a parody of it, s former self. It promotes war with Russia or North Korea and Syria... Yemen... Somalia... any Country. Just because... Trump. The posters there are generally pimps for the MIC.

In the past, I've posted things on DU from other sources that didn't always express positive sentiments regarding Hillary Clinton. I did that, not because I agree with the negativity in those sources, but to use them as an illustration of something with which I disagree and I always made my disagreement quite clear in the subject lines of my posts--at least, I always thought I did.

My expressed disagreement, apparently, makes no difference. Someone will read the post, see a negative view of Hillary from an outside source, clutch their pearls and take to their fainting couch. When someone else revives them with smelling salts, they alert on my post, a Group Think jury convenes and the jury makes a decision to remove my post.

I am done with them. There are much more productive and less anger-inducing uses of my time.

DU used to be kinda fun. It had your usual over the top folks, but some boards were fun and informative. NOT ANY MORE. It's a Hillary Clinton cult site that engages in more propaganda and censorship than North Korea. They now have zero sense of humor and will not tolerate even mild criticism of Clinton or, most importantly, themselves. It's a joke and as stupid as any Teabagger site.If they can't ban you, you will go on "review" (which comes with not being able to post) forever. Don't bother... unless you want to go see why Dems will continue to lose for years to come.

If you don't 110% agree with their obviously biased and probably paid narrative in EVERY WAY, you will be banned.

The censorship here is far more rampant than it is on any reddit sub, even the ones most accused of bias/abuse. If you support Bernie and hate Hillary expect a ban in minutes!

Fresh on the boat, 80-odd posts. Have been a lifelong progressive, and was shut down shortly after posting a commentary on today's travesty of a social security program from being far from what FDR intended, and one criticizing the need to not offshore the majority our defense suppliers. No warning, no appeal, just BOOM! Several emails to the admins elicited nothing. They merely refer you to their "Terms and Conditions", which is as long as your life, and so full of clauses and no-no's to be indecipherable. They may be infringing on First Amendment rights by arbitrarily banning and giving no explanation or justification, or even appeal (!), and I intend to find out. If they are, well, I'd like to have a judge hear this one.

Democratic Underground (DU) used to be a great site to discuss Democratic issues and news a visitor might not see elsewhere. Since before the 2016 primary, though, it's turned into nothing but a vast echo chamber where, in a parallel reality far removed from this one, former Secretary Clinton was the very embodiment of a perfect candidate and anyone who supported any other candidate is a traitor to the party. Mention something positive about Bernie? Brace yourself, because you're about to get swarmed, mostly with shrieking and paranoid nonsense about how Sanders cost Hillary the election. Say something mildly critical of Democrats in general? You're a disruptor who must be punished, and why do you love Trump? I went there for a long time and (stupidly, I now realize) even donated money to them over many years. No more. It's the Left's dark twin of Free Republic but it was once so much more. ZERO STARS (1 here because zero isn't currently an option recognized by the software).

DU is corrupt. They purged and continue to purge all progressives who call out anything real. They say we can't relitigate the primary but it's Clinton people who always do and bait with no punishment. Fall for it and respond and youre banned. They don't deserve the name Democratic and definitely not Underground. I posted 20,000 comments but bring up that someone is pro-War or pro-Surveilance and the sock puppet military contractors who pervade the place will flag you. All I see is horrific hate speech about Bernie... a guy we all loved and knew nothing about a few years ago. Wow. DU needs to be revoked.

Once, Democratic Underground was a cool place to be. It was friendly and fun. All the elements that made it so have now gone. And by "elements" I mean "people". It was a meeting place for diverse and interesting people from the U.S. and beyond. United by their left-leaning political and social views. I was a member of DU for years until I was banned. My crime was that I didn't accept Hillary Clinton as the new Mother Theresa (the old one was bad enough).

The interesting people have gone. Banned or put on temporary "under review" status - which is, in effect, the same thing. Now DU is a great dull echo chamber, the Clinton supporters who were allowed to stay endlessly still fighting last year's election, scrabbling around for reasons and pining for what might have been if only their candidate hadn't been less popular than Donald Trump.

Once, dissent was welcome there, a starting-point for discussion. Now it isn't. Don't just take my word for it - join up there and hear how DU was hacked by the Russians during the election. (Really).

In the last couple of years, Democratic Underground has devolved from a haven for diverse progressive voices into a bizarre Hillary Clinton fan club, which now--even among the site's administration--values blind fealty above all else.

Highly recommended for anyone who thinks the best way to advance democratic principles is to don blinders, smear progressives, and ban anyone not in complete lockstep with the inexorable, decades-long rightward march of the Democratic Party.

Also, take care not to call attention to the outside rantings of high-profile anti-Semitic DU members. Pointing out such things is strictly verboten, and will get you ejected in no time.

Finally, blaming everyone from the Russians to Bernie Sanders (but definitely not Clinton's anemic political abilities) for the current mess you're in is the order of the day. Do that, and you'll fit right in.

I was banned for insisting that liberals provide proof of claims. No facts or accountability allowed on this fascist site. The liberals who live on democraticunderground can swear and diatribe all day, as liberals. Make one comment that diverges from progressivism and BANNED, while they leave all the extremely vulgar, vacuous, and profane comments of the mindless, liberal, trolls on, of course. It's as bad as RawStory, bunch of censorship loving children.