If nothing else, tonight gives me an even deeper appreciation for the admins.

[Sapphocrat]

Heavens no, I'm not sucking up -- I mean it: I never realized until this minute how much nicer GDP is with the Ignore feature. (Not "nice" by any stretch of the imagination, mind you, but nicer, as in "more tolerable.")

Without it, OMG. I'd actually forgotten, in just a few short weeks, how vile it really is. :puke:

The worst part is that, in mere minutes, I'm thisclose to tossing aside the very conscious effort I've been making to be comparatively civil -- I want to regurgitate the spew right back down a few throats.

I don't always succeed at civility, but damn it, I've been trying. Now, when I see everything that's being said, I wonder why I even bother.

[NMMNG]

1. "Ignore" and "Hide Thread"

Of course you can hide the threads still, but you actually have to click on the obscenity to get to the "Hide Thread" link, which rather defeats the purpose. Oy vey.


As to civility, why give what you don't get?

[Sapphocrat]

3. "As to civility, why give what you don't get?"

Because -- as people keep trying to convince me -- I'm supposed to "be better than that."

But when you lie down with dogs... well, you know the rest. *sigh*

[NMMNG]

5. I've tried and tried

And at times I succeed. But when I get shit on repeatedly for my efforts I tend to give up...

[Political Heretic]

14. dont give up.

:grouphug:

[donheld]

25. Can't you hide a thread by clicking the "x" right at the end of the thread title?

It works for me.

[MichiganVote]

2. Not the same place it has been that's for sure.

[NightWatcher]

4. I'm digging the 3 post limit

[AlCzervik]

6. damn skippy, best thing evah.

[Sapphocrat]

7. Thank God that still works! n/t

[NMMNG]

8. That's helped quite a bit

But seeing certain people popping up with the most hateful subject lines isn't all that. :-(

[Maven]

9. It does make you appreciate the Ignore function

which I only started using recently. I don't know what I was thinking before that.

[NMMNG]

16. My list used to have only 3-5 people on it

Thanks to Obama it's up to 60 or so. Yay Unity! :puke:

[Sapphocrat]

21. I used to use Ignore only as a temporary, self-checking measure.

Temporary, as in, like, 2-3 days on a single poster just to give myself time to cool down. For six years, that was the drill, and I'd always take whoever it was off ignore, because it seemed self-defeating and hypocritical to think of myself as open-minded, yet silence people who merely disagreed with me.

Now, we're not talking about mere disagreement. Now, we're talking about people who post the most puke-making flamebait that is far outside anyone's definition of "discourse." Some shotgun-blast it out there to see how many oldtimers they can enrage enough to cause an involuntary suicide run, and some fine-tune their focus on a select few DUers (or even just one).

I think there must be the equivalent of a "dead pool" race out there on The Site That Shall Not Be Named. Or maybe, in some cases, it's just a one-person crusade to bring down as many old DUers as possible, for one's own twisted amusement. Maybe it distracts lonely, angry, sociopathic misfits from the meaningless of their own existence. I don't know -- and I hope I never understand it. I can only hope it keeps them from becoming the next Charles Whitman.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally succumbed to years of admonitions to use the damned thing. Before, I thought Ignore was the "cowardly" way to go. I was wrong -- it's kept me from suiciding by flame-broiling a lot of people who deserve to be flame-broiled.

Today, my "ignores" number around 50.

[NMMNG]

22. Originally my Ignore list had only the few people here

who consistently posted utterly vile tripe that I knew I never wanted to see, no matter what the topic.


Since then I've become more and more liberal with the criteria and it makes things that much better. I'm amazed at how many caustic voices are drowned out by that little mechanism.

[cbayer]

10. Hi, my name is cbayer and I got totally sucked in.

I swore not to. I wrote an OP about it. I monitored myself carefully. And tonight I just lost it. I had to fight back. However, it was futile.

[Sapphocrat]

12. Don't ask me how I'm holding back, but I am.

I just saw a vile personal attack I wouldn't have seen if Ignore was functioning. I could hit back and grind the poster into the bowels of hell with what I know, but there are depths even I can't sink to.

For the record, cbayer, I have to give you props: I've never seen you resort to the sort of assholism I'm seeing tonight.

Of course, I reserve the right to retract said props if I stumble across whatever post of yours you're referring to. .......... j/k ;)

[cbayer]

15. Just read you other OP and posted there as well.

I just fought back tonight. I don't have a candidate (well, really I have two). I just got really pissed off at the bullying and fought back. But there was never a chance of stopping the outright bile. I should have stayed out of it.

Thanks for the props. I have often seen your OP's and they are really thoughtful and have engendered respect. Props back.

[cbayer]

17. Retraction - wasn't your OP. But similar attitude.

Rest of it stands.

OMG, I need to eat something and talk to my partner (before he leaves me)>

[vickitulsa]

11. Goodonya, Sappho, for your efforts -- I do know how you feel.

In fact I too have had to grit my teeth and restrain myself more than ever before, to avoid firing back nastiness at some of the outrageous and childish idiocy I see here whenever I turn off the Hide GD-P feature.

Thing is, I really want to keep up with what's going on (one of the "primary" things I enjoy so much about DU). But if I don't Hide GD-P, then I'm stuck viewing all the vile thread titles as I try to find some serious discussions of developments in the primary campaigns.

It's like having to pick through the garbage dumped from a slaughterhouse trying to find an important item that got dropped into the vat. Or something. (There's really no analogy that accurately describes what happens in GD-P these days.)

All I can say to you is what I tell myself, Sappho -- Hang in there! You're doing well, even if it's very tough on you. And just think about how bad you'd feel if you let yourself be dragged into that slop! Seems we can't just put one foot in and try to limit our slippage ... rather the muck is so slimy and sucky that it invariably foils our best efforts to say just this one thing and no more -- especially once others start in with direct personal attacks and aggitate to make us behave as badly as they are.

Tactics like that MUST be deliberate! Let's just continue to remain aloof from pointless rolling in the muck.

Hope my little pep talk helped a bit. I have felt myself weakening again tonight, too, and it helped me! :)

[Sapphocrat]

18. vicki, seriously...

If I were pressed to name all the DUers who consistently handle themselves with nothing less than the utmost grace and maturity, and contribute only genuine value and substance, your name would be on my short list. My very, very short list. And not just because I agree with everything I've ever seen you say. ;)

AFAIC, with you, WYSIWYG. Your genuineness (I think that's a real word) comes through, crystal-clear. There's no deceit in your cauliflower. :D

And if I haven't said it before (which I should have by now -- especially as my days (maybe hours) on DU are ticking down), I admire you. A lot.

[vickitulsa]

27. Why thank you, Sapphocrat!

You make me :blush:, but thank you. The respect and liking are mutual; and I do hope you'll hang around here a while longer. We need all the good people we can get!

I have had to take breaks -- sometimes pretty long ones -- from DU, but I always came back, if only because this is the best place to get the "real" news of events in the world. I used to be a sort of tv news junkie back when there was some actual journalism practiced in the U.S. "mainstream" media, but now the mega-corporate media offer very little reliable information worthy of our attention. Probably their plan, so we'll be less involved as citizens and be content to be mere spectators.

I especially appreciate the WYSIWYG characterization -- that's exactly how I want to be! :)

Thanks again for your kind words AND your contributions here!

[Political Heretic]

13. I'm right there with you. I have been trying my damndest to stay civil, and to be lighthearted

I don't always succeed either, but damn I am trying - and I try to bring a little bit of levity and humor to this place.

the tongue-in-cheek Auto-flames, fake onion like editorials, silly pictures of cats.... :D

[RememberWellstone]

19. Word

Amen to that!

[Bongo Prophet]

20. I can relate Sapph; I ignore no one, and since i am uncommitted, see TWICE as much assholery. ;)

Hey, I have friends on both sides of this battle, and my main concern is having enough unity to kick elephantAss this november. It has been EXTREMELY difficult to hold fire at times/ Like you, I am tired of the bullshit, and have been spending less and less time here.

A little break will recharge the batteries, and I meed to get some websites up, and go scare up some more clients. No savings to fall back on at this point- the Bush years have depleted about all I have. Working for startups has made me rich in stock options, which ain't rich at all.

Maybe a future in "green collar" jobs? :hi:


You are a great fighter - what a freaking battle aura, like an anime demonfighter - so I am glad we are on the same side!

[QC]

23. This place gets uglier than a bucket full of assholes

when the twitfilter is not working.

[readmoreoften]

24. Now that I have over 30 rabid supporters of a certain candidate on ignore

the whole of DU is so reasonable! The great thing is you can also track where these people go. I rarely see them anywhere but GD:P.

[NMMNG]

26. Yay! The Twitfilter is back!

:woohoo:


Thanks to QC for "Twitfilter".

[terrya]

28. I don't even come in here anymore on primary nights.

Plus, I've put several people on ignore. It helps.