Admit it. Won't you miss all the jibbing and jabbing when the primaries are done?

[Armstead]

(Important Note: I am not referring to the more toxic stuff, here.)

Even though we frustrate each other, and anger each other....Won't you miss the chance to exchange witty retorts, "gotchas" and the opportunity to exercise creative new ways to say "Unicorn" or "Corporate Shill"? And the chance to write carefully thought out reasons Candidate A is wonderful and/or Candidate B sucks.

I think primary season is like Junk Food.We all complain about it, but we get hooked on it.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Like I miss acid in my eyes. nt

[olddots]

2. its like playing Pong

till we run out of quarters .

[yourpaljoey]

3. I have never seen such a bitter divide during a Primary

I think the Dem Party has already split.
I will not miss the jib-jabbing.

[Armstead]

7. The split exists, this just reflects that

[Godhumor]

9. Here on DU, this is still a far cry from 2008 n/t

[PonyUp]

4. We'll have the general and if the Democrat loses, the other Democrat's supporters will be blamed.

So the jibbing/jabbing and junk food will continue.

[auntpurl]

5. No I won't.

In fact, I'm thinking of taking a little break until the nomination is sewn up. I have a thick skin, but this place is toxic.

I challenge anyone to find a post in which I haven't been civil. One post. There are none. And yet, I've been called a liar, part of the 1%, out of touch with reality, a low-information voter, and one poster persisted in using extremely offensive rhetoric about rape even after I mentioned I was a rape survivor. I did not alert on the post because I knew it would be upheld.

Bernie supporters outnumber Hillary supporters on DU by quite a lot. It is not fun to be a Hillary supporter this primary season.

Too much toxicity for a place to spend my free time. I feel sick some days what I read here.

Things will improve hugely after the primaries. THEN we can go back to substantive discussion about the issues.

[VulgarPoet]

13. I talked to a couple more rational heads (one of which got unfairly silenced recently) who were

a massive help. I'm honestly considering just trashing GD-P, trashing the Hillary and Bernie groups, and taking a hiatus. After all, both my home of record state and the state that I'm stationed in have both primaried, and I don't really know anyone else in other states.

[Armstead]

17. Moderation is the key

I work on the computer, and I pop in and out...Sometimes I pop in and don't leave and get caught up in the drama which gets stressful (and causes my work deadlines to suffer)....But when I only do it occasionally, I can be a little more detached.

You're an interesting poster. Hope you stick around.

[VulgarPoet]

19. I need to figure out how to just hit and run, really

When I'm at work, unless it's a briefing day or we get a tasker from our CC, then we're basically just a secondary "shit's broke" alarm for our network, which means checks over multiple systems and then waiting. So here, I have time to catch up on what I've missed. It's when I'm off work, and supposed to be relaxing that I have issues with this site-- especially because I have moments where I'll get dragged into conversations of my own volition, and it just gets draining.

Moderation is the key, after all.

[sufrommich]

6. No. I'll be thrilled when the primaries are over.

I'd rather fight the republicans.

[msanthrope]

23. Yep. nt

[Godhumor]

8. I will admit that my post count had increased tremendously on GDP

I'm not at all sure that is a good thing, though.

Have gotten to know a lot of good people better through here, though. For all candidates.

[Armstead]

10. It's engagement at least

[earthshine]

11. Just like drugs, people can get addicted to anger, outrage, and the need to be right.

Cartoon: Someone is wrong on the Internet

http://xkcd.com/386/

At some level, the DU is a business and makes money from ads and paid memberships. So primary season is good for business.

But this primary season is certainly not good for party unity.

I'll be glad when it's over.

[Armstead]

14. Your cartoon

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[BeyondGeography]

12. I didn't fall in love this time so there won't be too much to miss

The real entertainment has been watching the GOP shit itself over Trump. But 2008, that was addicting as hell. Exhausting, too. I thought I'd miss it but then you go on to bigger things, like Nov. and watching our candidate beat the Republican. That will never get old.

One thing: if experience is any guide, most of "never gonna vote for, no how, no way" declarations are heat-of-the-moment things that go away pretty quickly.

One more thing: I hope you stick around awhile. You have been one of my favorite Sanders supporters.

[Armstead]

15. Well thanks....

[Kalidurga]

16. Nope

Most of it IS toxic. The few times it's just good fun hardly outweigh all the nastiness. We should at least be able to agree on the issues of economic fairness and social justice, but even those two issues get trampled all over.

[whatchamacallit]

18. What's not to love about 24/7 race/red baiting, hippie punching fun?

[senz]

31. They wouldn't do it if they didn't think it worked

to discredit the opposition and promote their own candidate.

It's not a matter of "personalities," it's tactical and strategic.

[renate]

20. No. I absolutely hate it

I hate the way people are being mean to each other and I hate the way people are tearing apart each other's candidates as if they aren't both a million trillion times better than any Republican candidate. We HAVE to get one of our two people into the White House (no criticism of people who just can't bring themselves to vote for one or the other, because a vote is a sacred and personal thing, but in the bigger picture a President Trump would be catastrophic).

I know you said you're not talking about missing the really toxic stuff, but still, no. I miss our old DU.

[jsmirman]

40. This is true and it's been brutal

Maybe we should all take a day off and reassess if we like what we've been doing to promote or frustrate the health of this site.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. This has been the most interesting primary since '68.

We finally have is far different than the usual "not as bad", "lesser of two evils" candidates we usually end up with.

[whatchamacallit]

24. And the party does everything it can to jettison him

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. Yep. Just like they did with McCarthy.

And, we ended up with Nixon.

[Capt. Obvious]

22. I haven't missed it in months

[CherokeeDem]

26. No....

It's been exceptionally childish and toxic this year... won't miss it at all.

[peace13]

27. No..

..and depending the outcome, I have no idea how to proceed with life.

[Trajan]

28. Considering I have nearly every Hillary supporter on ice

I cannot agree ... I'm not here to get in arguments ... I am here to join in support of a candidate ...

So, no, I have already rid myself of the petty, useless arguments ...

[senz]

29. The little jibs and jabs are intended to derail discussions and destroy the information flow.

One side wants to discuss values, goals, principles and issues. The other side wants to neutralize their opponents and shove their candidate ahead while preventing any meaningful content from getting through.

It is the equivalent of white noise. A form of censorship. If the fate of the country didn't hang in the balance, it wouldn't much matter.

Yes, it sucks, but we need a strategy for dealing with it.

[WhiteTara]

30. Not at all

My anxiety levels are at an all time high.

[ibegurpard]

32. Not really

We're talking about giving people power to shape the policy that directly affects our lives. It's not a game.

[bigwillq]

33. Yes. I like The Primary Wars.

Makes DU fun.

[BernieforPres2016]

34. Not at all

I had basically stopped paying attention to politics for the last 5-6 years, really actively avoiding it. If Bernie doesn't win the Democratic nomination or break off and either run for President as an Independent (which I don't think he will do) or start a new progressive movement that is separate from the Democratic Party, I will tune out politics again.

[PyaarRevolution]

35. Who says I'm going to stay still.

If Hillary wins the nomination, I won't shut up about her college plan for one. It's not good enough and I'll vote for her but I'll continue to pressure her about it.
I do have student loan debt but I'd rather NOT see that plan passed because as soon as it's passed, she'll ignore the college issue and pretend it's fixed.
Additionally, I plan to watch her like a hawk with TPP, among other things.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. No. I do not enjoy any team based, clique activity. It all sucks.

Like with sports or other passions there are those who pick up politics simply to have a palette and lexicon with which to form their attacks on others as can be seen by the many here who are 'for' candidates one year whom they hate like poison the next, it's about having a banner to snap at the asses of others. That's all it is for many on DU.

[randome]

37. But haven't you heard? We're becoming Nazi Germany!

Let's just remember the good times -when a squirrley bunch of yahoos invaded Oregon and made a bird sanctuary the emblem of their bitterness.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[UglyGreed]

38. I'll just go back to

having my threads about chronic pain and those who suffer being ignored

[jsmirman]

39. If it were just engagement, yes

I think it's really unfortunate that some have taken such direct aim at stifling disagreement and opposing view points. It's pretty shameful and it's not what this site is supposed to be about.

[CanonRay]

41. Like I miss Hives