Manners...They hurt no one and help everyone.

[dorktv]

Some thoughts as I watch and participate in the various threads:

1. This party is 216 years old. Nearly as old as the Union itself. A few more weeks of a campaign will not hurt it.

2. Anyone who is being rude should be called on it. By both sides.

3. Posting things that say "So and So Stop it!" "Why will she not go away!" "She is going to destroy our chances!" "Obama Is Never Going to Win GE..." Just keeping the rabble rousing up. So if you feel the need to post such a thing...stop, take a deep breath and ask yourself "am I doing this because I want a civil discussion or am I doing this because I am pissed off at something someone said and want to start a fight?" That someone can be anyone from another DUer or a candidate. If you are doing it to just start a fight, stop, get away from the computer and go have a cupcake or watch a speech of your candidate, or whatever calms you down.

4. If you think that someone will be offended by your post, think twice about posting it. Probably will offend someone and that is no way to heal the party.

5. Let people grieve who are Senator Clinton supporters because it is pretty likely she is not going to get it but she is going to stay in. EVEN IF YOU THINK THEY ARE WRONG for continuing to support her. Be polite to them if they are polite, and be polite to them even if they are rude while letting them know you are noticing their rudeness.

6. I know better then to suggest we stop having the 165,463,201,654 threads about how Senator Obama is the nominee or that Clinton is completely down and out. Until there is that first ballot at convention counted, NO ONE is the nominee. They are just the duuuuuuuuuuh nominee if someone drops out or if they get the magic number.

7. And finally-just be nice to one another. Put a person on ignore if you cannot stand what they say. Ask them to join you in using manners. And always walk away if you are going to be nasty. It is not worth it.

Anyone want to join me? :popcorn:

[NewHampshireDem]

1. No offense, but if we all followed #4, there'd be nothing left to post

:shrug:

[dorktv]

2. that should be a clue that we need to stop taking this so damn seriously

the board, not the race.

[NewHampshireDem]

7. Sure, but getting us 'all' to do something ... well ... I go back to these words

"I am a member of no organized political party-I am a Democrat."

[dorktv]

8. I keep trying to find out if he is a relative.

[NewHampshireDem]

9. ?

[dorktv]

10. Will Rogers!

[NewHampshireDem]

11. Sorry ... duh.

Bit of a brain-fart there. :)

[dorktv]

12. no worries

[NewHampshireDem]

13. Oh. I think I'm having a stroke and you say 'no worries'?

So much for your civility and calls for unity!

:P

[dorktv]

15. Brain farts are stinky and not strokes.

[NewHampshireDem]

16. Whew ...

:)

[grantcart]

3. manners are always a good idea

but the idea that we wait until August to know who the nominee is, well that simply is not the case and even the Clinton campaign said that it will not go past June.

The Republicans haven't had their convention and their nominee is set and ours will be known on May 20th or June 4th at the latest.

[dorktv]

5. the only way for sure that could happen is if Clinton releases her

delegates. The fact is that the Supers (by changing over to Senator Obama) are still free to vote whichever way.

That means that unless she releases them to him, it is still waiting for the first ballot.

[grantcart]

14. Now your being obtuse, the Clinton campaign has agreed it has to be over in early June

Even the pledged delegates are free to vote who ever they want.

The Clinton campaign has already agreed that it will be over by early June

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080508/ts_nm/usa_politics_mcauliffe_dc;_ylt=ApZ.FrMcYIcxrMS09DT09KGs0NUE

"It'll be over early June," McAuliffe said. "We've all said we'll be together at the end. If Hillary doesn't win, Hillary, (former) President (Bill) Clinton, myself, we'll be over there helping Senator Obama. And, likewise, Senator Obama will come together to help Hillary if she's the nominee."

[dorktv]

17. She still has to release her delegates.

[grantcart]

18. no she doesn't - he will have 2024 of his own lol

why do you argue when the Clinton campaign has stated that they will not prolong it and that the nominee will be known in early June?

[dorktv]

20. Because there is always that chance until the actual ballot is taken.

Is it likely? no, but it can happen so why be premature about it?

[grantcart]

30. when both campaigns agree that it cannot

but you don't want to be reasonable to known facts so better just to ignore than waste time

[PretzelWarrior]

4. nice.

I agree about manners. and I don't usually start threads attacking someone like a fellow DU'er. BUt Bill Clinton has it coming. This campaign dragging out past this next Tuesday is going to seem awfully counterproductive, delaying the inevitable, and playing into Republican hands.

[dorktv]

6. No, the party can certainly handle massive increases in voting.

By the way, I have little fault with what they are saying. Mainly because I have been too often in the glare of the media to not see how it is easy to go one way.

[hfojvt]

19. I think the manners police hurt everybody

How is it not rude for somebody to appoint themself the manners police and then to scold everybody else who does not follow their rules?

What is a civil discussion? Suppose I am a verbal fencer. A vigorous match with an equally (or superior) skilled fencer might get pretty hot and heavy with some slashing and quick ripostes, and some of the palpable hits may sting a little, but that is not the same as a sword fight. It takes more than one person to start a fight, nobody has to respond to flame-bait with flame or to respond to flame with more flame.

[dorktv]

21. jumping in to start a flame war "even to just respond to flame bait"

serves little purpose and you know it.

And you also know what I am talking about-not a vigious discussion of issues or policy but the constant "She sucks, He sucks, they are hurting the party!" Type of thing.

[hfojvt]

25. DUers and people IRL

are often surprised at the things I don't know.

Why should a vigorous discussion be limited to issues or policy? I called you on the phone to talk about the teachers that we hate. If I wanted to discuss issues or policy, then I'd be in GD, or an issues forum, rather than GDP where we compare our candidate to a summer's day to the derision of the confederacy of dunces and where we heap the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes onto our opponents.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. Ah, but I believe that good manners keeps one from scolding another

Best to keep silent if someone starts verbally fencing if you are a bystander. And if you are not, you can always end the "match" with "You may be right." Nice thing about that sentence is that it diffuses any built up anger and yet does not concede one's own point of view. And it is truthful, by and large--unless something can be irrefutably proven, then there is always a bit of doubt about a statement. Besides, it is an interesting practice in and of itself, especially if one feels one's ego is getting a bit out of hand in any given situation.

The only time that one should intervene in what are known as "flame wars", I think, is to hit the ALERT button if you feel that a poster has violated the rules. In your PM to the mods, you can explain. Then you do NOTHING ELSE. This is especially hard because often you want to reply, especially if the remark made is blatantly rude in some way. But if you have patience, you'll come back and see that the post has been deleted because the person didn't follow the rules.

[NewHampshireDem]

22. One thing that I would add to your list of suggestions

Is to not spend all your time (not you, the rhetorical 'you') posting things like 'How is this helping your candidate?'

Not gonna name names, but there's been a couple of people--well, okay, one very, very persistent person--who I swear to god posted that several times on several different threads. He/she/it would admonish people to start attacking McCain, yet had no original OP's him/her/itself. That really, really pushed my buttons. :nuke:

[hfojvt]

23. How is that suggestion gonna help your candidate?

:P

[NewHampshireDem]

24. Alrighty then ... one more for ignore ...

:P

[dorktv]

34. There are times that speaking German is good-cuz I know it has a nonspecific

you

[shenmue]

26. You're right, but good luck getting anywhere with that idea.

I want to applaud you, but since you are advocating decency on a site that has gleefully rolled in hatred and obnoxiousness for months now, I doubt anybody else will pick up on it.

The admins do nothing about the thousands upon thousands of Obama agitator accounts--the people who deliberately sign up for accounts, post a few dozen or a few hundred times, post nothing but insults, rumors and editorials from 15 years ago, and then vanish into thin air. This is either agitprop, which should lead to people being banned, or Obama supporters now look at DU as a joke. There is no need for them to act this way, but that's all they've been doing for weeks and weeks on end, so we can't call it a fluke or a mistake. The site moderators let it happen, because you can't question Saint Obama and the huge crush his supporters have on him. :eyes:

No one's allowed to bring up the support Obama got in the states where you're allowed to cross party lines and vote for anyone, not just the party with which you're registered. He garnered this type of support many more times than Hillary, but guess who was blasted for it? Right. No one's allowed to bring up the fact that Obama supporters have overloaded this site with hateful personal attacks. No one's allowed to talk about Obama's support from the evangelical movement, who are often anti-feminist, anti-gay and in some cases have very questionable finances. No one's allowed to worry about that, because gee, doesn't that mean you must be racist by default? :eyes:

If you ask why are the same people allowed to register for DU accounts, post flamebait and flagrant TOS violations, drop out of sight for a little while so they don't get banned, and then come back under a bunch of different names, you're called someone who wants to curtail others' free speech. Aren't people just expressing themselves? Well, no. Last I heard, you couldn't yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. And DU used to have something called integrity. It upheld its TOS and made this a place that was full of vim and vigor, but never really a parody of itself.

Come on now. Stop being naive and stop playing the kumbaya game when it's plain the Obama crowd at DU have no shame. This is fun to them. Given that, how do you think they are going to treat the rest of the country?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. Yes

Manners are something that everyone either can have or won't have at all. We cannot choose where or to whom we are born; we often have little say in our economic situation; however, we choose whether or not to be polite. I have noticed a certain courtly elegance in people who are polite, especially to strangers--you see this, for example, in waiting rooms in hospitals. Those folks may not be wearing expensive clothes or sport diamonds, but they have an inherent richness because of their demeanor.

The internet is a different story, however. Perhaps it is because we strangers don't ever see each other face to face. Or perhaps on the internet you meet folks who do not believe manners are something to be cherished. And yet....and yet....the words you type and what you say do have an impact. And they do reflect back on you.

[scheming daemons]

29. "Manners" is a sexist term.... it should be "Womanners".....

;-)

[Seabiscuit]

31. Obamanoids didn't come to DU to be nice. They came to disrupt and insult. Period. n/t

They think "manners" refers to large houses in Great Britain.

[Umbram]

32. You are complaining about manners and being insulting in the process.

So, let me guess - you don't see yourself as part of the problem.

How shocking.

[goclark]

33. Posts today in GD-P are majority Clinton

supporters.

Fine with me.

Seems like other Obama Supporters are checking it out and letting them rant and Move the BAR and say we are elite.

Well I shall act "elite" and not bother to respond.

[Cha]

35. Tell that to hilary.

But, she'd laugh in your face.