A huge THANK YOU to all our donors. You all really came through!

[Skinner]

As you may know, we did not have very high expectations for last week's fund drive. We know a lot of you have been upset about the extended Democratic presidential primary, and how the infighting between the supporters of the two remaining candidates has made Democratic Underground a significantly less friendly place than usual. And we know that the economy is not doing very well right now. There are plenty of reasons why you all could have decided not to support our fund drive, and perhaps you would have been justified in making that choice.

And yet, once again, you all came through for us. Thank you to everyone who donated last week, and thank you to all of our monthly subscribers.

We are very grateful to have such generous and understanding members. We know that this place can be frustrating sometimes. But still you recognize the value of DU, and you are ready and willing to help -- even when times are tough.

And the support could not have come at a more critical time. We have experienced a significant increase in traffic to our site over the last six months. You may have noticed that sometimes we have to turn off some of our functions in order to keep up with the high traffic -- and it has been happening more and more as of late. We are in the process of (once again) upgrading our database server. The new server, which should come online in the next few weeks, will probably cost somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000.

So, thank you, DUers. You all are the best.

David Allen ("Skinner")
Dave Allsopp ("EarlG")
Brian Leitner ("Elad")
DU Administrators

By the way: You are now able to check your DU donor status. Just click the "Options" icon at the top of any page, and then click the "Donor status" link. Make sure that your donor status is up-to-date, because we are going to be implementing some new ad placements, and donors don't have to see them.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Hey you guys look great bald

but most guys do. When my wife gets that romantic itch she starts mentioning how much I look like Sean Connery then I start talking like a Scotsman. Hey, what were we talking about?

[DerekJ]

2. I'm again offering my help as a LAMP professional. I can probably help you reduce the number of

servers by half.

[Ysabel]

3. thank you too / thanks everybody (k and r)...

:)

[Spazito]

4. Well, Grovel-bot did a VERY BAD job in convincing us NOT to contribute....

so bad I contributed twice! Damn, could it have been the dreaded "reverse psychology" at work? Drats, I fell for it!

Thanks admins and mods for all you do, it is MUCH APPRECIATED by this DUer!

[here_is_to_hope]

5. Ha! I cant believe you wasted a GD:P post on this!

:yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[LowerManhattanite]

6. You are immensely welcome...

...and I appreciate your facilitating the forum.

[Adelante]

7. GrovelBot's reverse psychology worked!

Good grovel, Bot :)

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. Thank us too if you want us back after silly season

We have no reason to support abuse.

[Coexist]

9. I'm glad it was successful

[Binka]

10. You Are Most Welcome!

Good time to give out stars to worthy DUers!

[NatBurner]

11. i'm enjoying my little star, sir

[akbacchus_BC]

12. Hi you, it was my pleasure to donate and the Admins and the Mods

are doing a great job. Glad the fundraising was successful. We are here for DU, this place is awesome.

[Cha]

13. Plus I gave all my money

to Obama but I'd go really whack without DU and we all want that new server.

Thanks to the Admins for DU and the mods for dealing on a daily basis.

[cliffordu]

14. DAMN YOU GROVELBOT!!!

I actually contributed.

Now, instead of being just an ass, I am a self-satisfied ass.


You folks do an amazing job. Thanks for the effort!!

[davidpdx]

15. Did you guys really shave your heads?

If not, we ought to make that a requirement on the next fundraising drive if we hit a certain amount. And you have to post the video of it too!

HAHA!

[Skinner]

20. Alas, no.

I did actually ask my wife if she would mind if I did, but she was not particularly supportive of the idea.

[kentuck]

16. What does it say when the traffic increases almost exponentially?

A lot of people come to the underground to get the real story. :-)

[Straight Shooter]

17. An Obama supporter donated a star to me, so I donated a star to an Obama supporter.

Kumbaya, DU, kumbaya :D

[Seabiscuit]

18. Just checked my "Donor status" and I'm good until 2/9/09.

Hopefully by then not only will GD Primaries be long gone, but along with it the thousands of posters that turned it into a one-candidate-playground-for-cowardly, childish bullies; and perhaps some modicum of even-handedness on the part of the mods will be restored.

If not, well, there will surely be some greener pastures around by then.

[crimsonblue]

19. duplicate thread...

please consider deleting... :P

[wellstone dem]

21. Thanks to DU for being a great place, most of the time!