Democratic Underground Administrator Posts Absurdly Detailed Rules to Micromanage Dissent

NewsBusters ^ | June 21, 2010 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

The leftwing blogosphere has a big problem: dissent. Last week we saw Keith Olbermann leaving the Daily Kos because he was attacked there for mildly criticizing Barack Obama. And this week, the administrator of the Democratic Underground, David Allen aka Skinner, was forced to deal with a recent wave of purges (tombstoning). One reason was due to simple liberal crackup temper tantrums among the DUers as happened when their most prominent member, William Rivers Pitt of Karl Rove indictment hoax fame, was tombstoned last month for threatening physical violence upon a fellow DUer who turned out to be a homeless woman. More serious is the current wave of dissent from DUers who are expressing dissatification with Obama's poor performance as president.

In order to stifle more dissent, Allen has set forth an absurdly detailed and lengthy set of rules for posting at the Democratic Underground. The result is pure comedy gold. So enjoy this small sampling from the buffet table of Allen's obsessive micromanagement down to the smallest laughable detail:

{ } Inappropriate attacks against Democrats
- Insults against prominent Democrats, such as "F--- Obama."
- Name-calling against prominent Democrats. Calling Barack Obama "Barry" or some other name.
- Repeating Republican partisan attacks against Democrats.
- Broadly suggesting that there is no difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush, or that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. (Arguing that specific policies are the same would be permitted.)
- Suggesting that President Obama has perpetrated a "con job" or "fraud," or similarly over-the-top assertions of bad faith.
- Advocating voting against Democrats, or in favor of third-party or GOP candidates.
- Broad-brush smears against Democrats generally.

[PhiloBedo]

I went over there and , holy cow, the thread is like a feeding frenzy! DU threads hardly get a half a dozen posts and this one has at least a hundred!

A poster at DU will get banned for calling Barry, Barry.

I jumped in just to add a little chaos and dissent. It was kinda fun.

And yes, I took a shower afterwards, and surfed some muscle car sites to clean out my mind.

[GSP.FAN]

Kids need rules...

[anniegetyourgun]

That would stand to reason - they have a seared conscience.

[PhiloBedo]

Skinner calls Barry the first Democratic president........ I corrected him, he would be the first Democrat president.

[Rebelbase]

Found this gem on that thread over at the DUmp:

“For instance how much time does it take to keep this site running smoothly—free of technological hiccups, loss of service, protection from the random Freeper DOS attack”

OK, fess up, who has been orchestrating DOS attacks on the DUmp?

[jazminerose]

Animal Farm.

[null and void]

- Highly speculative "conspiracy theory" topics outside the September 11 forum.

They write themselves...

[rlmorel]

Right. See my post at #48. That argument is absurd to the point of hilarity! Sure, we have our ideologues, the virulently anti-(insert some name here) folks, but by and large, it is freedom of speech here.

Ever notice the difference in profanity levels as well? Here you see an occasional “ass”, “damn” and so on, and you NEVER see the “F” word in posts. At least, I cannot remember seeing one.

There have been people who have left over the years claiming infringement of freedom of speech, but I have always felt that conservatives understand restrictions here aren’t an assault on our freedom of speech, because we don’t own the site. Someone named Jim Robinson does, and most of us understand we can vote with our dollars and feet. Many have.

I think my transposition in post #48 shows how specious is the claim that DU and FR are mirror images of each other. They aren’t, and neither are conservatives and liberals.

[Richard Kimball]

[rlmorel]

Bottom line is, at Free Republic, people can say anything in that list they want. They may be ridiculed, attacked, denigrated, pressured and so on, but nobody is writing rules saying they CAN’T say something.

You CAN say it, just be prepared to defend it...:)

[Pan_Yan]

David Allen aka Skinner,

David? I was sure Skinner's first name was Richard.

[Richard Kimball]

Well, I do remember after the 2004 (?) elections, some enterprising soul rigged up DU so that when the main page opened a popup window showed up that said “All your Senate are belong to us.”

[Roscoe Karns]

[rlmorel]

I think they have found us out! QUICK! Hide the files...initiate erase sequence plan XG7865-4B.

Those reading this thread who retain any memory of it will be tracked down individually to have their memories erased.

This means you.

[rlmorel]

I was thinking more Lord of the Flies.

[oprahstheantichrist]

"We you aspire for perfection with fluid secular morality as your guidepost this is where it always leads, ALWAYS."

Fascinating post until the last sentence. Could you clarify that?

[anniegetyourgun]

Whoa....amazing.

[Rebelbase]

I am Spartacus.

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[Pan_Yan]

You wins at internets.