Does it seem a little slow lately?

[Ballygrl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124031127

ellisonz
 
Does it seem a little slow lately?
Do you ever promote DU on other websites? How can we get more traffic to Democratic Underground and retain it?

Summer Hathaway
1. Somehow

I don't think anyone here really wants an honest answer to that question.

UnrepentantLiberal
2. A lack of enthusiasm?

I wonder what could be the cause of that?

UnrepentantLiberal
4. Sorry, I can't come up with anything.

How do you get liberals enthusiastic about a center-right president? I don't know.

They actually believe that!

Lionessa
10. Go back to being a small d democraticunderground instead big D party propaganda machine.

Celebration
22. A name change?

Democratic Ground Level and Above?

G_j
27. Have to say, I find it boring these days

not sure why, but so many interesting threads just sink, leaving a lot of bickering and less inspiring conversation. Maybe it's just me...

Purveyor
29. It certainly seems there is less participation. Example: I posted 9 articles since yesterday

and 7 of the nine articles received no comments at all.

Never used to be that way, imo.

Summer Hathaway
34. It is rather odd

You'd think a "Democratic-supporting" site would be experiencing an uptick in traffic in an election year.

There's been a definite upswing in traffic and new registrants on the other Dem websites I participate in - people looking to swap ideas about getting the vote out, local campaign hook-ups, ideas for getting the Dem message out to new voters, etc.

One can only wonder why that isn't the case here.

woo me with science
36. There's your problem in a nutshell:

DU was never primarily about "people looking to swap ideas about getting the vote out, local campaign hook-ups, ideas for getting the Dem message out to new voters, etc."

DU was always, first and foremost, a gathering place for wide-ranging, thoughtful, and in-depth discussions of liberal values, principles, and our political system.

Please see my post #35. When a rich political discussion site is hijacked for the purpose of getting out the party line and hawking votes, nobody should be surprised that those who contributed to the rich and substantive political discourse here are leaving for other venues.

Summer Hathaway
40. Excuse me?

Could you please point out where I said that DU was "primarily about" the pre-election activities I cited?

My entire post was about the fact of this being an election year, and finding it curious that participation on a political website would be declining rather than increasing.

By its own mission statement, one of DU's aims is "helping elect more Democrats to political office at all levels of American government".

What your complaint seems to be is that DemocraticUnderground has been '"hijacked" by Democrats, who are here in hopes of doing exactly that.

Perhaps the decline in participation here is the fact that DU is now neither fish nor fowl.

It is no longer a safe haven for Democrats who support the party and the Dem president, because they are inundated with Obama-bashing, and conspiracy theories about how DU is nothing more than a party propaganda tool.

By the same token, those who want to bash Obama and the party (under the guise of "rich and substantive political discourse") are not free to do so without interference.

That situation unfortunately has led to posters from both factions going elsewhere, where they are free to discuss politics on their own terms, and in keeping with their own agenda.

Number23
46. You just won Meta, and quite possibly DU

It is no longer a safe haven for Democrats who support the party and the Dem president, because they are inundated with Obama-bashing, and conspiracy theories about how DU is nothing more than a party propaganda tool.

By the same token, those who want to bash Obama and the party (under the guise of "rich and substantive political discourse") are not free to do so without interference.

Spot F*CKING on.

BlueIris
50. Backlash against the new format. It was inevitable.

And I don't believe any amount of promotion will change things.

TheEuclideanOne
72. Funny you would think so? Seriously? Actually, funny that you would NOT think so.

Let's point out the obvious here, the new DU3 format was released when it was only 40% done, with a huge backlash from many many members. The site is now focused on making sure everybody says just the right things, jurys to make it easy to make sure nobody uses words that might hurt anybody's feeling, EVEN INDIRECTLY, but the focus should be on providing the same functionality as before, not less functionality, and treating members like adults in a democratic society. The content is continuously stale, you have to search for interesting stories instead of the other way around, but the search functionality is minimal at best.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!! IT IS CALLED CAUSE AND EFFECT. So, in the last 3 months, during the Republican Primaries, during the debates no less, with the 6 most extremist Republicans contending and actively promoting their crazy agendas, right during an election year, and during 20+ Republican debates, the traffic is down 25%. Let me point out that it is down 25%, when it should be up 25/30% with an improved version of the site. Hmmm. How much does 50% change in traffic equate to in advertiser terms?

Sure, you can act surprised that traffic suddenly took a nose dive starting with the release of DU3, but nobody who has been complaining about the new DU3 will be surprised in the least.

Am I upset about the changes? Of course. I lost one of my enjoyed passtimes, visiting this site. The plus side is that I no longer compulsively visit the site 20 times a day, so at least I get more work done.

6 months from now, when the site is 50% of what it used to be during the time you should be setting record numbers in traffic, you can make the same argument and act really surprised.... thinking that it is funny anybody would try to connect the new format with the loss of traffic.

Realistically, if traffic suddenly goes down on a website, it is logical to examine what would have changed. If I were trying to solve the mystery and analyzing the site and just around the time that the traffic started to decline there were a flurry of people saying "I hate the new format and changes and not using the site anymore", it would be insane to pretend that the connection is purely coincidental.

Joe the Revelator
73. Where was this so called flurry of complaints?

There were at most 20 vocal members who held out against the new site.

And really, you think that moderators were more fair than juries? Really?

[thundley4]

DU was always, first and foremost, a gathering place for wide-ranging, thoughtful, and in-depth discussions of liberal values, principles, and our political system.

Wrong. DU was created a Bush Bashing , conspiracy theorists about election fraud site.

[Skul]

It's been slow for us, too.
So many nonsense threads over there, it's become difficult to really find good ones to mock.
There are a few reliable posters such as Nads, StinkDUde, Obamaha Steve, and others, that can always be counted on.
Other than that, all the rest are moles.

[Splashdown]

When "Name Removed" is one of the biggest posters at your site, eventually you're going to have a slow, listless discussion.

[Ballygrl]

Do they do "name removed" anymore?

[Chris_]

Do they do "name removed" anymore?

I don't think so.  Now you get that stupid jury warning or self-delete notice.

[Splashdown]

Damn! I'm waayyyy behind the times!

[Airwolf]

It's funny to watch them cry.

[USA4ME]

Summer Hathaway

Perhaps the decline in participation here is the fact that DU is now neither fish nor fowl.

Oh, it's always been fowl.

.

[delilahmused]

They need a good conspiracy they can all get behind. Anyone know what's going on with diebold?

Cindie

[Skul]

Oh, it's always been fowl foul.

Small fix.

[miskie]

DU is slow because everything they complained that Bush was doing in secret, Obama actually is in public, and they don't know how to respond to it - secondly, the site has become a victim of its own politically correct policies.

Which is why I suspect Skins & Co. are secretly wishing for a Republican victory - once DU has a common enemy again, it will spring back to life, and the donations and advertisement revenue will come rolling in. - Because that's what DU was made for - Its a place where the craziest of Democrats can come together to hate Republicans for fun & profit

[Karin]

those who contributed to the rich and substantive political discourse

Seize everybody's house!  Kill the millionaires!!
I don't care if we all live in gutters, I just don't want any more rich people!
If I drink a lot of pineapple juice, I can see the future!

[Carl]

I bet they never consider that they have driven off any dems with an ounce of sanity left.

[BlueStateSaint]

Which is why I suspect Skins & Co. are secretly wishing for a Republican victory - once DU has a common enemy again, it will spring back to life, and the donations and advertisement revenue will come rolling in. - Because that's what DU was made for - Its a place where the craziest of Democrats can come together to hate Republicans for fun & profit.

It's been said, by an Albany insider who is a good friend of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, that Cuomo secretly hopes for an Obama defeat as well.  The better to give Dandy Andy a path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.