When DU first came online,they allowed conservatives to post there....but it got very ugly in short order! As you may remember Frank! 
I became aware of Skins's island in late January, early February, 2001; it opened up the day George Bush was inaugurated president, Alphonse Capote Gore having tried to steal Florida, and failed.
I registered there, but due to modesty, because I didn't have a whole lot to say, I didn't say much.
But for a couple of years, I paid it little attention, looking at it maybe once or twice a week, four or five minutes at a time. The Bostonian Drunkard even back then, in his more youthful days, was boring.
I had been lurking at freerepublic since late 1998 (but never became a member there until October 2003, as I'm not the sort of person who arrogantly shoves himself into a web-site; I like to get used to things first), and once in a while Skins's island was mentioned, which inspired me to look at it a little more often.
But it wasn't until the advent of P-J Comix's most-excellent
DUmmie FUnnies the autumn of 2004, that I began paying attention. Autumn 2004 was when Doug's ex-wife
et al. came aboard there, and one could sense mischief was afoot.
And then during Doug's ex-wife's mischief, I became aware of our old home, "the site that shall not be named," and got out the boat and rowed over to Skins's island somewhat more often.
While we were still over at our old home, I paid attention to only "General Discussion" on Skins's island; in fact, I wasn't even aware any other forums existed.
It takes me time to learn things.
However, one has to agree that most primitives also think "General Discussion" is the only forum on Skins's island. It's hip, it's cool, it's trendy, it's with it, to be in "General Discussion," and if aware of other forums, the primitives think those other forums aren't important.
The primitives want to be hip, cool, trendy, with it.
It wasn't until we all migrated over here from our old home that I became aware of these other forums. Being named a moderator here, I felt a moral obligation to post the best that one could find on Skins's island, and so I motivated myself to go exploring.
I'm still exploring; it's been a long process, but then and again, one has to remember the nature of Skins's island, small, congested with primitives, congested with all sorts of flora and fauna, things utterly alien to decent and civilized people.
