Skinner: DU General Election season postponed til June 20

[auntpurl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10137065

Well, this is embarrassing.

As most of you know, last week we began the seven-day transition period from Primary Season to General Election Season and announced that DU's General Election Season would officially begin on Thursday June 16.

From the perspective of the Admins, this transition has been nowhere near as straightfoward as previous ones. For the past six months we have been planning and building out a new system to replace/upgrade/improve the current Jury system. Elad has been working his butt off to get it finished, and over the last seven days we have been testing the new software with the help of MIRT members.

The new software is ready to go, but we have an unexpected problem -- Elad is not going to be fully available this weekend to monitor the site and make sure everything is running smoothly.

Therefore we have been faced with a choice: either go ahead and put up all the changes tomorrow -- but run the risk that something might go awry over the weekend and make DU unusable for hours at a time -- or wait until Monday when we can be sure that any (inevitable) bugs are identified and fixed quickly.

[randome]

1. THIS IS VOTER FRAUD, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

[auntpurl]

2. lol

Do you know, this whole primary cycle and I STILL don't understand how the words "oligarchy", "corporatist", and "fraud" are used here on DU. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Some Bernie supporters were claiming "voter fraud" regarding New York's early registration rule. (Which i do think is too early.) Like, that's not FRAUD. I DON'T THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS.

[TwilightZone]

8. And neoliberal. And "voter suppression"

Neoliberal, as I understand it, seems to mean anyone to the left of Sanders. Maybe including Sanders.

Salon, in particular, loves them some neoliberal.

I've seen same-day registration being labeled as voter suppression because the primaries were closed. Um, no.

[randome]

12. So many handy words to use, it must be hard to keep up.

[rock]

15. +1

Right on auntpurl!

[NurseJackie]

18. Disenfranchisement = Enforcing registration deadlines, apparently.

[TwilightZone]

32. Ah, good one.

That one was rather common.

[PJMcK]

30. Words have fluid meanings, dontcha know?

The misuse of words today is stunning. Here's a fun example: if someone reads a page quickly, did they skim it or scan it? The correct answer is they skimmed it. It's like skim milk- you skim off the top. But a scanner is a device that looks at a document in great detail. Yet very often, people will say that they quickly scanned a page when they mean the opposite.

The politically charged words we see every day have actual and real definitions. To the examples you cited, auntpurl, I'd add Fascist, Socialist and even anti-American among others. But that's why we have dictionaries. If we're going to have meaningful communications, we have to have a baseline where we agree on the meaning of the words we use to articulate our disagreements.

For decades, Republicans have debased our language and used words to mean their exact opposites: Clean Air Act, No Child Left Behind and my all-time personal favorite, the War on Terror. It's all been part of their obfuscation, of course, but by repeating their words over and over, the reversals of meanings takes hold. Beyond political affiliations, often people's passions lead them to use words improperly without the awareness of, or sometimes even concern for their error.

While I acknowledge that languages are fluid, the correct understanding of the words we use is paramount to having substantive conversations leading to progressive goals.

[auntpurl]

36. I agree! Great post. nt

[hobbit709]

3. some of the would be purgers' hearts are broken.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. Skinner has reiterated a hundred times that there will be no mass purges

[TwilightZone]

10. There has, however, been a lot of self-purging the past day or two.

They're probably regretting their premature departures now that they would have had four more days to troll.

[workinclasszero]

16. IKR?

[NurseJackie]

19. They could always come back ... and try to slam the door LOUDER when they storm out again.

[auntpurl]

20. I used to do that when I was a teenager.

[NurseJackie]

21. "Hey! Why aren't you coming after me? Didn't you hear what I said?..."

"I told you I'm running away to join the circus and I'm NEVER coming back! You're just too old to understand! I don't need you! I don't need anyone! You can't tell me what to do! I'm my own person! How dare you not take me seriously! Okay, one last time ... I'm leaving ... and this time I MEAN IT! You'll never hear from me again! And you'll be sorry! This is it! I'm heading to the door now. Once I leave, I'm never coming back. Here I go. I'm reaching for the doorknob. I'm opening the door. I'm stepping through. Once I leave, I'll never change my mind."

**SLAM!!!!**
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

"Mom, when's dinner? I'm hungry."

[auntpurl]

22. Yep.

[hobbit709]

23. Wasn't talking about Skinner.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. And I'm saying how could people possibly look forward to something that isn't going to happen?

And I'm saying how could people possibly look forward to something that isn't going to happen?

[hobbit709]

27. There are several currently on flagged for review that have repeatedly called for purges.

And a few others that are not on timeout. they've flat out stated they would use the alert system every way they can.

Funny how all of the above are denizens of Camp Bansalot.

[oasis]

5. I just woke up to "Groundhog Day"

[Renew Deal]

9. lol

[arely staircase]

6. Does this mean we still cant mention HRC in GD?

[auntpurl]

7. I would think so, yes.

If they are maintaining the Primary forum, then I assume we're expected to use it until the changeover.

[arely staircase]

11. That is just weird. nt

[TwilightZone]

13. I took it to mean that everything now remains static until the 20th.

[arely staircase]

14. So what we have here is a general discussion forum on a political website during a presidential

election year at the point that both parties have a presumptive nominee.

And we cant talk about it.

Goofy.

[orwell]

17. Oh the Humanity!

It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship, and they've been taken a hold of down on the field by a number of men.] It's starting to rain again; it's—the rain has slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it just, just enough to keep it from — It burst into flames! It burst into flames, and it's falling, it's crashing! Watch it, watch it! Get out of the way! Get this, Charlie! Get this, Charlie! It's fire—and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my, get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames, and the—and it's falling on the mooring-mast and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world. [Indecipherable word(s)] It's–it's–it's the flames, [indecipherable, possibly the word "climbing"] oh, four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it ... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's flames now ... and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring-mast. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there. Ah! It's–it's–it's–it's ... o–ohhh! I–I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming. Lady, I–I'm sorry. Honest: I–I can hardly breathe. I–I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah—I can't. I, listen, folks, I–I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.

[azurnoir]

24. I am honestly disappointed IMO GE season could go on without the new software being in place

[Lord Magus]

29. Agreed. No reason civility should have to wait for new software. -nt-

[Beacool]

26. Damn those super delegates!!!

[Buns_of_Fire]

28. But all our travel papers are dated for tomorrow!

[auntpurl]

31. Lol

[auntpurl]

34. Let's find out.

EDITED TO ADD: the post above did not have the (just kidding) part when it was sent to alert.

[auntpurl]

35. Guess not.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. That's good.

Some people are really going to have trouble with not being able to say "berniebro" anymore.