Populist Reform of the Democratic Party
In reply to the discussion: How is this group a "safe haven?" [View all]thesquanderer
(12,350 posts)Because of the way I use DU, I would never see such a thing.
I clicked this thread because of its appearance in "Trending Now" on the home page.
I'm not a DU pro. The only way I read things is by clicking them from the home page (Trending Now, Latest Breaking News, Greatest Threads, etc.).
I do see a list of Topics on the left, I've never used them. And a "forums and groups" tab up top, ditto.
Anyway, my point remains, if someone finds your thread by an appearance on the home page, it is very possible that they are not aware of it being in any particular group, much less that there may therefore be certain rules that apply. I've probably been on DU for over 10 years, I check it almost daily for articles of interest, and I post now and then... and this is the first I'm learning about this. None of this is evident to a casual user who rarely goes beyond whatever articles happen to appear on the home page. So I wouldn't assume that negative comments are necessarily from intentionally disruptive trolls.
Maybe a thread in a "safe haven" group should have a big notice at the top of the page, so that, no matter how someone arrives at the page, they are made aware that this isn't a place for back-and-forth discussion, but rather, a place for mutual support of like-minded people. Honestly, until today, I wasn't even aware that DU had such things. And while not a pro, I'm not a total novice, either.