Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

EarlG

(22,540 posts)
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:14 PM Jan 2021

PSA: If you joined DU between 2001 and mid-2003, you now have a proper join date

As mentioned in my anniversary thread last week, we have been working to assign join dates to members who joined prior to the launch of DU2 in mid-2003. The reason for this is that we will soon be starting a daily thread to celebrate DUers' anniversaries and posting milestones, and of course we didn't want to leave out our earliest members.

Elad has now completed the process of assigning join dates, so if you are a member who joined between 2001 and mid-2003, you can now see that date on your profile. Unfortunately, due to the way that we had to calculate these dates, we cannot guarantee that it is your exact join date -- however, rest assured that if it is not exactly correct, it is certainly within three or four days of the actual date. (Also note that everyone has a join time of 4:00AM -- we didn't calculate estimated times, so that was simply a side effect of the process of assigning dates.)

We're still testing to make sure the new daily thread works correctly, but we hope to have it up and running very soon.

Thanks for reading!



-- EarlG and Elad

54 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
PSA: If you joined DU between 2001 and mid-2003, you now have a proper join date (Original Post) EarlG Jan 2021 OP
I noticed that yesterday underpants Jan 2021 #1
This is so cool WhiteTara Jan 2021 #2
Fri Oct 25, 2002. Cool!! GreenPartyVoter Jan 2021 #3
Thank you! UpInArms Jan 2021 #4
Huh! I was sure I joined before October 2001! Maeve Jan 2021 #5
Me too. I lurked beginning inauguration day, 2001, but didn't register until July, 01... hlthe2b Jan 2021 #50
exactly one month before 9/11 Skittles Jan 2021 #6
Hi Skittles griffi94 Jan 2021 #21
You had a Mint Skittles picture. nt Gore1FL Jan 2021 #43
Cool. And I appreciate the explanation regarding the 4:00 a.m. time stamp! Native Jan 2021 #7
I actually didn't ask EarlG Jan 2021 #9
Gotcha. That makes sense. Native Jan 2021 #10
Can the old guard now get something special like a differently colored star? Native Jan 2021 #11
Cool! Dyedinthewoolliberal Jan 2021 #8
I was wondering about that time. I guess it says 3am and not 4am because of CST? efhmc Jan 2021 #12
Mine says Nov. 10, 2003, murielm99 Jan 2021 #33
May 28 2001 for me... comradebillyboy Jan 2021 #13
I did. BUT I had to re-join with a new name when I changed emails and lost my password. Binkie The Clown Jan 2021 #14
Same SalviaBlue Jan 2021 #31
Thank you! ProfessorPlum Jan 2021 #15
Mine is off by two years. stopbush Jan 2021 #16
Different account maybe? EarlG Jan 2021 #18
No. Same moniker I started with. stopbush Jan 2021 #48
October 5, 2003. Yikes! lamp_shade Jan 2021 #17
Cool! Thank you! sueh Jan 2021 #19
woohoo. thanks. KG Jan 2021 #20
I joined some time after bush v. gore and well before 9-11. 90-percent Jan 2021 #22
See post 18 above EarlG Jan 2021 #23
well, my du life prior to 2004 90-percent Jan 2021 #25
Member since: Wed Sep 5, 2001, 04:00 AM Dukkha Jan 2021 #24
Since you guys have such awesome power, Dem2theMax Jan 2021 #26
How fun! Happyhippychick Jan 2021 #27
Well, Earl, mine says 2008. It's very incorrect. I've been coming here since the beginning. I may judesedit Jan 2021 #28
It's based on when your account was created EarlG Jan 2021 #35
I've served on your jury many times. That is what's very weird. judesedit Jan 2021 #42
What probably happened is EarlG Jan 2021 #46
Gotcha. Thanx! judesedit Jan 2021 #47
Fri Jul 25, 2003 Reader Rabbit Jan 2021 #29
mine says 2016, but we all had to re do our passwords and usernames in the AllaN01Bear Jan 2021 #30
Passwords had to be changed but EarlG Jan 2021 #39
thanks for your information. AllaN01Bear Jan 2021 #45
Awesome! Thank you! colorado_ufo Jan 2021 #32
Thank you Earl. Great job and thanks for your hard work. slater71 Jan 2021 #34
My username has always been the same. My password had to be judesedit Jan 2021 #36
I noticed. Thanks LiberalFighter Jan 2021 #37
Yay! Thank you! March 30, 2003! Mrs. Overall Jan 2021 #38
March 31, 2002. aquamarina Jan 2021 #40
Cool! Gore1FL Jan 2021 #41
Member since: Wed Nov 10, 2004, 12:27 PM. n/t aggiesal Jan 2021 #44
Late to reply but THANK YOU! MuseRider Jan 2021 #49
Been a few changes around here ForrestGump Feb 2021 #51
yay to all you old timers! The only forum Ive been in that long is the golden retriever forum samnsara Feb 2021 #52
Oh wow.. glad I finally saw this! Cha Feb 2021 #53
Neat. Mon Aug 6, 2001, 04:00 AM ThirdEye Feb 2021 #54

Maeve

(42,959 posts)
5. Huh! I was sure I joined before October 2001!
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:31 PM
Jan 2021

Must have lurked longer than I thought I did... It was a rather long time ago...

However, I still claim that I am one of the DUers who got Skinner to add the blush smilie-- after I made a stupid mistake as a mod (but we won't go into that!)

Thanks for the extra effort, guys!

hlthe2b

(106,330 posts)
50. Me too. I lurked beginning inauguration day, 2001, but didn't register until July, 01...
Thu Jan 28, 2021, 10:22 AM
Jan 2021

So very like me to "check it out" first, I guess.

griffi94

(3,830 posts)
21. Hi Skittles
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:34 PM
Jan 2021

My join date is July 14 2002 at 4:00 AM.

I didn't sleep much during the Bush presidency. Lol

Native

(6,551 posts)
7. Cool. And I appreciate the explanation regarding the 4:00 a.m. time stamp!
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:35 PM
Jan 2021

May I ask why you chose 4:00 a.m.?

EarlG

(22,540 posts)
9. I actually didn't ask
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:39 PM
Jan 2021

My guess is that it's something to do with the time actually being assigned as 12:00 UTC, but Elad is on the West Coast so it ended up displaying as 8 hours behind. I didn't think the time was too important -- the date was what we were going for.

efhmc

(15,005 posts)
12. I was wondering about that time. I guess it says 3am and not 4am because of CST?
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:51 PM
Jan 2021

Sun Nov 3, 2002, 03:00 AM

murielm99

(31,433 posts)
33. Mine says Nov. 10, 2003,
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:03 PM
Jan 2021

but I lurked for a full year before joining.

I have always been a star member. I recommend it.

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
14. I did. BUT I had to re-join with a new name when I changed emails and lost my password.
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 12:58 PM
Jan 2021

I joined during the Howard Dean campaign. As for join date, it really doesn't matter, does it? We're here now and that's the most important thing.

EarlG

(22,540 posts)
18. Different account maybe?
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 01:59 PM
Jan 2021

User ids are given out incrementally, and your user id is 127665. The last user ids of 2001 are around the 108200 range, which means the stopbush account couldn't have been created in 2001...

stopbush

(24,630 posts)
48. No. Same moniker I started with.
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:54 PM
Jan 2021

DU and Smirking Chimp were the places I sought refuge after W was installed by the SCOTUS, and IIRC, it was very early on in his reign of error.

KG

(28,766 posts)
20. woohoo. thanks.
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:29 PM
Jan 2021

forgot when it was - Thu Aug 23, 2001,

I was aware when DU was launched. it was awhile before I took the message board plunge

90-percent

(6,890 posts)
22. I joined some time after bush v. gore and well before 9-11.
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:35 PM
Jan 2021

Here's a comment from my profile back when we had to rejoin or something long time ago:

'Gee - my profile info didn't migrate from the old DU I guess? "

DU sez mt life here started 2004 but i think i was here since 2001?

i like to think i got in early on, but the current du info on me doesn't reflect that.

FWIW

-90% jimmy

90-percent

(6,890 posts)
25. well, my du life prior to 2004
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:44 PM
Jan 2021

is lost to history. so be it. minor compared to everything else i've lost in my life the last ten or 20 years.

thanks for looking into it.


-jim

Dem2theMax

(10,274 posts)
26. Since you guys have such awesome power,
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:46 PM
Jan 2021

I don't suppose you could change my birthdate and make me younger?

judesedit

(4,510 posts)
28. Well, Earl, mine says 2008. It's very incorrect. I've been coming here since the beginning. I may
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:50 PM
Jan 2021

not have been a star member before 2008, though. I started going to Huff Post, Alternet, Brad Blog, and every liberal site I could find during the Bush debacle in 2000. I was an avid Air America fan and as soon as Democratic Underground started it became my go to site. I preferred DU's formatting compared to the other sites. Although huffpost was good back then, too. Just curious how you determine the start date????

I've also served on the jury quite a few times and I see it says "No" on my profile???

EarlG

(22,540 posts)
35. It's based on when your account was created
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:06 PM
Jan 2021

We have an accurate record of everybody’s join date since mid-2003. This fix — based on user id numbers —only affects accounts that were created before that.

If your profile says you’re not willing to serve on Juries, but you want to, click the My Account link at the top of the page and scroll down to the Preferences section. Check the “Willingness to serve on Juries” option.

judesedit

(4,510 posts)
42. I've served on your jury many times. That is what's very weird.
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:11 PM
Jan 2021

I guess my feelings are just hurt cause I'm not remembered. lol. Thanks for responding.

EarlG

(22,540 posts)
46. What probably happened is
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:15 PM
Jan 2021

at some point you meant to click “not now” on a Jury request, and you accidentally clicked the “don’t ask me again” button, which resets the preference to “unwilling.” It happens from time to time.

Reader Rabbit

(2,663 posts)
29. Fri Jul 25, 2003
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:52 PM
Jan 2021

I know I found DU right after the selection in 2000, but I must have lurked for a long time before officially joining.

Dayum, it's been a long time!

AllaN01Bear

(23,039 posts)
30. mine says 2016, but we all had to re do our passwords and usernames in the
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 02:59 PM
Jan 2021

fallout after the infamous hack of 2016.

judesedit

(4,510 posts)
36. My username has always been the same. My password had to be
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:07 PM
Jan 2021

changed at least once, though. And I've had a few email and physical addresses since the beginning. Democratic Underground saved my sanity during the 2000 Bush installation. Anyway, thanks for being there then and being here now. I've spent many anxious days and sleepless nights on your site, sometimes coming here, literally, a hundred times a day, I'll bet. No kidding. DU's the best!

Mrs. Overall

(6,839 posts)
38. Yay! Thank you! March 30, 2003!
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 03:08 PM
Jan 2021

DU has helped me get through some rough political times in the last 18 years!

MuseRider

(34,368 posts)
49. Late to reply but THANK YOU!
Wed Jan 27, 2021, 10:49 PM
Jan 2021

In the long run it does not mean much to anyone but those of us who have kinda wanted to know. I knew around the time because it was right before my brother got sick, disappeared then showed up at my house and died. Bad time and DU actually helped me through it. I don't think I posted much until the next year when all that was over but this site gave me a really wonderful escape, and education, when I needed it more than ever.

Thank you for being there and still being here. You guys are doing great and I hope Skinner is somewhere being happy.

ForrestGump

(20,130 posts)
51. Been a few changes around here
Thu Feb 4, 2021, 05:30 AM
Feb 2021

I just noticed the start date on my profile when I logged in for the first time since I-don't-know-when. I thought I joined earlier than 2003, but it's been so many years now that I have no real idea. I don't know when was the last time I logged on, but it must've been years rather than months and I don't think I've been active here in over a decade.

So many changes in that time. In my life and in the lives of people I know, of course -- lost touch with the cohort of people I knew here on DU (an abusive ex-fiancee who sent every female I've ever known in my life, almost all 100% platonically, breakup letters on my unknowing behalf didn't help, and I think she zapped most of the people I knew on DU) -- but certainly huge changes in the tech of this whole Internet thing and, most definitely, the political and social sides of things.

Back in the years of the Cheney junta it would have been impossible to imagine that we might one day look back upon those days as, if not quite exactly the Good Old Days, at least marginally better. To be vaguely noaztgic for 'W' is just a very weird feeling, and certain;y a potent indicator of just how badly things unraveled in the past few years. At least Cheney and the Neocon Horde knew the rules of the game, even if they flagrantly broke them in broad daylight; at the very least, as much as I despised all of them, including Junior, they now represent a case of "it could have been worse." To me, though, that was still pretty much the end of the US, in some meaningful ways, a process set in motion in earnest during Reagan but arguably going back to at least the killing of JFK and probably 30 years or more before that, in some ways.

President Obama fought a valiant rearguard action, against horrendous obstruction from a hostile Republican Congress, but was essentially doing well just to tread water and ameliorate what damage he could and then the American electorate (almost predictably, at this point) voted in the obviously inept and unsuited Trump and his bunch of pirates, the mopping-up operation following on from Cheney and indulging in even more rampant and blatant criminality while all but burning the US to the ground. Now we've got to fix it again, and even though the Manchurian Cantaloupe is in exile we're stuck with his knuckledragging cultists, who are absolutely mindnumbingly removed from any semblance of objective reality or rationality. Hopefully the worst of the damage can be addressed within Biden's first term so that we might finally get on with actually PROGRESSING as a nation (that is, of course, unless the ubiquitous American Idiots don't vote again for a moron or for an incipient fascist autocrat, this time probably a much smoother and smarter one).

DU was certainly valuable to me in helping me to know what was going on in the Cheney years and into the Obama presidency. It's good to sign in again and I'm sure I'll be back from time to time. Good to see that it's still up and thriving.

samnsara

(18,282 posts)
52. yay to all you old timers! The only forum Ive been in that long is the golden retriever forum
Thu Feb 4, 2021, 08:25 AM
Feb 2021

...i joined in 1997. Lots of changes with the members all this time.

Cha

(305,385 posts)
53. Oh wow.. glad I finally saw this!
Sun Feb 14, 2021, 03:53 PM
Feb 2021

How did you dig that up..? lol

I thought I joined at the end of September 2002.. I guess my memory was faulty since you have July 7, 2002.

Must have been a good day 'cause I'm still here.

Latest Discussions»Help & Search»Announcements»PSA: If you joined DU bet...