GUYS: About that Election Day hacking... PLEASE BE ON ALERT.

I'm posting this here, too.

calimary here. I do not know if this IS part of the results of that hacking, BUT:

I got an email this morning that alerted me that my PayPal account has been limited. It started asking for all the usual information of the kind you do NOT want to have hackers and other nogoodniks to have.

I became alarmed and called the PayPal people on our landline, according to the phone # on my monthly statement.

They looked into things and confirmed, yup, that email is from nogoodniks.

The reason I became alarmed and suspected a link to DU was because, immediately before Election Day, we were all advised that only star members could interact all day.

Of course, all day on Election Day, we were hobbled and silenced by hackers.

The day before, I decided to make sure my star membership was maintained, and made a small payment ... via PayPal.

PLEASE BE ON THE ALERT. I don't know if this has anything to do with the hacking, but it sure is suspicious, time-wise.

Skinner, EarlG and Elad - for all your work to get DU back online. I have really missed my DU "family."

If anything, the aftermath of this heartbreaking election has shown that we need DU now more than ever.

I hope we can all move forward together from here on.

Or we might have ended up with Donald Trump as President.

Yes, I'm bitter.

Yes...there is a lot to talk about in the postmortem, however, we do need to remember that even as much as we argued and disagreed, we do need to work in the present. Now, I am not saying to gloss over the errors that were made. In the upcoming months, I know I will say things that may offend because the truth of President Donald Trump is offensive. To quote a far better man than I, Jon Oliver, we cannot allow ourselves to forget this is not normal. However, it is very clear that the GOP knew how to pour gasoline on our home fires, turning us against each other when we should have stood together. It is also clear that many people, in the pursuit of their ideal (be it Clinton as immortal and inevitable goddess or Bring back Bernie) wound up letting the Trumpkins laugh all the way to the bank.)

The best thing to do is support each other, both in the way we help each other deal with the Trump noise machine and the real hard, give money and time help that needs to be done to those that are now very vulnerable. The only thing close to a silver lining is that now that this is over, we can turn our eyes towards the real enemies. Yes, the facebook pages are swarming with the arrogant little men and their shieldmaiden wives, "all going I told you so", and using this moment to take more shots at Obama, and ignore the real damage their good ol boys and gals elected have done and will do. Look at Nikki Haley, after Ann Coulter called her not an American, groveling and getting a job that the GOP considers useless anyway. See the way their cheerleaders like Coulter and Milo try so hard to beat up liberals, while ignoring the fact that most GOP voters would, and eventually will, slap them and say "get in your place!" Hell, look at how Mitt Romney kisses Trump's ring, and the way so many of those "principled" Nevertrump supporters are leaping on the bandwagon, praising Trump as if he was King Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone.

The thing to remember is, like all Bullies, they have NO core. Yes, we should remind the Evangelicals that they would up supporting a banker, philander and political novice from New York. Yes we know they are praying Trump decides or is forced to quit so that Pence gets in, but their hands are bloody, and they need to be reminded of it. That SOB swaggering on Facebook, trying to look like Nashville's version of a working man, he will be the first to wonder where his jobs went, where his mama's medicare went, and why the banks get to have yet another spasm where he loses his shirt.

On the other side, one thing we genuinely did fail to do is secure the "Blue Wall." There is plenty of room for family arguments, but if we do not want to help Trump, we have to focus them on what to do now, instead of "well you did this and you did not do that" because that is exactly what Trump and Bannon want. We need to deploy a true 50 state strategy, and we need to unleash the Michael Moores and Jim Hightowers and put them front and center, so they can speak to the heartland. Yes, we do need to kill the myth that democrats are just people in Brooklyn townhouses or LA, but on the other hand, we do not need to "dumb things down" because the simple facts are ON OUR SIDE. We know whose tax-cutting and Military spending made the national debt, and we also know that if we did not try to cut taxes for the rich and wage a war, we would have paid much of that debt off. We know that mixing religion and government does not work, because it invites corruption of both religion and government. We know that our schools need to be rebuilt in many ways (not the least of which are half the actual schoolhouses) and that yes, we do get the government that we pay for, which will be needed as the Russians, Indians and Chinese do know that government can give the edge to businesses, as is shown by the fact they are eating our lunch, and that the GOP are the cafeteria workers.

I am not saying forget the past, nor am I denying that the Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Bernie wings are going to have to have a sit-down, and a lot of long, awkward conversations, as well as outright sparring. We need to define our brand, clearly, cleanly and be able to say "The Democratic party stands for.." We also need to have space so that those who wish to push things right or left get a chance to truly have a say, but, have rules and standards that all observe.

Boxing is a brutal sport, but even Ali and Frazier knew you could not head butt, throw elbow shots or kick. Even though sparring is a part of boxing, and it can be brutal, the point is to help the person learn how to take a punch, and then land some of their own. We need to keep in mind that even those within our family that drive us crazy are still going to have much more in common with us then even the nicest Republican, because while we Democrats actually DO give a damn about principles, most in the GOP will fold like a cheap Trump suit, made in Mexico.

Let us fight, and also improve the methods by which we fight. Do not be fooled by Trump howling about CNN and NBC, we know the media kowtowed and also made Trump a cash cow. For all the nasty talk about DU that was said on the facebook, and all those people saying "we need to stop going into echo chambers" we need to talk, get together and share ideas and actions. This is where the real politics begins, and frankly, we will not go down without a fight, especially since we know that the GOP has a glass jaw just waiting for the right bit of truth to hit it.

sidenote: I am very happy to be back here. I do plan to do things a bit different, to adjust for the fact that the internet IS the news media now, and that forces from Trump Tower to the Kremlin have learned to game it. However, I still plan on being the person who can be the sholder to cry on, and the gadfly ready to sting contended behinds.

It's great to be back with all of you!

I'm just glad we can all be together again. I didn't know I could miss DU this much.

Thanks to you, EarlG and Elad for all the work you've done over the last week.

I hated seeing the nasty responses that you got on the Facebook page. That might well be par for the course for you, though.

I rarely visit the FB page but hoped to connect with DUers there. Ugly stuff. stayed away and found Pantsuit Nation and another women's group.. nothing like DU, but it helped.

Saw one repeat troll making nasty comments who has been banned from here probably more than a thousand times. I expect that many of the complainers had also been banned and likely more than once.

Someone added me to Pantsuit Nation the Sunday before the election. So many of the stories there are inspiring.

Also, my husband's dear Republican cousin in Texas added me to a "Birds of a Feather" group that's been amazing. I think Hillary turned her into a Democrat! I burst into tears when she did it.

It was disappointing to read the crap posted on DU's page. I was hoping to find solace, but quickly gave up. So relieved to be home among people I can respect, even when I disagree.

He's just the kind of guy to do that.

I keep reading them to my husband, but he just doesn't get it.

Some right wingers, some of of the BoB crowd and some of the JPR group - all people who had a chip on their shoulders about DU.

Several members who I respect highly were slandered. I defended them but soon got tired of the negativity.

but it's just not what I need. I need the people I've worked with and marched with and jumped into dumpsters with and highway blogged with. I need the people I'm going to be protesting with, ministering to (I'm a nurse. I intend to know a lot more about protest field medicine real soon), the people who are as angry but as caring as I am.

Fuck, I missed you guys.

I'm heading to bed now but tomorrow, I will be here every day. Well, when I'm not out fighting.

nothing was. I missed literally everyone! Don't like me, I don't care. I missed you all.

called Remain Hopeful, as well as a British anti-Brexit group. Important for me, in dealing with our own issues.

But DU has been an important place for me since 2004.

to get back on line, and I don't think anyone will blame you.

I hope you can sue someone; this is your livelihood and that should not be messed with.

may I offer some suggestions as someone keenly interested in online security and this site ?

1- I think it's reasonable to assume that, at least for the next 4 years, we will be a prime target of the Trumpistas. I think effective security will be a daily ongoing concern that will take extra resources. That spells extra money. You get my drift. That means MORE donations.

2- The W3C Validation Service has issues with DU right now. https://validator.w3.org/
I don't know how that ties into security, but worth looking into.

I've been here OVER 11 years and donated regularly, so it's safe to assume my comments are made in a good spirit. Thank you for listening!

Steve

the contributions department. I don't think many folks realized just how effortlessly they had access to multiple news sites, and intelligent people sharing ideas until the site was down. It's a good time for folks to step up and support the place where we can instantly discover and examine what the clown car occupant pResident is up to next.

DDos = Distributed Denial of Service attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack

Last edited Tue Nov 15, 2016, 05:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Consistent with your last paragraph - as well as the postmortem, would it be possible to formally (via MIRT) and informally (via admin pronouncement) discourage the "concern troll" hunters?

This election felt to me like the Kerry-Bush election. when my marriage was used to drive bigots to the polls. I kept hoping I was wrong - but I was "concerned." It was not just my marriage being used this time, but every otherbit of bigotry ever dreamed up was welcomed to drive Trump voters to the polls. I never said anything here - because of the concern-shaming that was heaped on anyone who dared express concern about the outcome.

I don't have a clue about whether it would have made a difference if we had been able to openly discuss concerns about the outcome among friendly liberal people who support Democrats. Would we have been able to do anything about it had those concerns been taken seriously? Don't know - but obviously those of us who were concerned had reason to be AND should not have been shamed here for expressing them.

I alerted on quite a few concern-troll attacks - none (so far as I can tell) were hidden. But they should have been as a divisive group attack: "Do not imply that they are fake Democrats, fake progressives, conservatives, right-wingers, Republicans, or the like."

The overall alert doesn't quite fit (since the attacks were generally against a person rather than a group), but that sentence was exactly what was going on as to anyone who gave voice to the concerns that I (and I'm sure I'm not alone) felt - concerns that we now know were clearly justified.

As to MIRT when I was on it years ago, this same label was used to PPR anyone with fewer than 100 posts who expressed concerns about a variety of subjects.

We must offer utmost vigilance.

It's been so hard not to have kindred souls to be bummed with.

So glad you're back.

Hope we can have an honest, open discussion of the electoral tragedy and how to move on.

lessons on squelching dissent and on the other side of that coin, dissenters need to be civil.

This last week has been truly horrifying, and that horror was compounded by not being able to access DU.

I do understand why you needed all that time to strengthen DU's defenses. That realization helped me endure.

So good to be Home!

First, I hate what happened to you guys running the site - as much as I've needed this place over the last week (and I sure as hell needed it!), it's been harder on you folks.

Thanks for not giving up. Thanks for not giving in. Thanks for fighting the good fight, to get all of us back here, together, to fight like hell.

who ever did this, knew what they were doing, especially since our side took a trouncing and we had no one turn to, while they laughed in our face.

It been a rough week I'm glad the site back up and strong.

... we may need to "discuss" the last primary in order to prepare for the next primary, the next Democratic party leadership.

Obama said it best, in 2009 (I think): "elections have consequences."

Maybe next time, we'll get out the vote.

The politicians do. House reps vote for theirs, Senators vote for theirs. Members of the DNC vote for their leadership.

Their priorities are not always those of differing segments of the party. They like to put people in leadership jobs who are very familiar with parliamentary rules (to include tricks and "fast ones&quot as well as people who are really good administrators, fund-raisers, organizers and persuaders.

People who are podium pounders, preachers to the choir, and "fire up the base" types are not what is needed in those jobs. They need MONEY in a big, BIG way and, for example, calling people "corporatist pigs" isn't the way to get rich people to donate.

We can discuss it all we want, but it's not up to us. It never has been.

Thank you for your hard work. You are appreciated, now more than ever.

Someone had posted recently that DU was irrelevant. NOBODY hacks a site that's irrelevant.

I expect to be posting here for decades to come.

Obviously, somebody thought what was going on here was important enough to put a stop to it.

and embarrass ourselves.

Very little said in the heat of anger is worth preserving!

Doesn't hurt a bit to take the time to let it all sink in. No one ever wants to see this happening again. We do need time to learn what can be done to prevent it in the future without surrendering democratic principles and ideals.

Thanks for your work rebuilding the site. That couldn't have been too much fun.

to you, EarlG, and most importantly, to Elad (across the pond I believe?) to fix this poor site and get it back up.

I was actually called for jury against the hacker and after completing that, watched the whole site just go into meltdown as thread titles were being re-written, one after another and that idiotic pop-up graphic scrolled.

That DU Facebook page was just horrible though. The crap and threats that were posted there underscored why I'll never do Facebook.

After this election, I figured DU would have melted down on its own anyway but when doing so, it should be on our own terms!

DU saved my sanity after the 2004 election when you instituted interest groups. I hung out in C&B until I could face the world again.

I'm so effing glad to have DU back.

I don't post very often but I had withdrawal symptoms after the elections. I so missed the hard hitting posts and also the soothing posts which I desperately so craved. It's good to be back!

Like most, I knew I enjoyed DU but had no idea how deep the addiction went. Glad to be back home

I don't remember exactly when I left. It was some time after Obama's election , and I think, like Skinner, I'd gotten sick of the infighting (also, life and stuff happened). But while I was curled up under the blankets last week, wondering how the hell I was going to get through this I knew I had to come back. You guys helped me get through the Bush years. We're gunna kick the Trump years' collective asses.

So yeah. Hi

Thanks for persevering, my hats off to you.

But you ain't gonna believe what happened in the last week.....

I know this last week has been horrible on so many fronts, but we appreciate everything you do for us.

We're BACK!!!

Not a glitch with DU so far, but might the jerk hackers have infected us otherwise?

I don't get how hackers can't be tracked down and prosecuted.

It's been a horrid week, especially without the support DU provides liberals.

It is amazing how the loss of DU for this last week has impacted so many. This was always my first stop in the am, so I have been adrift. I don't post much, but always read the threads, and have been since 2006. I feel like an old friend has returned.

Thank you for your hard work. <3

to see you back up. Thanks for all the hard work.

It probably was, for me, a good thing to be silent for a week, at least until I could start to breathe again.

Was the hack illegal and if so was it a felony?

So happy to be back! I missed you all so much. It was a week from hell.

Thank you DU Administrators for your hard work and perseverance. DU was sorely and deeply missed.

OMG, we're finally back!

you accomplished. There is no other site out there like the DU. Thank you for keeping it great.

On the list of posts, the last post of Salmonchantedevening's LOL Cats thread from last week is ...well....odd.

It has no user name, shows a date of Dec 1969 and is a response to the last post of the thread, but does not appear as a post when you "View All"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018903296

This thread has two of them at the bottom;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1018&pid=902303

It looks like several of the older posts in the lounge have the same thing, but not all the older threads.

Is this intentional?

on the "welcome to DU" list of new posters on the Latest page, the two most recent give error messages when you click on the names, and opening the list they have no posts listed.

same error message when going to thier profiles and clicking last post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=338872
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=197561

error message is a yellow band with the triangle warning symbol and says "That post cannot be found."

because they were affected by the hack.

I want to thank you. You were the one writing the codes to fix this. I may not understand it yet I appreciate it.

Thank you.....were you drinking a lot of this to stay awake?



Thanks!

Thank you for your work in getting us all back together so we can plan our next strategies!

Love y'all!

Lots of work but glad you had success to this point. Good to here about the upgraded security too. But, i guess if someone really wants to hack a site, they'll find a way. How that person thought they were helping their cause is beyond me, though. It couldn't help, and those of us here talking about the election wouldn't have hurt them or changed who voted for whom.

Technically clever, logically stupid.

line. DU has been my refuge since March 2004.

A rough week was made even more difficult without having this place to come and commiserate--and to figure out what to do next. I appreciate your hard work in bringing this site back up for us.

Nothing novel to add but to echo all the gratitude for your Herculean efforts getting the site online.

We got some hard times ahead but some great folks to face those times with.

Here's to the fight!
Wishing you all well
bench

I'll be ramping up my participation over a week or so. We're moving my MiL to a new facility tomorrow and Thursday, so I won't have much time to be online.

I had trouble getting on tonight. My email was not recognized. When I went to change my password. The email listed was not mine.

EarlG answered me immediately on my second post. He got me back here.

Check my Nov 7th MIR (Group) thread for an example. (May be a result of the off-on-off nature of election day and already cleared, but..)

And thanks again for all your work--missed you all this week!

Thanks for all of your hard work these many years now. I have been sort of lost without DU. SO GLAD DU IS BACK!!!

Thanks for returning better than ever, Skinner and crew.

"2016 Postmortem" about sums up my heart right now.

Elad, my deepest appreciation to all your hard work! Skinner and EarlG, my appreciation for keeping us in the loop and posting so many of our thoughts on the 503 page! It helped, a lot, to hear familiar voices.

all!

It's been a long, long week. Losing to Trump was like a kick in the gut, but then to lose Gwen Ifill, Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell all in the same week is just almost too much.

Still the best site around!

and you, Elad, and EarlG have done everything possible to get things up and running as quickly and safely as possible. You are very much appreciated! I heartily concur with the policy, going forward, of not tolerating trolls who are only here to demoralize and disrupt. It is so good to have DU back again.

I so appreciate this site. I was in Amsterdam with some other American expats on election night, and it was terribly sad. Not being able to come here to read and process the enormity of it all made it so much worse. I really missed all of you.

We're going to need each other going forward.

I am usually allergic to paying for things I don't have to online but I ponied up even though I know you'll open the site up for general access in a few days. You've been doing hard and important work and I've been taking you guys for granted for far too long. Thanks for making a place that really isn't quite like any other online. I am not a big participant here but I do lurk a lot and I really missed you when you were gone.

I missed this site and my fellow DUers during this horrendous election.

DU is set as my homepage, so every time I logged on, it was a sad :sigh: to see it still gone.

I'm glad that security has been improved and hope they never manage to do this again!

Your efforts are greatly appreciated. I am now back home!

It's been a tough time for us all and it is just so great to be back.

I truly did not realize how important this resource was to my life until it was gone. Thank you Skinner, Earl and Elad. So glad we get to begin this long, difficult road as a community once again.

I have been adrift and alone without DU. There is no place on the web like DU and no greater group of liberals than my fellow DUers. I have missed y'all so much. I didn't realize how much a part of my life DU is (and has been for so many years) until it was gone.

I have been a member since 2004 and was an avid reader for several years before joining.
I hope that DU will be here for many more years.

Thanks again Skinner, Elad & Earl G for all oif your tireless efforts to get DU up and running once again.

Glad to.have DU back.

Where's my LOL Cats?

all your efforts!

Been feeling like there's no one to talk to, which isn't true, but most of you know what I mean. I'm sorry I was sometimes impatient waiting for the site to be restored and do appreciate all the work it must have taken to get it back. I doubt I will ever leave DU because of how it's been this last week when DU left me.

Thank you for coming back. We do need to examine what went wrong, but, no matter how egregious our mistakes, we are good and they are bad and that's the bottom line, folks.

I missed everyone....

Thank you for your hard work in securing our sanctuary. I was on the site when the hack actually happened and could not figure out what the heck was going on, but I had a feeling that it was an early warning that things may not go as well as we had all hoped and prayed. Little did we know just how bad it would get as the night wore on, and not having DU to turn to made things so very much worse.

I realize now how much I depend on this site. We have a population of some of the smartest, most witty and compassionate adults on the world wide web and I am truly thankful to the administrators for their hard work in keeping this site on point and relevant for us - it surely is not an easy job and I encourage everyone to spend that little bit of money that you would spend on a cup of coffee every month to help them keep this running for us by becoming a member as I have been for years.

I felt like I needed therapy after the shock of this election and am still going through the five stages of grief, sometimes all 5 in the span of a day! Working at the VA I am seeing the best and the worst up close and personal, and both are heartbreaking for different reasons that I cannot go into because of the nature of my position.

I know we should try to make the best of this but all I can think of is my 16 year old gay grandson who is scared to death when a month ago he was empowered, my granddaughter who is being bullied by little trumpettes at her school, family members who may be harmed beyond measure by upcoming slashes and cuts - heck, I could be out of a job if he privatizes the VA. There is much damage that can be done in 4 years.

My biggest heartache is knowing that the majority did not want this, so how did it happen? And I mean, it really happened, hate won. Fear won. Discrimination won. I don't mean on a personal level, but in this election - it did and it cannot be denied. Everything that we KNOW is wrong with society now has the power to tip the scales into darkness.

We will get past this and see the light - we can't exist in this type of energy for long, the soul will seek light, but this truly is the dark night of the soul for many of us and we need someone to help us get to a better place. I wish our President could guide us there (Obama, MY President for life), because I just can't get there myself right now.

To Madam Secretary and the People's Choice - Hillary Clinton, my light bows to your light.

Namaste to all.

Annette, ashamed to be in Florida which should have been Hillary's.

we did win.

I was bored to death while DU was down.

Very traumatic. So glad to be home.

I am so happy that you all worked hard to come back. Reminds me, you don't know what you've got till its gone.

These last few days must have been so frustrating for all of you. Please know your efforts were greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

I am so happy DU is back up

Soooooooooooooooooo happy we're back.

still in shock and quite nauseated by the thought of that ???? whatever species it is, being the ??President?? after the wonderful, intelligent, Gentleman who will always be MY President Barack Obama. God what a nightmare.

So sorry for what someone did to this place, Skinner. And really grateful to you, EarlG and Elad.

We have been here before when we thought it couldn't get worse, right? Sadly, it may get worse. Glad to have you guys on my side.

any sabotage of the Democrats.

Ya, I know if they are that the odds are slim that they will pursue it much if if at all but I can hope.

What a week ..

This has been such an horrific and emotional time. I truly felt like a rolling stone. Kept looking around, finding no place for solace with DU down.

It helped so much when you posted the e-mails on the 503 page. I read and read them and was so glad for that.

of respite, and perhaps peace. Let's try to stick together for the next 4 years!

I worked as an Outside Observer at a Precinct in Akron and when I found out that DU had been hacked I got that sinking feeling that we weren't going to win then when I got home I noticed that Florida was not going as expected so I kinda saw the hand writing on the wall and went to bed not knowing....glad I did because I actually got some sleep where my Wife and Daughter stayed up and watched the Train Wreck and could NOT Sleep. The Shock on Wednesday Morning was brutal even though I knew in my gut that we had lost it all.

If I wake up during the night I can't stop thinking about how fucked we are and loose sleep still.



I think it is important to LISTEN TO Thom Hartmann right now as he is teaching what it is going to take to save the party.

He is on from NOON to 3PM Eastern Time.

http://www.wcpt820.com/

You can listen over your smart phone with this app:

http://tunein.com then look for WCPT

BTW, our Summit County was one of the FEW that were Blue in this most S t u p i d S t a t e of O H I O!

BTW_2; I am done with Facebook and I am done with my Church, left both of them in July.

Just thank you

I know it's been tough in a lot of ways

I had no idea how dependent I was on DU and especially with the results I desperately needed this place and a barbarian wrecked it.

Thank you all 3 admins for all of the hard work and efforts to get us back up and running. Take care and get some rest.

I may not post a lot but I read a lot here and think about what I read. I need the input and the potential opportunity to vent.

I guess they went away