You've found the new Welcome & Help forum. I'm Skinner, one of the Administrators here at DU.

[Skinner]

We've been here on our new software for a few months now, and the admins have been focused on making a bunch of upgrades and fixes to the software. But now we want to focus on doing things to help foster a sense of community -- to get to know each other, to welcome new members into the fold, and to provide help and support to each other. With this in mind, we have created this new Welcome & Help Forum. We hope all of our members -- both new and old -- will take some time to introduce yourselves and to say hello to other DUers who have taken the time to post in here as well. Be sure to make a special effort to welcome our new members.

My name is David, but here on DU I generally prefer to go by my username Skinner. I am the owner of Democratic Underground, and one of the three Administrators here on DU. (The other two are EarlG and Elad.) Here's the classic DU Admin photo, which was taken years ago and has been posted here a hundred times:



Democratic Underground was launched many years ago, on the very day George W. Bush took the oath of office to become President. For our first eight years, our shared contempt for the illegitimate, unelected moron in the White House was the glue that held our community together. Now he is long gone (Thank God), but DU is still here. The election of President Obama in 2008 represented a fairly significant change for our country and for Democratic Underground as well, where we have found ourselves in the unfamiliar position of picking sides and disagreeing about the president. Personally, I am a big fan of President Obama, and I think he's done a good job in his first term. I am very much looking forward to voting for him again, and I can't wait for his second term (fingers crossed).

I have spent a quarter of my life running this website, and I intend to spend much more time doing so. I was 29 years old when DU started, and I am 40 now. Over the last 11 years since DU was founded, I got married to an amazing woman, and had three sons. Here is a recent pic of my boys:



Jack (left) is 3; Isaac (middle) is 9 months; Lucas (right) is 5. And we've still got this guy:



Romeo is 12 or 13 years old now, and these days he spends most of his time lounging outside in the sun.

I love my job, and I am so thankful for all the great people we have here on DU. I look forward to getting to know all of you.