Democratic Underground Refuses to Open Books to Volunteers, Contributors

Democratic Underground and it's membership have a well documented history of rightfully criticizing the Bush Administration's penchant for secrecy. But the site's administration embraces the same secrecy when the subject is DU's finances.

Visitors and members are given the aura of working for the progressive cause, being told the site welcomes “those progressives who will work with us to achieve our shared goals”. The site is largely dependent on the services of moderators and writers, none of whom are paid. In fact, when soliciting writers, the site claims, “We can't pay you. (Sorry — we have no money.) “ But the claim of “no money” is clearly untrue.

Any discussion of DU policy on sticky issues like finances is restricted to the “Ask the Administrators” forum. That forum is closely monitored by site administrators and they personally respond to inquiries. One member asked bluntly in the forum if DU administrators, indeed, kept any of the money for themselves when “folks are being asked to donate money and time”. The administrators answered that they received “salaries” which they called part of DU’s “expenses”.

The discussion then turned to a request for financial disclosure, the member saying it would be “a healthy thing for an organization like DU”. A good deal of debate ensued, with members on both sides of the issue. The administration then abruptly ended the thread, saying “the discussion has gone on long enough”. The member that began the discussion was promptly banned from the site, with administration claiming, “it has come to our attention that the person who started this thread is the return of a previously banned member.”

For those familiar with DU, the explanation for the sudden gag order was strange. The discussion had reached only 34 replies. This is not unusually large by DU standards, where discussions often stretch beyond a hundred replies. Apparently, no bandwidth is to be wasted when DU finances is the topic. Also puzzling was the sudden “discovery” that the member beginning the discussion was a previously banned member. Presumably, uncomfortable subject matter led to this hasty “discovery”.
As any site, Democratic Underground has the right to a profit. But when that profit is made while members are being solicited to volunteer time and money for the progressive cause, financial disclosure seems appropriate. In this age of scarce resources for the fight against Bush and corporate America, folks ought to know where their cash is going.






- posted by Hysterical @ 1:01 PM