Don't get blocked out of DU on election night (or after) [View all]

You may remember that we upgraded the Democratic Underground web servers back in December 2015. The purpose of that upgrade was so the site would be able to handle heavy traffic we expected for the 2016 presidential election season. Now that the election is almost over, we can see that the upgrade has been a success. Through a hard-fought primary season and a crazy general election season marked by huge spikes in traffic, the server has held strong and we have not experienced any downtime -- or any slowdown at all.

But election night is something else entirely. In the past we have experienced traffic spikes on election night that are well beyond anything we experience on any other days. Which is to say: We have done everything within reason to prepare, but we just don't have any way of knowing for sure whether it will be enough to handle the traffic. Because we have never before experienced election night on our new servers.


Don't get blocked out of DU on election night

If it turns out that we are unable to adequately handle the traffic on election night, we will do what we have in the past: We will systematically remove site functions in order to limit the strain on the servers. In the worst-case scenario we might have to completely restrict site access to registered members who are currently Star Members -- people who are not Star Members would not even be able to view the site.

If you want to ensure that you are able to access DU on election night, you can purchase a Star Membership. DU Star Memberships are "Pay-what-you-want" -- there is no minimum or maximum. Plus you will be able to access our website ad-free for a full year. Just click here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/star

If you are currently a Star Member, you can check the status of your membership by clicking the "My Account" link at the top of any page. Then click the tab that says "Star Membership."


Ensure your continued access to DU after the election is over

In case it hasn't been completely obvious to everyone here, I would like to make clear that since the extremely divisive Democratic Primary ended in June, the DU Administrators have been committed to making sure that Democratic Underground is a friendly community where politically liberal people can support Democrats. That commitment will continue after the election season is over. My greatest regret is that over the last eight years I allowed Democratic Underground to become a haven for people who treated Barack Obama and their fellow DU members with contempt. I don't intend to make that mistake again.

The price of admission to DU after this election is your vote for Hillary Clinton (or your support for her if you are not eligible to vote in the United States). If you are able to vote, but you can't bring yourself to vote for Hillary, then I'm not particularly interested in listening to your bullshit for the next four-to-eight years. I don't care if you live in the bluest of blue states or the reddest of red states, if you are looking for excuses to vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson or god forbid Donald Fucking Trump, then this isn't the place for you. Fortunately for you, there are plenty of other places on the Internet where you can get your Hillary-hate on, and some of them are even filled with former DU members.


So get out there and vote!

I'm looking forward to celebrating with all of you on Tuesday night! Go Hillary and Go Democrats!

Skinner
DU Admin