You may have heard that the DU Administrators are working on a complete redesign of our discussion forum software. This week we are having a brief public preview so you all can try out the software and see the future of Democratic Underground. We call it DU3, because it will be the third version of our website. The preview website is here:

http://www.du3preview.com

As part of the redesign, one of our primary goals is to make the smaller forums and groups more active, easier to find, and easier to use. To help achieve this goal, we want to clear out some the "dead wood" -- unused and under-used groups that clutter up the site and make it harder to find the more active groups.

We need your help to figure out which groups to save, and which groups to delete.

There are 142 groups listed (by category) under Topics: http://www.du3preview.com/?com=forum&id=10...

There are another 56 groups listed (by category) under Places: http://www.du3preview.com/?com=forum&id=12...

You can list all of them on one page by viewing the "Forums & Groups" tab in "Show All" mode:

http://www.du3preview.com/?com=forums&mode...

Here's what we need you to do. If you are an active DU member who registered before January 19, 2011, then you can log in to DU3. We need you to go to DU3, log in using your DU username, and then subscribe to all your favorite groups. (Note: DU2 "small forums" are now designated as groups on DU3, so you can subscribe to those, too.) Just find each group you like, and then click the orange button on that page which says "Subscribe to this group." It looks like this:



You can also help by posting in your favorite groups on DU3. And if you like, you can post announcements in your favorite groups here on DU2 to encourage people to subscribe over on DU3.

You can check the number of subscribers in any group by visiting that group's "About this Group" page. Just visit any group and click the button that says "About this Group," then look for the words "Number of subscribers".

Thank you for your help.

David Allen
DU Admin