Are you ashamed of posting here?

[Mr. Reactionary]

Only close to election time.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Only close to election time.

With those endorsements in your signature I can see why! 

[DavidB.]

No, why should I? However, I am ashamed of the amount of time I've spent here, but that's another issue altogether.

[Santander]

No, why should I? However, I am ashamed of the amount of time I've spent here, but that's another issue altogether.

[Ebowed]

Not at all.  I love politics and I love election results.  Everyone in my life knows that.  I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I don't advertise it to other people. I'm not sure my friends would understand me discussing politics on an internet forum.

[Leinad]

Nah, I figure it's more interesting than whatever else I'd be doing online.

This. I indulge in no fantasies of me doing anything actually worthwhile with the time I instead waste on here.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

I agree that there's nothing wrong with being interested in politics (quite the contrary! every responsible person ought to be interested in politics), and that Dave's Atlas is a good resource.

The problem is that posting here takes up a lot of my time and energy that I could make a far better use of (including focusing on nerdy political research... which is my job after all).

[Green Line]

No, why should I? However, I am ashamed of the amount of time I've spent here, but that's another issue altogether.

I hate looking at the amount of hours I spent on here.  Although I think it might be taking into account I forget to log out (hopefully).  It's distressing.

[RFayette]

I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

I agree that there's nothing wrong with being interested in politics (quite the contrary! every responsible person ought to be interested in politics), and that Dave's Atlas is a good resource.

I dunno, I think a certain sense of apathy is extremely important for one's mental well-being this cycle.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

I agree that there's nothing wrong with being interested in politics (quite the contrary! every responsible person ought to be interested in politics), and that Dave's Atlas is a good resource.

I dunno, I think a certain sense of apathy is extremely important for one's mental well-being this cycle.

A certain sense of apathy is what led so many people to choose Drumpf (and, to a lesser extent, Hillary) in the first place. With a more engaged citizenry, we would have a far better political class.

[RFayette]

I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

I agree that there's nothing wrong with being interested in politics (quite the contrary! every responsible person ought to be interested in politics), and that Dave's Atlas is a good resource.

I dunno, I think a certain sense of apathy is extremely important for one's mental well-being this cycle.

A certain sense of apathy is what led so many people to choose Drumpf (and, to a lesser extent, Hillary) in the first place. With a more engaged citizenry, we would have a far better political class.

This is a fair point, but in this case I guess you could call it a paradox:  it is better for each person individually to pay as little attention as possible (for the sake of their sanity) but collectively that's not good.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think the more surprising thing to the people I know in real life would be how many people who post here seem to be ashamed of it, because I think there's nothing wrong with this interest and there's nothing wrong with this website.  The US Election Atlas is an incredible resource.  Take a moment and consider that the federal government does not compile election results in a centralized location.  Isn't that ridiculous?  This is an amazing resource.  The forum isn't bad either (but I also recommend AAD)!

I agree that there's nothing wrong with being interested in politics (quite the contrary! every responsible person ought to be interested in politics), and that Dave's Atlas is a good resource.

I dunno, I think a certain sense of apathy is extremely important for one's mental well-being this cycle.

A certain sense of apathy is what led so many people to choose Drumpf (and, to a lesser extent, Hillary) in the first place. With a more engaged citizenry, we would have a far better political class.

This is a fair point, but in this case I guess you could call it a paradox:  it is better for each person individually to pay as little attention as possible (for the sake of their sanity) but collectively that's not good.

It most definitely is a paradox. In fact, this (just like voting, or participating in a demonstration, or basically any form of engagement) constitutes the most important paradox in modern social science (Mancur Olson's "collective action problem").

The way to resolve this paradox is through norms and values that lead people to privilege collective interests over personal ones - hence why I think early civics classes are so important.

[President Johnson]

No, why should I?