I really enjoy dKos. The articles are interesting and the comments are generally well thought-out. Overall, it's a great on-line community that even accepts Canadians at par. I have a couple suggestions for how to nurture newbies so that they contribute positively and stick around.
First, it might be worth having some 'suggested readings'. This post on community norms would be good. I just read it now and it might have saved me some embarassment earlier (sorry Marie!). A link to Lakoff's model might help too. As well, some examples of well-written, highly recommended posts might be useful. Perhaps during the 7 days between sign up and being able to create diaries, instead of a blank diary page, the newbie could be offered a daily suggested link.
Second, a handful of people could volunteer to be "newbie nurturers". They'd look for newbie's first diary entries and post encouraging comments. This may sound childish, but I'd hate to see people leave because no one notices them or comments on their thoughts.
That's about it! In addition to talking about nurturing, it makes sense to do some too. Anyone else have ideas on how to bring us newbies up to speed?