I'll preface by saying that I really, REALLY don't like writing meta, but things round the big orange sandbox have gotten a bit out of hand lately. First and foremost, we are a reality based community, not a bunch of suckers. And the one thing that keeps this community credible is, well, its credibility.
There is a big shift in this country with respect to perception of the republicans, Congress and the direction that this country is going. And, depending on who you are, daily kos is a rallying point, a news outlet, a lightning rod, a scapegoat or a target. We can certainly do enough to stop the obvious trolls from disrupting the site - as we saw yesterday with the "446 lynx" trolls.
But we shouldn't fall prey to our own emotions, or other types of trolls, people who want to make us look the "damn fools", people who want to see how far they can push us and then point out how crazy "those kos kidz are" or people who make unsubstantiated claims (no matter how much we may want to believe it or think that it sounds like it could be credible), or outrageous stories - even if they make republicans look bad or Democrats look good.
We cannot lose our credibility, because that, coupled with the truth, is the best weapon we have.
Yesterday, there was a diary (and I am not going to link to any of my examples but they are certainly easy enough to find) which made some very strong accusations/conclusions which were based on "a friend who is on the inside". While this very well may be true, we as a community have a duty (and thankfully Bob Johnson pointed it out) to verify that the information put forth is correct, especially before hitting recommend.
Which brings me to an important point - the "knee jerk recommend". We are all guilty of doing it at times. Hell, I know that if Hunter or MB puts out one of their opus diaries, most people will get around 2 paragraphs in, hit "recommend" and then read the rest. For obviously credible diarists (and for my diaries as well, of course), that is fine - at least as far as recommending a credible diary goes. There may be other issues with "recommending the diarist, not the diary", but that isn't really my point here.
Please, please, PLEASE, try to do the following when reading a diary:
If you see a headline, if you read a diary that makes an outrageous claim - and outrageous doesn't need to necessarily be far fetched - please try to do the following before hitting recommend:
(1) See who the diarist is, and if the name is recognizable as a credible diarist. Not that there aren't a great many diarists here with good intentions and credibility, but we need to be careful.
(2) If you don't recognize the diarist, click on their user name and see their diary and comment history. This can be very telling.
(3) Most importantly, read the whole diary, click on the links and verify the sources.
(4) If there are no links of sources, please use caution before recommending.
(5) Scan through the comments quickly before recommending. Look for warnings or dissenting points of view and give it some thought before recommending. There are many eyes watching things and filtering and that is our strength. hat tip to joanneleon for this excellent addition.
There was another hoax last week that was, on the surface, a very heart wrenching story about someone who was attacked outside a mall, but there were changing "facts" as the diary and comments unfolded. With just a bit of digging, this story was debunked, but not before the diary spent many hours on the recommended list. Also, there were some comments that were, shall we say, not typical of what we would expect from this community. Let's not stoop to the level of freepers or Redstaters whose ignorance is shown every day in their insensitive and hateful remarks.
There are only eight spots on the recommended list. Let's use them wisely. Election day is less than three weeks away. This site will come under attack again. And again. There will be trolls of all kind. There will be unsubstantiated claims. There will be hoaxes. There will be pretty much anything you can think of - some of which is intended to distract us from the goal at hand - to win on November 7.
Please don't fall into the traps that are being set. Just as there is a "recommend" button, there is also an "unrecommend" button. They are both meant to be used (although please don't use the latter button on one of my diaries...)
There are plenty of horrific (and true) things going on in this country and in this world to post and recommend diaries about. We don't need to be posting and recommending things that aren't necessarily true or credible. That is what has separated us from other communities.
Let's do everything we can to keep it that way.
[Update]: Some of the comments suggest that I am talking about censorship or saying what should or shouldn't be read, written or other. That is not the case. My point is that more than just us kossacks read this site, and we should be careful what we recommend. I am not saying that speculative or unsourced diaries should not be written. What I am saying is that before you recommend them, make sure you do your homework.
This community is self-policing and self-regulating, but even we sometimes get a bit carried away.
That is all I am trying to say.