On Thursday I diaried about researching on Daily Kos, especially through the old web pages from 2003 and 2004. Yesterday and today, while taking a break from one topic and looking through the comment threads from June 2003, I found some comments that fleshed out something I'd blogged about in early 2008, the Daily Kos path from its original blogging platform, Movable Type, to Scoop, in Top Comments: The Road to Scoop Edition.
That diary is long past further editing, so I can't expand the record there. At some point, I'll turn it into a dKosopedia article, and include the new information when I do so. For now, if you'll follow me over the jump, I'll elaborate a bit on the original sequence of events, and ask whether you know what Trapper John, Devilstower, and Bill in Portland Maine all have in common, beyond being Daily Kos front pagers. See if you can guess!
First, a few more signposts on the Road to Scoop. As I noted in the original diary,
The growing pains had been evident early in 2003. On March 27, the server went down, prompting upgrades to the blogging software and database and a subsequent move to a dedicated, and faster machine at the ISP. A week later, on April 3, Markos announced that because Movable Type couldn't handle the traffic, he'd be moving the site over to Slash, which powered slashdot.org, among others.
But Slash had problems. Two months later, when asked about Slash in the comments of the post Nader considers another run, Markos has a comment on how Slashcode is a resource hog, and he that he couldn't afford the development costs or high-end server. (Sidenote: that same comment thread features Hunter's first ever Daily Kos appearance, and he makes seven separate comments therein.)
Still, there didn't seem to be anything better out there, and traffic was making Movable Type creak at the seams, so three weeks later, on June 24, the Open Thread post mentioned Slash again in the third and fourth paragraphs:
The silver lining is that I have a newfound impetus to find a better platform for Daily Kos. I had previously considered porting the site over to Slash, and that's still a possibility. I need to investigate all my options and, given my budget, see what makes sense. Slash would essentially require me to buy a new server and pay a linux pro to maintain it. I'd rather find a less expensive alternative.
Given this site's phenomenal (and continued) growth, it's clear that MovableType is no longer up to the task. I'm not quite at Iraq War traffic levels (war is good for ratings), but it shouldn't be long before I get there, especially with campaign season starting to heat up.
In that post's comment thread, a new option was suggested by Cameron at 12:52am: Scoop. This was echoed by phil at 6:15am and Luke Francl at 7:31am. At 10:38am, Kos posted in the thread:
Thanks to everyone who recommended Scoop. It's perfect for what I want to do, and will start working right away to transition the site over.
The rapid decision-making was reflected in the Open Thread on June 26, with the following announcement:
Incidentally, I've decided to buy a server to host the new and improved Daily Kos. All my spare cash will go to the server purchase, so I am hoping some of you out there might be able to volunteer some help in setting up this linux box and installing Scoop on it. I hope to have a Scoop version of dKos up in a month or so. (To see Scoop in action, check out Kuro5hin.org.)
You can now continue on in the original Road with the second paragraph after the jump. Sorry, still no Bing Crosby or Bob Hope.
I did promise you an answer to what Trapper John, Devilstower, and Bill in Portland Maine had in common. If the first name in that list had been Meteor Blades instead of Trapper John, the answer would have been that they all first commented on Daily Kos using their street names.
The actual answer is that they all first commented in a Cattle Call. Back in 2002, right after the midterm election, a new feature was instituted on November 18: "a weekly look at where the various Democratic Party presidential aspirants stand." In short, the Cattle Call. Posted most weeks, it seems to have been a magnet for future bloggers, both the "call for comments" and the final version. People like Joe Trippi would stop by to put in their ten cents (Joe always seemed to have a good word to say about Howard Dean, for some reason).
To find their first posts, you can find Trapper John in the Cattle Call 2004: call for comments 4/7 post for four comments, Mark Sumner (the future Devilstower) in Cattle Call 2004: comments period 4/16 for one comment, and Bill Harnsberger (our guy in Portland Maine) two months later in Cattle Call 2004: Comment Period 6/17 for one comment that gives a preview of snark to come. As this is Movable Type, the comments are in a single long thread. You'll have to look through the whole thing, or use Find in your browser to search for the username you want. There may be other familiar names there as well if you scroll through.
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The Top Comments mailbox was quiet in the past 24 hours; doubtless Kossacks were resting from their labors a bit early. No last minute submissions to our gmail address before the 9:30pm Eastern Time deadline, alas. The address of our mailbox for top comments submissions, in case you want to push the deadline, is:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Any Kossack can send great comments to our address. Be sure to include the direct link to a comment—the URL—which is available from that comment's date/time; we need that to find your choice. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. As I say every time, both link and username are important. If you also include a writeup, we are able to include that, too, though we reserve the right to edit if necessary; should you only provide the link, then you have to take whatever writeup we create...and we can be excessively creative. Today, I was only creative with my own nominations...
From Puddytat:
madgranny nails it. A fine compilation of teh stoopid things that only a Republican would believe.
From BeninSC:
xxdr zombiexx writes a short but eloquent comment on the nature of war.
hatrabbit gives the definition of alternative health care a new twist.
From sardonyx (tonight's diarist):
teacherken makes a thoughtful comment on the current administration, politics, and keeping campaign promises.
jlms qkw has a funny characterization of a three-line rant masquerading as a diary.
Penman is really tired of people getting this backwards.
Finally, today's top mojo using my revision of the cskendrick-devised mojo-to-Excel process.
First, Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments:
1) the days of Joe McCarthy are back then by aaraujo — 245
2) Beck's safe now: He took out Van Jones by Phoenix Woman — 210
3) We have to take a lesson from Murdoch. by KingOneEye — 193
4) Coincidentally, Wolfie was the guy who delivered by nailbender — 170
5) mediamatters by JLFinch — 137
6) I could look at that picture all day by Jay Elias — 132
7) Well, hoofuckinray: by Penman — 119
8) So as we had to Labor Day . . . by nyceve — 109
9) Woweeewowwow... by Dahankster — 101
10) Only a republican by madgranny — 95
11) doesn't sound as if anything's changed by Kitty — 82
12) o god. I didn't know VJ resigned by Tirge Caps — 81
13) that's how I feel - it McCarthyism all by wahine — 76
14) The Media and the G.O.P by JekyllnHyde — 73
15) Margaret Mead by buhdydharma — 68
16) Just think of all the times we doubted Obama... by Eileen B — 68
17) I cast my vote for the citizens by Julie Gulden — 67
18) LOL by Keith Olbermann — 66
19) Did someone spike the water at NPR? by bumblebums — 65
20) You think these FoxPods... by KingOneEye — 64
21) heh, we must treasure our dreams! by buhdydharma — 63
22) A double standard? Gasp! Gasp, I say! by OutOfManyOne — 62
23) The nation that once landed men on the moon by crystal eyes — 62
24) I can't afford to go to the theater by Cassiodorus — 61
25) Everyone's a little edgy by JohnGor0 — 61
26) I presume you have this? by Phoenix Woman — 59
27) he can't pull Senate votes by Kitty — 59
28) Glen Beck is signing a book in Exton PA by the girl — 59
29) This is not good by Cinnamon Rollover — 58
30) It has been in every other civilized society... by lakehillsliberal — 56
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by Keith Olbermann — 832
2) Tip Jar by JLFinch — 535
3) PS by Keith Olbermann — 456
4) Tip Jar by Michael Moore — 447
5) . by buhdydharma — 371
6) Tip Jar by dengre — 361
7) Tip Jar by Russells 10 — 354
8) Tip Jar by CatM — 340
9) Tip Jar by nyceve — 286
10) Tip Jar by testvet6778 — 278
11) Tip Jar by Jerome a Paris — 258
12) Tip Jar by SemDem — 245
13) the days of Joe McCarthy are back then by aaraujo — 245
14) Beck's safe now: He took out Van Jones by Phoenix Woman — 210
15) Tip Jar by FistJab — 200
16) What can I say? I still want to believe. by Angry Mouse — 198
17) We have to take a lesson from Murdoch. by KingOneEye — 193
18) Tip Jar by War on Error — 180
19) Coincidentally, Wolfie was the guy who delivered by nailbender — 170
20) mediamatters by JLFinch — 137
21) I could look at that picture all day by Jay Elias — 132
22) Well, hoofuckinray: by Penman — 119
23) Tip Jar by pronin2 — 118
24) So as we had to Labor Day . . . by nyceve — 109
25) Woweeewowwow... by Dahankster — 101
26) Only a republican by madgranny — 95
27) Tip Jar by Meteor Blades — 91
28) doesn't sound as if anything's changed by Kitty — 82
29) o god. I didn't know VJ resigned by Tirge Caps — 81
30) Tips by Trix — 79
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them