Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body of this diary you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Feel free to ask me any question you want. If I don't have the answers you seek I'll go out and find 'em and bring 'em back to ya (wink, wink).
In this edition we'll try to explain some of the in-site references and inside jokes you won't find on any other blog. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so feel free to join in to either ask about the origins of mysterious terms or to share your own jokes, bits of history, and explanations of how certain oddball phrases came to be bandied about here.
But first: Who are the co-hosts of this series?
Laughing Planet and I take turns hosting the revived Welcome New Users diary series. Before we begin with new material, I encourage everyone here to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives.
And, if you're new, don't miss The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
Who should read this diary? Read it if you're a new user who wants to understand some of the terminology unique to this site (What's up with all the Pie references? and who is this Armando person?). Drop in if you're an old-timer who'd care to explain some frequent references ("Armando called me a dumbass, too!"). Join us if you're curious about a word or phrase we didn't include.
So, in no particular order (because this isn't actually a dictionary),
Pie/Pie fights: See DKos History: The Pie Fights.
The term "pie fight" is derived from a June, 2005 event on Daily Kos, a liberal and progressive issues web site, in which site administrators accepted an advertisement that showed two scantily-clad women throwing pies and smearing each other with whipped cream and pie filling. This advertisement was for the TBS reality series The Real Gilligan's Island.
Despite the fact that the advertisement was only marginally related to the regular subject matter discussed on Daily Kos, it dominated the user diary entries and blog comments for several days. The animosity generated by the acceptance of this advertisement caused some established members of the Daily Kos community to cease participation in the forum that it provides.
The Daily Kos pie wars even rated a more detailed Wikipedia entry, replete with full history, all related diaries, and the original commercial. Ever since, arguments that devolve into irrelevant sniping are known as Pie Fights, and the last irrelevant option in any decent poll is some form of pie.
DELETE MY FUCKING [fill in blank], KOS! Variations abound on ErrinF's classic original, Delete My Fucking Account, Kos that all subsequent GBCW(Good-bye, Cruel World) diaries are compared to and ultimately found wanting. Warning: Posting a GBCW diary now will not only get you seriously mocked but also permanently banned, so resist the temptation! But if you should succumb, do try to make yours as entertaining as ErrinF's.
Dear Socialist Fuckstick: Many words and phrases from Hate Mail-A-Palooza have made their way into the lexicon and users' sig lines, including the above and many, many more, including:
Mucous Mousetits (with its eyeball-searing image)
I was born and raised.
The Lord rebuke you!
Remember global warming? No proof, just science!
All hail Queen Markos HOMOulitsas, princess of Gaydom, countess of Fagville!
RUMSFELD!!!!!
and,
I loathe you. I'm gonna go eat a steak. And fuck my wife. And pray to GOD.
For a sampling of true hate-filled dementia, watch this dramatic video (Dear Socialist Fuckstick appearing at about the 7:40 mark, read by McJoan.).
This is great news for John McCain! From the Presidential primaries, when every piece of news, no matter how absurdly negative or damaging, was considered great for John McCain by media hacks such as Mark Halperin, who actually thought McCain's confusion over how many houses he owned was....good news for John McCain.
TU/ Trusted User: Someone who has been on the site for at least three months without getting banned and who gathers enough mojo via an invisible and mysterious algorithm thereby granting superpowers, such as the ability to "hide" offending comments and the ability to read the Hidden Comments section for a good laugh from time to time. (I love the smell of Hidden Comments in the morning!) An earlier Welcome New Users diary tells all about the Trusted User Privelege.
Mojo/Mojo Friday: Mojo accumulates in the form of tips and recommends which at some point add up to Trusted User status. A weekly visit to the community diary Mojo Friday will help you maintain your TU status, as well as introduce you to a great many fun people and unique terms like sneck.
HR/Hide Rate/Hydrate: Trusted Users cannot delete your comments, but by following certain guidelinesthey can hide them so only other Trusted Users have the pleasure of viewing your unpleasantness. HR's are also called donuts because of their zero value. Get enough HR's and you will be banned.
Zombie/ Sockpuppet: Zombies are banned users who attempt to rise from the dead and start a new account. They are invariably quickly busted and removed again. Technically, Sockpuppets are multiple identities created by a user to give said user tips, recs, and applause, but sometimes refers to a formerly banned user.
I/P diaries: Diaries covering the Israeli/Palestine conflict, and not for the faint of heart or thin of skin.
CT diaries: or, Whatever happened to Edscan?
Controversial Diary Topics, such as advancing 'Conspiracy Theories,' are subject to ridicule and derision from the community at the very least. Repeat offenders can and will be banned. At some point Edscan's mysterious free verse meanderings crossed the line into CT theories, and he now only appears in Hate Mail-A-Palooza, begging to be reinstated.
Armando: I never had the "experience" of meeting the frequently mentioned Armando, but from all accounts (and please tell us yours!) he was a notoriously contentious early user who called 95% of people on the site dumbasses and was eventually banned.
Nyberg 3: A reference to the old rating system of 0-4 points per comment, explained here by Sallycat.
Great Orange Satan/ Great Orange Stan: Gaze upon his awesome Visage here. And this blog covers the demonization of Daily Kos by Bill O'Reilly.
The Great Orange Stan is the statuette awarded in the 2009 Daily kOscar Awards, which we certainly hope will be reprised next year.
Jotterville, jotterites, jotterbugs: Jotter's High Impact Diaries track more statistics than I can begin to figure out, and on a daily and weekly basis, no less. It's a loyal community and you just have to wander in and look around to really "get" it.
Pooties and Woozles: Pooties are cats and Woozles are dogs. The various Pootie Diaries are delightful places to gather, share funny pictures, and build your mojo. Warning: Don't mess with the pootie people. If you don't like lolcats go find something else to do, but don't be trolling their diaries. You'll regret it, I promise.
UID: Your User ID #, which indicates your general status and longevity on the site. Find it by hovering your mouse over a user name in the comments and then seeing their UID in the left lower corner of your screen. The cut-off for cool breaks at exactly 158161, making me almost but not quite cool.
UID #6: Meteor Blades, site moderator, extraordinary writer, and UID # 6. Behave yourself.
Even Markos only has UID # 3. Who's got #'s 1 and 2 is what I'd like to know.
So now, feel free to jump in with questions, stories, and dictionary entries of your own!