I was packing up to return home from a conference Friday when sardonyx called to invite me to write this anniversary diary. Since my old laptop died rather unceremoniously a few weeks ago while I was in Florida and my hotel didn’t provide computers in every room, I had been offline the entire week. Of course I considered it a great honor to be asked and accepted immediately.
If I had a computer available, I might have been better informed on what I was agreeing to do. Of course, I read the previous anniversary diaries, but it’s been a while. When I reread them this weekend, they brought back some wonderful memories and caused a little trepidation. Writing any Anniversary diary is a challenge, and the bar has been raised pretty high around here, as anniversary diaries go.
What to write, what to write? It occurred to me to look back, but that it not a very popular approach these days. Always gotta be looking forward, it seems. And even if I wanted to wax historical, how could I ever hope to equal the outstanding History of Top Comments that sardonyx compiled for our Fourth Anniversary? Or the beautifully reflective diary BeninSC wrote for our Third Anniversary? And then there is the wonderful perspective gloriana gave us on the occasion of our Second Anniversary – with an added Special Comment from va dare, and the amazing Carnacki’s fantastic First Anniversary diary.
Ch-ch-ch-changes
But what kind of Anniversary diary would this be if I didn’t talk at least a bit about the changes we’ve seen during the past year? The biggest change, of course, was the move to DK4. The dread and angst produced by the impending change, the frustration and/or glee from beta testers, the starts and stops before the great leap forward – all provided much fodder for Top Comments.
And Top Comments itself, courtesy of sardonyx, was a source of guidance as we moved into the brave new world of DK4. From the DK4FAQ Forum on January 31 through the Ultimate Pre-Launch Edition, he told us what to expect and how to find what we thought we had lost. Fortunately, sardonyx was at the Top Comments helm for the big launch of DK4 and then wrote several more DK4 Forum diaries, including the all-important Basic Search and Advanced Search editions.
With the change in platforms to DK4, Top Comments lost one significant component – Top Mojo. Top Mojo was not a part of Top Comments in the first Top Comments diary – Commentary Central, and the earliest Top Mojo I could find readily was a diary on August 26, 2006, Celebrating Equality Day, although I’m sure sardonyx will know the actual first diary with Top Mojo. From that point, it was a fairly regular feature, although there were times that it was not possible to include due to html glitches or problems with the search.
However, because DK4 doesn't catalog timestamps for diaries, it is no longer possible for us to isolate the Top Mojo, as I understand it. That may change in the future, and if it does, you may see the return of Top Mojo.
But although we lost the ability to identify Top Mojo, Top Comments gained an important asset in the switch to DK4 – the ability to create and publish group diaries. This has made it possible for a diarist to create a diary on one day that can then be published later by another diarist. Although it is early days, these partnership diaries are making it possible for diarists who cannot be available at publication time to still create wonderful Top Comments diaries, and for diarists who do not have the opportunity to write an entire diary to still assist in collecting comments and publishing a diary.
So we move forward, mining and collecting the best of each day’s comments for your edification and enjoyment every evening. The more things change . . . .
What a Long, Strange Trip
While driving home from the conference last Saturday, I was mulling Top Comments diaries I have written and diarists I have known. And that got me to thinking of the Top Comments diarists (and other Kossacks) I have been privileged to meet during the past year. When I realized last summer that my travels were going to take me through much of the eastern seaboard, I decided to try and connect with as many Top Comments diarists as possible on the road. That proved to be one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.
My travels took me from Portland, Maine, to Key West, Florida, and include most of the states between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. Of course, I don’t know where some diarists live, and my schedule and/or itinerary didn’t coincide with that of a few folks, but I was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some time with TC diarists brillig, sardonyx, virgomusic, Eddie C, nowasels, Carnacki, BeninSC (and Kathy), and nonnie9999, as well as other wonderful Kossacks – mem from sommerville, renzo capetti, Bill in Portland (and Michael), and Dreaming of Better Days, whom I had met at NN. Each and every one of these folks is a delight to be with and the only problem I had was not having enough time to spend with them.
At first my husband, the non-blogger, was a bit skeptical about meeting a lot of strangers that I only knew online, but I promised him that they were no stranger than me. He seemed to find that reassuring enough to come along. But by the time we left dinner with Carnacki, he was lamenting that everyone lived so far away and we couldn’t spend more time together. And when we headed to South Carolina at Thanksgiving, he was looking forward to meeting Ben and Kathy as much as I. And even though he still isn’t blogging, or even lurking, at DKos, he is always up for meeting more of the Top Comments crew. They are one helluva group and I am honored to be a Top Comments diarist.
And now a word from our sponsors. . . .
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.
Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations by other Kossacks. So when you find a comment that enlightens, entertains, or encourages, send it to:
topcomments at gmail dot com.
Comments should get to the inbox by 9:30 EST to be included that day (but we will carry over later ones). Don’t forget to include your Dkos screename, a link to the nominee, and a brief comment about why you think it is a Top Comment.
Tonight’s Top Comments. . . .
From Samer:
Apparently today is not only Flag Day, it's Pick-on-an-Aardvark Day (RJDixon74135 is the lead-off comment, but read the whole thread to get the real payoff).
From
Dragon5616:
What Clues said in angelajean's rescued diary A Good Charter School - yes, they do exist.
From
Ed Tracey:
In the front page storyabout last night's GOP debate ... Lauren Monica weighs in on the odds of Jon Huntsman becoming the nominee:
"My dog has more (of a) chance to win the GOP nomination than Huntsman .... and my dog is a liberal".
From
me:
Crashing Vor devises an excellent solution for the GOP to defend DOMA in Clarknt67's diary CREW Lodges Ethics Complaint Aggainst Speaker Boehner.
leftvet makes a very persuasive argument for radical leftists in LaFeminista's excellent It's Time To Throw A Brick Through the Overton Window.