I've often thought there should be an alternative to GBCW (Goodbye Cruel World) diaries and TTFN (Ta Ta For Now) diaries. A different kind of mission statement, if you will. Like the GCBW and TTFN, it would affirm and attitude toward Daily Kos and kossacks as a whole. Like the GBCW and TTFN, it would send a message, one intended to not only to declare one's position but also intended as a one-size-fits-all universal statement about the state of the site, it's visitors, their interactions, and the diarist's views on each.
The GBCW diary typically exists to settle scores, burn bridges, or bemoan the deplorable state of affairs. There are exceptions, of course, but not many.
The TTFN diary is more versatile, from a popular diarist letting people know that they'll be temporarily out of the loop - for any number of reasons that reflect well on the diarist - to the "I Need A Break" TTFN, which serves as a more ephemeral version of the GBCW, a public scolding or weary lament.
I want to propose (and write) a different sort of diary.
The YCMML: You Can't Make Me Leave.
Obviously, like the GBCW and the TTFN, it's a bit of a misnomer. I mean, there are some kossacks who absolutely can "make me leave". They have that power. But then, that power is generally exercised as a result of the kossack's actions, and if that should ever happen, perhaps I might wonder what it is about me that got me kicked off.
Equally obviously, many kossacks are one of the primary reasons I stay. They are a joy to read, a pleasure to converse with, and serve as an inspiration and a source of comfort and support. Like-minded or differently-thinking, they are intelligent, rational, passionate and wise. Whether I'm arguing with them or agreeing wholeheartedly, they always make the Daily Kos experience worthwhile.
But as for the rest of you, You Can't Make Me Leave.
In the heat of the moment, when the argument gets personal, the discourse bitter and angry, You Can't Make Me Leave. We'll cool down and part as friends, or at least allies.
In the intractable stalemate of diametrically opposed beliefs, You Can't Make Me Leave. Even if we never find common ground on one issue, it's almost a sure bet that we will tomorrow or next week, on another issue.
In the shifting tides of alliance and it's resulting flame wars, rec-raiding parties, and HR carpet bombing, You Can't Make Me Leave. However I might hold such activity in contempt, no one is one thing or one issue. I'll see you on the other side of the crusade, where we'll start fresh on something else.
To all the trollish jerks who bully instead of reasoning, project instead of self-examining, choose argumentum ad hominem over argument with the person, You Can't Make Me Leave. It's the internet. You don't frighten or intimidate me with your big, scary typing. You might get a little of my attention and probably a lot of my mockery, and then I'll go on living my life.
Even when I'm gone for a while because I'm working, or busy with the demands of friends and family, or ill, or whatever personal reason I'm not here, You Can't Make Me Leave. I will keep turning up like a nose at the smell of a Tea Party platform.
And when I am the asshole, when I lose my cool or say something stupid or abandon reason for emotional satisfaction, please forgive me. You Can't Make Me Leave, so I hope you'll show me the patience I hope I will show you. I'll be a better neighbor soon.
Daily Kos is a place I visited and decided to stay. I decided to stay because there was much I could learn from the many people I had the pleasure (and even displeasure) of meeting. I decided to stay because I understood that even a blog can make a difference. I decided to stay because I like it here, and I don't expect that to change, no matter what new rage sweeps the site for better or worse.
You Can't Make Me Leave.