"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."
-Anatole France
I came to Dkos by accident in the winter of my discontent--the aftermath of the 2002 elections and the beginning of the War in Iraq. Like many Democrats, I felt ideologically isolated in a country that had gone mad. That is, until I found Dkos. Many Democrats say Dean united the left and made us realize that there were others like us; for me, Dkos did that.
Recently there have been some great diaries on the changes that have occurred at Daily Kos, and though as a longtime user I can relate to Kid Oakland's sentiments, I think that through all the awkward growth spurts and evolutions, Daily Kos is just as great today as it was the day I first came. That is, with the large influx of new users and departure of some old ones, even though we have left behind a piece of our identity, we are still just as strong.
Whenever I feel down about the state of the nation, Dkos is still the best place to find someone to pick me up and set me straight. The Dkos community is still diverse and rich--on any given day, you can have a 100 comment diary on baseball, punk rock, law, South American politics, etc.
The point is this: Yes, we've lost some wonderful personalities over the past year and a half (I still remember with fondness the day Marisacat shot down one of my dumb comments), but we've gained just as much. We have left behind a part of ourselves, but with the new Kossacks, such as User 32978, we now have a huge new array of personalities and outlooks and likes and dislikes. Rather than lament what we've lost, I'm astounded that the quality of Daily Kos stays so constant.