Hi kossacks. You know me, I'm the French guy who never surrenders his spot on the recommended list. On a day like today, when diaries are flying so thick that one wonders how any diary can be visible long enough to be read, let even to be recommended, let me explain how I do that.
The short version is: libruls (of which, of course, the kossacks and kosmopolitans vanguard) are traitors, America-haters who love all things French and cannot resist the irresistible stuff coming out of my diaries.
The long version is below the fold.
First of all, you need a punchy title. That's the only thing people know about your diary, and you have to make them want to read it. "This is amazing" or "How stupid do they think we are" might work if your content is truly amazing or shocking, but otherwise will annoy people if it isn't. Provide information, make the main point of your diary, and try to be as specific as possible. Be honest about the content of your diary.
The second bit of information is the name of the diarist. Obviously, a recognised name helps, but indifferent diaries by well-known kossacks do not get promoted and great diaries by unknown will make the cut. Some diarists, I will click through in any case to read him/her, which is certainly an advantage to get recommended, but it does not mean it happens all the time. But how do you become a "must-read" diarist? By writing lots of must-read diaries!
So the next bit is the actual content of your diary. Bring out interesting information. Bring out new - really new - information. Use unusual sources. Put things in a different perspective. And put some effort in it. Don't just bring out someone's article or text. Explain why it's relevant, why it's important for the kossack community to absorb that information. Show that you care - write about things that you know and care about, and tell us why you care, and why kossacks, as a progressive community interested in US politics, should care. Provide specialised expertise. Or just write really well to express what we all feel but cannot put words on. In all cases, unless it's a vital bit of information, it's usually helpful to have visibly put some time and energy in the diary.
The next item is to be around to respond to commenters in your diary. Unless you have a good reason to be absent (and it's good form to inform your readers then), it is the right thing to reply to at least some of the comments in the thread, especially direct questions, and to uprate the more thoughful posters. As a bonus, replying to the early comments improves the appearance of "dynamism" of your thread in the diary list (a diary with lots of comments must be interesting).
The last point, and this is where I let the cat out of the bag, is timing. There are better times than others to post diaries. You have about 3 cycles of recommended diaries during any given day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the late evening. As you may have noticed, diaries on the reclist tend to stay there for a while because they have more visibility and they attract more new recommends than those in the recent diary list. The only way to beat that is either to have a great diary that will immediately capture a lot of recommends, or to find the time when some of the reclist diaries are getting "tired". It's not necessarily times when there are fewer diaries. More diaries also mean more readers, so that's actually a neutral factor. As jotter has noted in his series, there is no specific time of the day which is better, as the cycles are never the same each day. If you know my diaries, you will have noticed that I usually post my diary of the day in the early morning. That simply started because I had time around lunch (here in Paris) to write and post, but it appears to be a pretty good time as the diaries of the previous day hold a weaker hold on the reclist after the lull of the night. So the world of DailyKos does belong to those that get up early - or that are in a different time zone (but then I miss all the active evening threads). Maybe paradoxically, the higher number of diaries has slowed this cycle in recent days, and you have fewer diaries rotating as those that do make it to the reclist get a lot more recommends and the threshhold to jump in becomes higher. (This diary is a test of my ability to read these new cycles, as well as of your tolerance for meta-diaries...)
Finally, if you want to be recommended and recognised, it"s helpful to also recommend others and acknowledge their work. Do it generously, without any calculation. Recommend what you like, and rate the same. Write compliments - or questions, or additions - to diaries you appreciate.
Et voilà.