Since Friday, when the indictments broke, I've been noticing a disturbing tendency on dKos, and that is the tendency to post breaking news diaries quoting media sources which basically say the equivalent of "Libby lied. Cheney knew. Here's a quote from the NYT that suggests something slightly tangentially related to my point which proves it."
Then, of course, there is the inevitable
Block quote from the media source
accompanied by maybe two or three sentences that basically state a circular conclusion, with no real accompanying reasoning. These diaries often contain interesting information or make points from the underlying stories that are not repeated elsewhere on the site.
They are usually then accompanied by a tip jar, the author's way of saying "praise me for the wonderful work I've done." The diaries inevitably attract about five or six comments and roll off of the diary list in about as many minutes. The result? Nobody gets this critical information; the diarist is left feeling bad because his diary didn't get recommended; s/he doesn't get the mojo s/he deserves for breaking the story; the diary system doesn't work as intended; and I, MetaJesus, weep.
My children, stories like this and this
and this and this and this and many more like them -- I'm really not trying to single anyone out here -- are what the Open Threads are for.
Open threads are wonderful things. Everyone can read them, everyone can post to them, and unlike with a diary, you don't have to take the shamelessly self-promoting step of putting up a tip jar to collect mojo.
MetaJesus, however, is also weeping because Openthread, probably the most important member of our user community, seems to be taking too many catnaps. She needs to be a bit more on the (yarn?)-ball. Front-page posts are coming fast and furious, and one often has to search way down the page to find an open thread. Probably as a result, realizing that no one will read a comment on an open thread 10 stories down the page, people are suffering from diarryea and posting their one-liners to diaries.
One final comment. If MetaJesus reads one more diary in which the diarist refers to his or another's contribution as a dairy, He will have a cow.
Oh, yeah -- and the search function is terminally slow. I wanted to link to the comment with the picture of Openthread, the enormous Maine Coon cat. I think it would have been really snarky, and good snark is the one thing that brings a smile to MetaJesus' face. Please fix it.
Go forth and sin no more, my children.