I did not get to participate to
Hunter's
I Hunter, Am Your Leader snarky retort to
stephdray's gloomy
DailyKos Fiddles while America Burns so I don't know exactly if the matter was fully put to rest, but here's my take, both as an insider (active on the site for a bit of time now) and an outsider (as a non-American, physically on another continent, and a regular follower of the press in other countries, including the international financial press).
I have mostly good news.
The basic DailyKos ecology
One important thing to remember that DailyKos has two kinds of visitors: the addicts that are there almost throughout the day, and the 'normal' readers, who drop by once a day, or more rarely, look at the front page and maybe at an occasional diary.
- The first category is at most a few thousand people, but they make all the comments and the discussions. They - we - are highly vocal, extremely well informed, extremely opinionated, and we expect new content from dKos each time we drop by, whether new front page stuff, new insightful or informative or enjoyable diaries, comments to our diaries or replies to our own comments;
As has been noted in various threads, the addicts tend to focus on the diaries more than on the front page, because that's where the community action is, and they look at dKos through that lens. But it also means that we focus on what the other regulars write and think. Don't forget to bring your other sources in.
I won't go here into the ecology of the regulars, because that's a whole other diary.
- The second category is not always familiar with all the discussions ongoing, has probably not heard of the latest flame war, doesn't even know what a flame war is, and is unlikely to want to find out about this one, and has not necessarily heard the latest whopper from Bush even though it was in the frigging NYT 12 hours ago and discussed in a recommended diary in the morning. So they'll be happy to find that tidbit even if it the Fifth time YOU see it...
Now, the important thing to remember is that this second category amounts to several hundred thousand people each day, and they are why DailyKos matters, even though they are totally invisible. A number of them are members, but have never made a comment, never rated a comment, and never recommended a diary. But they do read (although it should be noted that a large number only look at the main page, and probably do not even open extensions to front page stories).
That means that the casual visitor to dKos and the regular will have pretty different experiences of the site. Which means that a recommended story that's recommended for 8 hours appears to be up there too long to the addicts but is probably NOT going to be seen by the majority of the casual readers.
DailyKos as the aggregator of the left
It's already been mentioned many times how much bigger dKos (in terms of audience) is than all the conservative blogs put together - but it's true also in terms of contents. With 200-300 diaries each day, and about 5,000 comments per day, there's a lot to be read. It could be a whole lot of noise, but thanks to recommends and ratings (i.e. the collective choices of that active minority), the most interesting stuff is made more visible, notably via the reclist.
The sheer size of the place has made it the 'must-be' place for a large number of liberal bloggers, many of which crosspost on dKos what they write elsewhere - or more to the point, they bring to dKos what they think is the most relevant or worthy of notice of all they write. Thus, many lefty bloggers come, and they provide their best stuff, because they know this is the best way to get wider exposure. This is a self-reinforcing circle: dKos has emerged as the place to be because it is the place to be (and part of the "winner takes all" business model , if you're negative, or a large scale demonstration of the 'network effect', if you're more charitable). In essence, DailyKos is no longer only about Markos, it is simply the place that is now recognised as the main website of the left. Almost anybody that wants to be heard on the left writes here (including senior politicians), and those that want to know what the left thinks come here to find out.
It's important to note that this works because of the selection process through which site input goes: a lot of content is brought in, and the very best, or the most representative, or most topical of the moment is put forward by the semi-anonymous crowd of activists that care enough to vote and recommend. Even the front page content has been, in a way, vetted by the community as the front pagers were chosen with kossack input - and they are certainly not disappointing expectations.
So, in a nutshell:
- the readers give the site its prominence
- the activists give it its edge, by providing (individually) and selecting (collectively) content
DailyKos's preeminence is now acknowledged all over the place. The media mentions it, quotes it, denigrates it at times, but has essentially acknowledged its central role on the US political scene: you want to know what the left thinks, you come here. I have been especally struck by the way the Economist, which is the bible of the international business world, quotes DailyKos (explicitly, as DailyKos, or indirectly, as "liberal bloggers") pretty much
every week now.
DailyKos is heard. Widely. That's already a major, major achievement.
DailyKos is becoming an incredibly efficient information clearinghouse
The other role of DailyKos, which is also made possible by its sheer size, is that of an information collector. The people who post here (rarely or often) has very different interests, competences and information sources, and they bring them all to the site. This means that we have access to an incredible amount of timely and relevant information, often accompanied by the specialist commentary that puts it in perspective or provides the missing context. It's Google News with value added.
But that's just on the input side. With the rating system, the collective mind of dKos sifts through that content, and flags the best diaries or the most important information to the attention of everybody else. Once this is brought to prominence, the comments threads provide fact checking and analysis, and lots more information. When it's worth it, further diaries build on that to further refine the information and the understanding of whatever's happening.
The result: the fastest newssource around, with the most amazing fact checking and cross referencing capacity. I used to joke about this, but it's really true: if you are on dKos a lot, you know everything hours, if not days before anybody else - and you don't just know about it - you know the different versions, the context, the commentary, the reactions of the interested parties, and, of course, the political angles. I read Le Monde and the Financial Times, two of the most serious papers in Europe, every day, and I am amazed by how much I already know from dKos when I read them.
Again, this is a breathtaking achievement.
When you bitch about 15 diaries on the same topic, remember that: in one of the 15, there may be a jewel, and if it is the case, it is likely that it will be found and widely distributed thanks to the Kosloudspeaker. The fact that there are 15 diaries on one topic means that the community thinks it's a significant item to be discussed, and that it is worth talking about. And you will notice that if too much attention is focused on any given topic, you will pretty inevitably have a "look at the bigger picture" diary recommended to remind everybody to take a breather. That's also made possible thanks to the "permanent voting" features of the site.
And remember, the casual readers come once a day or less. At the time they come, they will see that 2 or 3 or 7 stories are about Cheney or Alito or Iran or whatever the big story of the day is. To them, that's relevant information as well, and it is likely that they will find in there (if they read just one) new information that will have made the visit to dKos worthwhile to them, even if you, the activist, thinks this has been hashed to death already and are getting sick of it. Keep in mind the reading patterns of others before you complain (too much) about too much repetition on any given topic.
DailyKos and getting things done politically
The final point I'd like to address is the criticism that we're making a lot of noise but not getting any results. I would like to say that this seems to me to be totally untrue and unfair.
- effective action requires good information. DKos, as I wrote above, is becoming an amazingly effective place to get immediate, actionable information. If that were the only thing it did, it would already be a great tool for political activists;
- being so big, it is heard. Widely. Whether because the front pagers choose to focus on one topic, or because the community as a whole does it, some extremely loud, and extremely clear messages are coming out of the site. The regulars, who are "in the kitchen making the sausages" may find the process painful, or unpleasant, or incoherent, but that's actually the beauty of it: debate eventually brings forward the smartest ideas - or in any case helps get rid of the worst stuff. All the infighting very often leads to some form of consensus - and a coherent message does come out, even if it does not appear like that to those that were in the trenches when it was crafted. Whenever someone comes up with a diary that does a good job of summarising the outcome of any debate or flame war, it is recognised, and, again, widely publicised (think Hunter's Melting the sking off of children about the war in Iraq). The chaotic nature of the debate is what allows something qualitatively better to eventually emerge;
- From what I can see, calls to donate money or to make calls to senators or other representatives seem to be reasonably effective. Again, don't underestimate the size of the readership, even for apparently orphaned diaries.
- Quite simply, politics is to some extent about noise. It is often the noisiest, or the one that most persistently repeats ts message that gets across. DailyKos is noisy and persistent, and thus a perfect tool, that can be aimed very effectively when the right occasion comes. Just join in, and help shape that message. It is up to you.
- Finally, never forget that this is an ongoing experiment. This is a brand new form of communication, and nobody knows how it will turn out. Bloggers are already an acknowledged presence on the political scene, and the left is lucky to have that one site that is able to project our views on the public scene. But there may be impacts that are not yet foressen. The art of collective drafting of policy is currently tested by the Energize America group to which I participate. Who knows where that will lead to?
It's up to each of us to take advantage of this tool we've all built together, and to put it to the best use. We're not doing so badly, and I for one am very glad to be part of this unique ride!