In the early-80's, there was a computer bulletin board called the "Squid Board." I don't know why "squid," I never did, but it quickly became a popular place, one of the first spots where I had an online name (it was "Pliocene") and one of the first places I debated politics online.
In those days going online meant cranking up your 300 baud modem and listening to the gurgle and flow. It often meant getting a busy signal, or a dropped connection. It was fun, it was frustrating, and it was a shadow of what was to come. The computers and modems have changed. The hundreds of poorly connected bulletin boards have been replaced by the Internet.
One important fact hasn't changed -- it's not enough. Eventually, you need to make real human contact, to put a face on those funny names and associate a voice with that biting wit.
That's why you need to come to YearlyKos.
In squid days, that urge to see what was behind the 40-character screens led to a series of "squid picnics.' We'd get together at a county park, roast some hot dogs, and shoot the breeze. We'd also plot mass (if twenty or so geeks can be considered a "mass") invasions of other bulletin boards in the area, styling ourselves the "Royal Squid Invasion Force." For all our political bickering, we never thought for a second about making our online community into any sort of force in the real world. Our invasions stayed strictly virtual.
If the "home computers" and clunky shoebox-sized modems have been replaced by much more powerful machines, the slow cursory conversations and disorganized discussions have also changed just as radically when you look at the blog communities of today. Daily Kos is to the squid board as the latest generation of multi-core chips are to the old TMS9900 that ran at the heart of my TI 99/4.
Still, despite the relative deluge of information that this site provides, it doesn't free us from the desire to meet face to face. If a picture is worth a thousand words (and surely Dood Abides would agree with that), then a handshake and a real conversation still beats the holy heck out of the four million daily diaries that scroll past.
You think you know your fellow kossacks? You're wrong. Did you know that Georgia is over seven feet tall? That Darksyde wears a Phantom of the Opera mask at all hours? That Bob Johnson actually is nothing but one of Rex's alternate personalities?
Come to YearlyKos and find out the truth.
Beyond putting faces and voices to the names, this is your opportunity to learn from some of the best, meet some of the brightest, and question some of the most interesting folks that the progressive movement has to offer. Get your energy level up, get in your campaign groove, get ready to beat the snot of Republicans this November. This isn't a vacation, it's ass-kickin' boot camp.
What's on the agenda? Nothing less than the recipe for a revolution, everything from how to make better use of the blogosphere, to working with your local progressive organization. Learn about progressive proposals in economics, science, energy, and security. Learn about... just learn, damn it. (Speaking of recipes, now is a good time to invest in a copy of the Trollhouse Cookbook.)
So, yeah, get out there and donate to make sure that YearlyKos is going to have the cash it needs to pull this thing off. Even more importantly, get out there and register. Make sure your face and your voice are represented. If you don't, we may have to tell people that you look just like Dick Cheney. You don't want that image in people's mind when they see your name, do you?
When you get home, and you're spearheading the grassroots push to elect progressive candidates, you can even think of yourself as part of the next generation Royal Squid Invasion Force. Though... you probably ought to keep that to yourself