Welcome, New Users, to The Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of Posting Diaries using The Daily Kos (dKos) interface.
After that you can ask me any question you want. I don't know all the answers so if you stump me, you do. I invite those wiser than I to contribute and correct (or raise a ruckus, just don't scare people).
No permission slips needed, join us at the deep end of the pool for adult swim.
Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic mirror, tell me today, have all my friends been good at play?
I can see hawkny (#111275) and Blind Pig (#112422), the first and last users to join the week of 11/17/06 to 11/23/06, and all of you boys and girls out there in DailyKosland!
Hello Devil. Welcome to Hell.
Recommended Links-
Frequently Asked Questions
Highlighted FAQ Areas/Rules for polite conversation-
I have written some diaries you may find useful-
Other Useful Diaries-
Here are some other Diaries that address the needs of new users-
Here are some older takes on what the well informed user should know-
Other diaries in the Welcome New Users Series. The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
Posting Diaries
Since last we were together there have been some changes made-
To summarize for those who are only interested in rumors and gossip (me, me, me, me, me), there is a new 'Ajax Diary Editor' based on the 'Ajax Comment Posting Window'. It was introduced Sunday the 19th and there was a problem almost immediately with a Diary titled Like the dog returning to its vomit: The Democrats versus Reform? by andydoubtless. This diary posted every 18 seconds until the bug was fixed. andydoubtless (user #68722) was not responsible for the problem and his history (5 Diaries and 254 Comments) is unremarkable. If he ever shows up again please be nice.
The next incident of note was the deletion of Delaware Dem's Roll Call Diary (which inspired, as it always does, a host of variants) on the 21st. This was determined to be the result of pushing the 'Delete' button in the 'Diary Editor' which at the time had no fail safe dialog ("Are you sure?" Pretty sure.). This error has been fixed as has the 16 K diary size limitation (which didn't get it's own diary but was remarked about in Comments several times.
Other 'unexpected results' remain and peeder and ct are working to fix them as fast as they can. If you have a problem with your Diary please email peeder at the address listed on his page or catch his attention in his Comments. Include a repeatable, but brief, description of what happened along with links and any questionable HTML (if relevant). Please note your Browser and Version (mine is Firefox 1.5.0.8 (Help/About) and XP Pro 2002 Service Pack 2 (My Computer/right mouse/Properties)).
Enough Meta? Let's push some buttons.
New Diary Entry
There it is, all nice and bright and shiny over in the right hand column, first one under 'Tools'. New Diary Entry. Open it up in a new window.
Posting a Diary Entry
Daily Kos welcomes blog articles from readers, known as diaries. The Intro section to a diary should be about three paragraphs long, and is required. The body section is optional, as is the poll, which can have 1 to 15 choices. Descriptive tags are also required to help others find your diary by subject; please don't use "cute" tags.
When you're ready, scroll down below the tags and click Preview Diary. You can edit your diary after it's published by clicking Edit Diary. Polls cannot be edited once they are published.
If this is your first time creating a Diary since the Ajax upgrade, before you enter any text below, please press Ctrl-F5 and then hold down the Shift Key and press your browser's Reload button to refresh its cache with the new script files.
ATTENTION: READ THE RULES.
- One diary daily maximum.
- Substantive diaries only. If you don't have at least three solid, original paragraphs, you should probably post a comment in an Open Thread.
- No repetitive diaries. Take a moment to ensure your topic hasn't been blogged (you can search for Stories and Diaries that already cover this topic), though fresh original analysis is always welcome.
- Use the "Body" textbox if your diary entry is longer than three paragraphs.
- Any images in your posts must be hosted by an approved image hosting service (one of: imageshack.us, photobucket.com, flickr.com, smugmug.com, allyoucanupload.com, picturetrail.com, mac.com, webshots.com, editgrid.com).
- Copying and pasting entire copyrighted works is prohibited. If you do quote something, keep it brief, always provide a link to the original source, and use the <blockquote> tags to clearly identify the quoted material. Violations of this rule are grounds for immediate banning.
- Be civil. Do not "call out" other users by name in diary titles. Think very carefully before using any profanity in a diary title. Don't write diaries whose main purpose is to deliberately inflame.
For the complete list of DailyKos diary guidelines, please click here. |
Crap. Community Norms.
Diary Rules
Diary Rules. Read all 26. Understand them.
The 26 Rules come from kos himself as you will note if you click the link Diary guidelines in the dKosopedia. They are duplicated in the link in the last line of Posting a Diary Entry. I do have some additions and commentary.
Rule #3 (also Rule #4 in Posting a Diary Entry) Addition. There is also a character limit of 900 including all HTML and links. You will notice I had to cut down my 'Intro' by putting the Magic Mirror stuff in the Body and that Body is the new 'Extended'. We're going to start boldfacing Intro too, get used to it.
Rule #8 is obsolete and has been replaced by this.
Duplicate Diaries
- Duplicative diaries are prohibited. Please scan the recent diaries and front-page posts before starting to compose your own diary. This rule operates on a sliding scale. A repeat diary with minimal analysis or originality (particularly on "breaking news" items) is prohibited. Such diaries are subject to deletion without notice. But if you write on a recently-covered subject and provide original analysis or research, that is acceptable and in fact welcome.
Also this from Posting a Diary Entry-
- No repetitive diaries. Take a moment to ensure your topic hasn't been blogged (you can search for Stories and Diaries that already cover this topic), though fresh original analysis is always welcome.
People will frequently quote the first sentance, not so much what I consider the most important part- original analysis is welcome.
The threshold is not high. Just because someone has announced in a breathless rush that something is BREAKING!!!! (all caps, 4 exclamations mandatory) doesn't mean that the community wouldn't want to see a more thoughtful and reasoned piece with links to additional sources, or even a Diary about your personal reaction to it. In any good newspaper you can read a variety of articles about the same story that approach it from different angles, dKos is the same.
That said, if it is demonstrated to you that your Diary is indeed a duplicate of one that is current and you are politely requested to do so by another user, the proper behavior is to delete your Dairy and try again. I have done it a couple of times myself.
Timing is important. A respectful Diarist takes the time to check at least the last 50 Diaries (Recent Diary List), or the last 6 hours to see if your topic has been extensively blogged. Sometimes you will find that a subject has been so overworked over the course of days, weeks, or months that any further discussion is greeted with indifference or hostility.
Conspiracy! Duck! o< (quack, quack)
- Diarists are strongly encouraged to back up all assertions with facts (and preferably links to supporting materials) whenever possible. Use reputable sources whenever possible. If you can't find a reputable source that supports your position, then perhaps reconsider writing your diary.
- Diaries which engage in wild speculation without any proof are strongly discouraged. Repeatedly posting diaries consisting largely or entirely of wild speculation is an abuse of site policy. Bear in mind that that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
from the FAQ, Recommending diaries-
Note: Please use common sense when recommending diaries. Diaries that rely entirely on unreliable sources such as Wayne Madsen, Capitol Hill Blue, Jason Leopold, or Lyndon LaRouche are generally not considered acceptable. Recommending poorly sourced conspiracy theory diaries may result in banning without warning for all recommenders.
Diary Titles
- Do not use ALL CAPS or exclamation marks !!! in diary titles.
- Do not put "Please Recommend" or similar language in diary titles.
"Think very carefully before using any profanity in a diary title." (Rule #17 and Rule #7 in Posting a Diary Entry). This site allows profanity, certainly in the Body of a Diary or in a 'Comment'; but it is frowned on in 'Titles' and 'Subjects'. Expect complaints.
Other than that, headline writing is an art, not a science. Sometimes you want to be very direct in your 'Title' (W Arrested! Hague Trial Soon!) other times not so much (Pig Wings). Most readers have only 2 things to judge your Diary on before they decide to open it however, your 'Title' and your handle.
Troll Diaries
Certain types of Diaries are prohibited-
- Diaries which contain hateful or defamatory writing are prohibited.
- Diaries which are deliberately designed to inflame are prohibited.
- Deliberately inflammatory titles, or titles which contain attacks, are prohibited. Also, while this site doesn't prohibit profanity, please think very carefully before using any curse words in a diary title.
- "Calling out" other site users by name in diary titles is prohibited. Diaries which "call out" another by name tend to needlessly inflame. If you feel compelled to address another user's comments or diaries in a diary of your own, please do so cautiously. Avoid ad hominems and stick with substantive, constructive criticism only.
Also Rule #7 in Posting a Diary Entry
Other Diaries can exhibit Troll Characteristics.
Smiting Diaries
Diary smites (3+ / 0-)
are debated internally by the contributing editors. Those decisions are never made unilaterally by a single person.
It doesn't happen very often, maybe 2-3 times per month. And it shouldn't happen very often.
by kos on Thu Aug 31, 2006 at 09:02:59 PM PST
I'm tired of talking about this for now and there is an endless catalog of things that tick people off. You can find a portion of it in this Diary- INAPPROPRIATE CAPS: Misleading title 4 exclamation points by HeyThereItsEric (2077).
Buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons
After the Posting a Diary Entry message is the title box that currently says untitled diary. If you keep pushing New Diary Entry you'll end up with a lot of 'untitled diaries' in the 'Diary Drafts' box in the right most column. To get rid of them you click on them and delete them. Since this is the first time through, we won't do it yet.
Replace the title with anything except 'Welcome New Users (Posting Diaries) 11/24/06' (that would be a duplicate diary, please delete) and move on to the next field, Intro.
We've already discussed the limitations of the Intro box, I will mention in passing that I think it's redundant to repeat your introduction in the Body. The formatting buttons work similarly to their counterparts in the 'Comment Posting Window' which we discussed the week before last in Posting Comments and as a matter of fact all the Fancy Formatting stuff we discussed last week works too.
And hey, the 'Help' button works, here's what it says-
Publishing your own Diaries on Daily Kos is a snap. You can type or paste plain text or HTML, and there are several helpful features you can use:
Select text you have typed, and use the Bold and Italic buttons to format them. You may also create the "cool gray box" around quoted text via the Blockquote button...this will also copy text into a blockquote you have selected elsewhere on this page.
Adding links to other pages is easy as well. Click on the Link button and you can enter a URL and an optional label for the link. Then click Add to add it. Checking the Image box will insert an image stored at that URL, with the label visible on mouseover. Clicking Link again will cancel adding a link.
There are plenty of helpful shortcuts you can use without clicking on buttons. Placing a URL inside square brackets like this: [http://www.dailykos.com Daily Kos] will result in a link with any added words as a label. [[Double Brackets]] creates a link to the entry for that term in Dkosopedia.
Starting a line with 1. or 3) or even #, followed by a space, will result in a list item with that or an automatically selected numeral, and * will provide a bullet list item. Surrounding words or sentences with certain characters makes things *bold* _italic_ /also italic/ -struckout- and there are others. If you wish to defeat this formatting, simply precede the special character with a backslash (\), e.g. \*not bold*.
When you've got everything the way you want it, click Preview Diary to get a Preview of your whole diary as it will appear when published. If you need to make a change, any of the Edit Diary links will bring back the editors.
Once you are satisfied with your diary, you must click Publish to post it. Otherwise your Diary (or changes to it) will not be posted. You can always edit it at any time by clicking one of the Edit Diary links to bring back the editors.
Should you accidentally close your web browser while editing a diary, don't panic! Daily Kos saves drafts of your diaries behind the scenes. The drafts will appear in the Diary Drafts menu until they are either Published or Deleted. To delete a diary, whether published or not, click the Delete button.
Clicking Help again will hide this information. There is also more help available. |
Yeah, like that. Let's not push that Preview Diary button quite yet, just a few more things to tell you.
As I said when we were talking about Comments, anything that takes you more than 15 minutes to write should be written and saved off line. Almost by definition a Diary should meet that time requirement. I always compose off line and I always spell check. Diaries 101: Let's Share Writing Tips :) by OrangeClouds115 has lots of other good tips for a well written Diary.
Below the Body box is the 'Add Poll' button. You can't do zen polls anymore with just the question (or no visible question) and no answers except a vote button and the old ones you did are looking pretty nasty right now on your diary page. Serves you right for using non-compliant code. Good thing they're optional! Once you commit though, you are committed- polls can not be edited once they are published.
Underneath the Poll are the tags. Just a reminder of your Tagging tips-
The big thing to keep in mind when tagging — they are a search tool. What do people search for? Issues, people, and races. Tags should ALWAYS address one of those three.
- Use combinations of simple tags rather than inventing complex ones.
- Try to think of what tags people might use to search for something and use those. Remember, tags are like categories. And people don't search for "humor" or "satire". They search for issues, races, and people.
- Try to re-use existing tags.
- Keep it simple. Don't use tags that are redundant.
- For election blogging, add the year, state and office. So the Colorado governor's race in 2006 is tagged: "2006, governor, Colorado". Also add the dKos-style abbreviation of the race (two digit state abbreviation and race). So a governor's race would be "CA-Gov", a Senate race "CA-Sen", and a congressional race would be "CA-06".
- Stop with the "cutesy" tags. This is a tool to help organize content, not show how clever you are with keywords like "HUNTERRIFIC" to express how great Hunter's diary was.
- Use first and last names for all people. Believe it or not, people sometimes share last names.
|
BEFORE YOU CAN PUSH THE Diary Preview BUTTON YOU MUST HAVE A VALID DIARY! It must contain at least-
- A Title
- An Intro
- A Tag
Now we can push.
Preview Edit Cycle
Chug, chug, chug. Bang there's your Diary and I'll bet it looks marvelous.
Not so much?
Well, unless it's truly horrible we'll save that 'Delete' button. 'Publish'? Not hardly! Ah! 'Edit Diary', the one in the middle, is the one we want.
Zap. Back at the New Diary Entry page with one modification, you can now see your diary as it will appear on top of the Intro and Body editing boxes. Once you change a character it greys out, but you can still click on links to test them. Speaking of clicking links, they open new windows when you're in edit mode.
Now on the bottom, to the left of the 'Preview' and 'Delete' buttons, the 'Save as Draft' button is active. Might be a good idea.
Buzz, buzz, buzz, do the busy do bee buzz. 'Preview'. 'Edit'. Rinse. Repeat.
This is the same cycle I used to go through under the old system with my off line composed diaries. Because I often use 'Fancy Formatting' I would 'Preview' so frequently I'd lose count. This development cycle and the concept of 'Previewing' at all may strike some as odd but I'm used to it.
When you get back from 'Preview' Mode (the last step before 'Publishing') into 'Edit' Mode, SAVE YOUR DRAFT! Use the 'Save Draft' button every chance you get.
After you have done this 2 or 3 times after carefully reading and reviewing your 'Preview' and going back into 'Edit' Mode and not making any changes and the 'Previewing' again your Diary is finally, really ready to 'Publish'.
'Save Draft', 'Preview', Hold Your Breath and push...
Sigh. Not done with Community Norms yet. Sorry.
Tip Jars
Your 'Tip Jar' is your first Comment on your own diary. It is whether you label it that way or want it to be or not.
Not everyone who reads your Diary is going to be able to take the time to compose you a little piece of personal snark to tell you how much they liked it. There are those who say that's what 'Diary Recommends' are for but I disagree, I think they're to flag content that I think everyone at dKos should get a chance to read.
Enter the 'Tip Jar'. I root around for your first Comment (and trust me, I know how to find it, but we'll talk about stalking later) and 'Recommend' it instead of the whole Diary.
Good job. Thank you.
This use of the 'Tip Jar' makes some people shy. "I'm not vain like that", they say. "Your praise is not as important as the ISSUE!" Ok, cool, whatever. I'm sorry I couldn't show you a little love.
But the 'Tip Jar' has another use- that of 'Vent Hole'.
"ek hornbeck, your Diary on Basilisk Liberation not only hurts my eyes, it is a scurrilous and reprehensible insult to The Daily Kos Community and the human species! Shame on you!"
Your words on dKos mean something, we take them seriously and we hope you do too.
A 'Tip Jar' is your indication that you're willing to listen to the community's feed back, positive AND negative, and respond. NOT to have one on a Diary that is controversial is an indication that the Diary WAS simply meant to inflame.
There is a substantial movement to make 'Tip Jars' mandatory. I say people should be educated to show respect to their peers.
I had to be educated. I thought they were vanity. I was wrong.
I was going to show you how to set up to make sure that your 'Tip Jar' was the first Comment of all on your new Diary, but as I approach publication I've discovered some features that may make that much easier, so I think I'll update later if it all works out as I expect. I'm also not going to cover Polls much more than I have other than to remind you that once they are 'Published' they can not be edited from all reports. Again I have no beef, there was only a small time window that they were ever editable in my experience and since I never did, I don't miss it.
Ha! Now you can always be Frist (sic) in your own diary! The 'Post Comment' button works in 'Preview' and 'Edit' Mode, so even before you 'Publish' you can put up your 'Tip Jar' or an Al Rodgers type series of Comments. For an example of how that technique can work see my diary Presser 10/25- It doesn't matter what I write.
There are 2 more things I want to cover before we push that 'Publish' button though, Diary Parking and 'Deleting'.
Diary Parking
I want to single this out as a feature I really, really like. I'm posting this Diary from Thanksgiving which is at Renaissance Fair Town in the north country this year. Yes, Richard and Emily are here too. My Aunty Mame is a Mac and I'm a PC and I was quite worried about getting my stuff through the intertubes without my old familiar truck. I was able to do most of this Diary ahead of time, park it using the 'Save Draft' button, pack, travel, login, and here it is all ready for my finishing touches.
Slick.
Deleting
The downside of the neat new Draft Saving ability is that you can end up with a lot of 'untitled diaries', especially if you're poking around to see how things work. I find them visually distracting and usually remove them before I end my dKos sessions.
From any page the 'Diary Drafts' Menu appears on (and this is not every page) open the draft (including 'untitled') you wish to 'Delete' and push the 'Delete Diary' button at the bottom on the far right of the same line as 'Save Draft' and 'Preview Diary'.
Daily Kos: Draft: untitled diary:
Are you certain you want to delete this diary? All text and all comments will be irretreivably lost.
OK.
And zap, you're gone. Be very careful, it's still easy to do a Delaware Dem. I presume it works the same way on 'Published' Diaries that it does on 'Drafts' but I haven't tried it yet.
And so now I have tried it. If you push 'Delete Diary' on a 'Published' Diary you get taken to a dialog box that says-
Daily Kos: Draft: untitled diary:
Are you certain you want to delete this diary? All text and all comments will be irretreivably lost.
If you wish to delete you must type "delete" in the box below and press OK.
"Delete". OK. You will now be redirected to the front page.
I like my Diaries, I think they're special.
Diary Deletion may not be quite up to date on the how to but it has this to say about why-
Don't delete a diary just because a discussion in the comments has gone off in some direction you don't like.
I think it's ok to 'Delete' a Diary just because it doesn't look right. Sometimes to test what is and is not allowable HTML I'll 'Publish' a Diary and make a Comment or 2 and when I have my answer the utility of that Diary is done for me.
I don't make a habit of it and here's why, people get invested in their Comments. If I have taken 5 minutes to compose a response to you, and especially if people have liked it, I'll know it and resent it when that Comment goes missing.
That's what happens when you 'Delete' a Diary. You 'Delete' everyone else's work too.
And don't think it hides bad ratings. Only the good ones disappear.
People notice it when you 'Delete' and most of them think it's rude. If you persist in this behavior they will think you have something to hide, that you don't stand behind your words. That isn't true, is it?
Publish
At long last your Diary is perfected- 'Save Draft', 'Preview Diary', 'Publish Diary'.
I hope it looks as good as you thought it did, but if you're like most people, especially me, there will be one or two minor flaws that creep through.
Join me next week for 'Editing Diaries'.
Umm... ek. It's Saturday. What happened?
As always, it previewed just fine, but there were some difficulties with the lists and with getting some of the literals in the 'Help' button text to work. I tried fussing with it as a lump for 90 minutes and then I decided to get really rude and test it in pieces and then all together. I had to do it by actually 'Publishing' it because my errors (and they were mine, things work the way they do) didn't show up in the 'Preview'. I beg your forgiveness, but I can't promise it will never happen again.
If you ever see a Diary of mine that's titled 'Test', that's just what it is. Please don't write anything deathless.
Other than that I'd love to chat, have at!
There are other things to talk about. Let's get started.