The diaries written at daily kos are as varied as one might imagine a group of thousands, with views ranging from Communists to Scoop Jackson Democrats and beyond, with dirty fucking hippies and soldiers serving in Iraq, with white conservative Southerners to latinos, to African Americans, wtih anti-choice and pro-choice, with the religious and the atheist, with the free traders and and fair traders and so on.
We truly are a Big Tent. So it is not surprising that our tastes in diaries varies just as widely. I always get frustrated with people who complain about the subject matter of diaries or even the style used to express that subject matter. To each his own. There simply is no objective truth on what makes a good diary. But I do think it is worthwhile to discuss what we like in diaries generally and I'll discuss what I like on the flip.
For diaries I want certain things. And these are not rules by any means. Just things I want to see in a diary.
I want a coherent statement of what the diary is about.
I want facts to be properly stated and evidenced. Links are a must.
I want the rules of the site to be respected.
I want the diarist to engage the commenters in the diary. It was always my approach to only write a diary when I had an hour to dedicate to the thread of that diary. There is nothing more frustrating to me than to see a diary up that generates many many questions and then have the diarist disappear.
I want the diarist, who has decided to express himself on the subject, to not get all bent out of shape when your views are challenged. Nobody asked you to express your views. You want us to hear them? Then hear the reaction to them.
Of course, I like many other things in diaries, but those are more a question of individual taste.
So, as a general matter, what do you like to see in diaries?