Some of the recent meta trouble the has swept through our Kommunity lately are based on recurring themes that will not go away by adding new rules, clever pleas or new site functions because they run into the fact of our being humans who are, as Vonnegut might say, full of chemicals that screw with our brains and effect our better judgement. To mangle an REM song - everybody sucks, sometime. For many these problems all that I or anyone can say boils down to what I will call Ramar's Rule (because I can! YOU can call it whatever you wish): If you are an ass, you will get no ponies. Meta-Jesus cries when you make the ponies run away.
Moving along to the real reason for this diary!
There is a new meta dustup that can be solved by the wonders of technology - the Blogroll Controversy! my suggestion on the flip...
This site has become the top poliblog because it is essentially two sites in one- the Kos and FPers blog and the Kommunity blog (DKos and DKaos). Kos has the right to put anyone on his blogroll that fits into his particular editorial views and that is that. You have likely seen the critisisms of his choices and many good ponies have been traumatised as a result. But the Kommunity adds value and drives traffic to DKos and I think it reasonable to suggest a Kommunity Blogroll be integrated into the next version of this site (DK4). If done right, this feature could improve the site experience for members and stay on the cutting edge with the latest happening blogs in the blogosphere.
My suggestion:
Give each member a blogroll of their own. When I log on, I would see Ramars Blogroll in the right col under "Ramars Page" (or wherever) and by the magic of Ajax (or Comet or whatev tech DK4 uses) would fold out a nifty blogroll with my fave blog links. So far - simple - big deal - stay with me for the cool part. This Blogroll can also be found in a tab at "Ramar's Page" where anyone who clicks on my name in a post can see what blogs I read. From there, any member can, by clicking an icon next to the link, instantly add the blog to their own blogroll.
This is beginning to be fun!
Next to the icon that I would use to add a blog to my blogroll (or embedded in it) is a number that tells me how many DKos members have added this link to their blogroll.
Folksonomy! as the geeks might say! (os Kosonomy in this case).
For the final touch, a list of the top x number of blogs (ranked by the number of Kossacks with the blog on their personal roll) would be inserted on the front page under Kos' Blogroll (with the little icons to add to the logged in member's personal roll). Thats all there is to it! A truly democratic blogroll that keeps Kos immune from charges of favoritism and cronyism!
And Ponies for ALL!
DK4 would truly ROCK!
What do y'all think?