I think that a daily "Welcome To Those Visiting Daily Kos" post is needed...well...daily on DailyKos.com.
Think of all the folks coming to dKos because of rightwing murmurs that dKos started mean-spirited rumors relative to Gov. Sarah Palin. Think of all the folks coming to dKos on ANY given day, not because of this or that news story, but just because they are becoming politically aware.
I think Kos should consider offering these first-time visitors a special message, just for them, that is written by a Front Pager and linked to through a special WELCOME FIRST TIME VISITORS graphic, sandwiched between the Menu and About options in the right-hand column.
The proposed Welcome post/message can help set the tone of dKos (not that the Front Page posts don't do that), and perhaps touch on particularly popular topics or news stories that might be driving traffic to dKos.
I can't claim honestly to feel strongly about this suggestion. It's not going to make or break dKos or even any aspect of it! It's a non-crucial area of potential growth in site readership. Nonetheless, I think it's worth consideration.
I've been reading dKos for a long time. (Check ye olde UID#), maintain 2 blogs (one since the Draft Clark days), and handle the website and e-communications for my local Democratic Club. I'm 36, born, raised, and educated in Iowa--where I was once the founding president of the Kossuth Country Teenage Republicans (TARS), yet where I registered as a Democrat. My perspectives are fairly broad; I've felt like the insider and like the outsider in various political environments both digital and real. I wax and wane as a politico; I wax and wane and a technophile, and given that diversified (perhaps diluted?) perspectvie, I submit the proposition that Daily Kos has reached the point where OUTREACH is actually a valid activity online. (Clearly, Kos' books, such as "Taking On The System," and his television appearances serve as outreach, too.) Outreach at this point, however, should probably also involve educating and orientating visitors to this site, on this site. A metaphor for that education and orientation might be the instructions one can read in line before voting in the voting booth on some local ballot initiative...only hopefully a lot more clear, fun, and brief. (I.e., the opposite of this diary.)
UPDATE: I was prompted to write this diary after reading Sparky McGruff's diary.