Granny Doc talked at length about it a few days ago; that BREAKING diaries - essentially news - push contemplative, thought-out diaries out far too quickly. Solution below the jump:
Simply have each diarist declare the diary in question "news" or "other". Then have a separate recommended section for each category on the front page. The news section could then have a shorter lifespan, since it's news.
As it is, the Daily Kos recommended dairies are nearly all news items - understandable, since everyone is joining in on the feeding frenzy on Palin's political carcass. Good times! A lot of dairies are also little more than a link to the latest Krugman or Frank Rich column, they always rack up recommendations. Yes, I suspect some speculate in that.
But, as Granny Doc said, it's not really what DK is for. Yet, I don't see any reason both couldn't coexist; the news aggregation of this massive community is really very nice to have. The balance is completely off, though, because DK hasn't changed its structure to accommodate both functions.
And if DK is to be more than a link central, my suggestion would redress that balance.
So there it is.