I feel strongly enough about that diary to expand a comment I wrote into a diary.
I have been reading DKos for about three years. I like the community, and got a user ID about six months ago the day after my dad died. Someday maybe I'll write about what a great guy he was (in addition to being one of probably the most knowledgeable guys in the country on the subject of oil shale extraction technology -- he was a very funny guy, and bought a hugenormous SUV in 1995, because, as he said, he couldn't resist using gas that was so ridiculously cheap).
For me, the value of DKos is that it is a community I feel I belong to, although I am thin-skinned, and when I've received negative feedback, I've taken it too personally. But DKos has given me the impetus to step into greater political activism, and that's what this diary is about.
Maybe the site needs to be redesigned so that there is more room for recommended diaries, or possibly a section for the diaries of trusted users, or super trusted users, or some such thing, but one thing I remember from psychology class a long time ago is that when people give a little to a cause they believe in, the next time they give, they give more.
So for me, the value of DKos is that it allows people to take that first step. And if you quash and/or stifle people because their diaries aren't up to the standards that they reached before everybody got so excited about this election, maybe you'll be doing something counterproductive.
Maybe that person, who got so excited that he/she posted: BREAKING: Sarah Palin's dog speaks in tongues with batboy!! hasn't written something that you want to spend time reading, but I get sad for people when I see mean delete messages under work that somebody, somewhere has first started by being enthusiastic about, and has then stopped to write about. Maybe the next step would have been a donation of time or money to the campaign. But maybe now it won't be, because that person will go back to WoW (and Spore is coming out tomorrow, so I personally won't be here for awhile 'til that works through my system).
I'm one of the persons who's written diaries without reading the whole FAQ, and in one of the earliest ones, I was slammed. I was trying to be funny and I didn't succeed so well, and I got a lot of requests to delete the diary, which I did immediately. But I felt bad, and I stopped visiting the site for awhile.
I did eventually come back, obviously, and I've written a few diaries since, some of them doubtless diaries that are not as stellar as those others could have (or did) write.
But I have also never contributed money to a campaign before, and I have never volunteered for a campaign before, until now, and one of the reasons that I am going to do both is because I first started typing, here, on Daily Kos, and took that first step towards involvement.
But people have to work up to getting involved, and Daily Kos, more than anything, has helped me to become more involved in the political process, and I think if you close the door in the faces of people who are trying to take their first steps, you will ultimately be doing a disservice to your cause.
See, I'm even learning about tags, that's how much I like you guys! Please add any more tags you feel are appropriate.
Thank you, I hope I haven't offended anybody.