Mo' Meta- Mo' Betta.
Some people have expressed confusion about why and how things end up on the "Recommended Diaries" List. It's really very simple.
Every registered user, after a waiting period of about a week, gets a Diary Recommend button. This is the gray button labeled 'Recommend' in the 'Recommend Diary' box third from the top after 'Menu' and 'Tools' in the extreme right column of any diary, right above the button in the same box that says View Recommenders.
Every Diary Recommendation counts exactly the same. Mine counts no more than yours and neither of ours counts for any less than kos himself's.
At any given time the diaries with the top 8 Diary Recommendation scores appear in the "Recommended Diaries" List.
A Diary Recommendation score is not the same as simply counting the number of Diary Recommendations. Recent Recommendations count for more than older ones.
This is called 'aging' and it's done so that the top 8 diaries of all time don't continue to dominate the list forever. A diary with a thousand Recommendations can have a lower Diary Recommendation score than a diary with only 20, depending on how old the Recommendations are.
This formula is completely automatic and is not controlled by kos or any of the Front Pagers.
Diaries are not screened by subject material or any other criteria.
Have there been changes to this formula? Yes. It has been changed several times to more aggressively age Recommendations to promote turnover in the "Recommended Diaries" List, the last time I recall was during primary season.
Those are facts, but I have some advice.
Members here are generally unsympathetic to complaints about this or that diary, or a particular subject being ignored, or the quality or relative "truthiness" of any particular diary or all of them put together on the "Recommended Diaries" List.
It's automatic. Sorry you weren't popular enough.
Whining seems like vanity and usually is.
If you wish your diaries to appear on the "Recommended Diaries" List your best bet is to develop a reputation as an author of merit and interest.
Whatever your reputation you will be unlikely to displace recent diaries with many Recommendations, if on the other hand the list is full of diaries that are old and stale you will have a better chance.
In any event whether a diary gets "Recommended" is a crap shoot at best, and diarists who are frequently on the list like myself accept the judgement of our peers with gratitude and humility, but expect only a fair hearing from our regular audience.
Update
desmoinesdem has some very good advice. If you've spent a great deal of time and energy on a post, you might consider crosspublishing at a blog with a slower pace.
They will be grateful for the content and you will get more exposure for your work.
ek hornbeck is the author of Welcome New Users.