The latest diaries on the death of DavefromQueens have proven one thing that I tried unsuccessfully awhile back to say:
DKos needs to rethink how it handles itself going forward. Community policing is great to get a revolution started. But as Che Guevara and others have learned, the running of affairs once the revolution gains some success requires some adjustments... or else the very successes made become imperiled.
I'm hopeful that as Kos continues to work on the greatly anticipated renovation of the site, that more thought is or will be put into addressing the "mob rules" mentality that has developed.
No one, not even a front pager or Kos himself, should be engaged in or tolerant of any act that goes beyond the bounds of reasonableness -- particularly the responding to diaries with which one may disagree by commenting that the diarist should "go away", or HR'ing the tip jar, etc. Mind you, I am speaking of diaries that are not breaking any rules, only being found to be provocative in some way (case in point would be my previous diary on the Kennedy/NY senate seat debacle here).
Yet, when some decide to assume the authority to decide what is in good taste or no - and at the same time who has the right to express their opinions/ideas in a diary - a line has been crossed. Many responded to my earlier comments on this that this is a "private" site, and therefore my discussion of free speech being impinged by the "what's in good taste" police does not apply.
Wrong. This is a site that exists and purports itself and its success in the public realm, and indeed thrives only because of this.
And I cannot stress enough the innate and immense danger in condoning the perilous notion that Free Speech should be harassed, even with the best intentions, under the banner of "Good Taste" or a falsely applied idea of private property protections. (One other post about the "taste versus free speech" issue here)
Regardless of DFQ's death being in any way a result of his experiences with DKos or not, one has to look no further than his blog and the endless number of other similar issues to see that there is a problem.
If only we have the wisdom to admit it, address it, and move on.
And addressing it does not require much that would endanger or inordinately burden DKos. It just takes the will to do so.
As I said many times before, the great things that DKos has helped achieve are too vital to risk losing - for any reason, least of all a self-inflicted wound caused by stubborness, or dare I say it, pride.
Time to grow even better, even if it doing what it takes to do so creates some imposition.