As a new(er) member of D-Kos, I see some instances of what must be categorized as "growing pains". Every week I read a rec-list diary leveling various complaints at other D-Kos diarists. Mostly these critics are people who are long-time Kos participants who feel either the recent diaries are rants or the comments are getting nasty and/or personal.
Here is a good (as in well thought-out) example of a recent rec list diary that does a good job articulating the feelings I have read in a lot of other diaries as well.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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My first reaction there is the same reaction I have whenever I hear someone complaining about something that is free. Then, after I am done being snarky, I see that what a lot of people are complaining about as a decline or degradation, may actually be a situation of growing pains. As more people use Kos, it is bound to change.
I, myself, am a pretty new transfer to the diary/ comment sections of Kos, after leaving the Huffpo out of frustration with their comment section, as well their lack of diverse writers. Kos offers a lot of advantages both in terms of content and participation that the huffpo format lacks, most notably the user-content of diaries.
Still, writers like Lars, above, make some good points about Kos, particularly about the diaries, so some suggestions
- Dump the 2 – column format for a more sophisticated classification system. Currently Kos offers a left column for the main news and a column for diaries divided into recent and recc’ed. A more robust classification of both the news and diaries would serve Kos readers well. Maybe a front page with sub pages divided by news topics- like huffpo does
- Classify news and diaries by subject matter: rather than throwing every diary into a recent diary hopper, have a choice of diaries available by subject matter – such as Washington politics, Local news, GBLTG news, Science news, environmental news, etc. And rather than making the reader search diaries using tags- put the diaries in lists of categories to let the reader choose.
- give diarist the option of choosing between an information/opinion category. The rants sometimes are the best/funniest part of huffpo, but they do tend to crowd out more informative diaries. A information/opinion categorization would help readers if they want to skip the rants.
- Reward consistent and oft-rec’d diarists. Indicating (with a star icon next to the diary or something) or categorizing those that consistently provide solid content would encourage good content and help readers find it.
- do more to acknowledge reader content. The rec list and rescued diary links are becoming an inadequate way of helping readers find relevant user-generated content. A seven item rec list can longer manage the flood of content coming in to Kos.
- Users can avoid insular references and general complaining. Lars’ diary aside, new users don’t want to read diaries about how the diarist is leaving for whatever reason. It’s getting old. On the intertubes, people are blunt. So quit complaining when someone rebukes your opinion or calls you a name. Kos users too often remind me of high school kids who suddenly hate their favorite band now that they have that number 1 hit "they sold out man." And hey- putting "pie" as choice in a poll is officially no longer funny
- Realize that Kos is changing- and change is a good thing. More people commenting rudely means more people are reading. More rant-style diaries mean more people are participating. Rather than lament what Kos used to be, lets come up with ways to help it accommodate the influx and make it a place where even more people come to learn, make friends, discuss politics, rant, troll with concern, and generally Kos it up. I think Kos is generally great and I give these suggestions with the hope of making it better- what are your ideas?