We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.
Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.
These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But we hope they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.
Please come in and make yourself at home! Join us beneath the fold...
While doing some research for Sunday's Top Comments diary on the beta for DKos 2.0, aka the Scoop platform, I found myself paying attention to the times that people signed up, and how soon they'd actually post.
Unlike today, users could create a Daily Kos account, and as soon as they got their password via email they could log in and write comments or diaries. Anyone who happened to be passing by and saw something they wanted to respond to could do so in a matter of minutes. It wasn't until February 7, 2004, that the current 24-hour delay on comments and one-week delay on diaries was instituted, to cut down on the number of drive-by trolls.
The first night of the beta test, some people were quick to post on the new site. DavidNYC's sign-up email was dated October 13, 2003 at 9:49pm EDT, bagging him UID 73, and his first comment was made three minutes later. Chris Bowers, UID 123, signed up under 25 minutes later, but waited just over 48 hours before making his first comment.
Bob Johnson wasn't quite as dilatory as Chris, but although he grabbed UID 191 at about 11pm, he didn't post until the next evening at 9:18pm. Even Meteor Blades, who grabbed the first account number after the beta began, didn't write his first comment until 34 minutes after the first comment appeared at 9:34pm, and it's unlikely that all that time was spent waiting for his login email to arrive.
It's more than the early accounts, though. It's also posts during the first week (and doubtless later) that are illustrative of what gets people to fill out that account creation form.
One example: kos's Frickin' Cubs, posted at 6:14pm EDT on October 15. He was distressed, and so were others who created accounts just to join in the fray (time given is time of first comment): PRIME (UID 1598, 7:32pm), DaddyO (UID 1621, 8:56pm), Ekim (UID 1622, 9:00pm), the missouri kid (UID 1624, 9:10pm), Desmond (UID 1632, 9:39pm), Ernest Tomlinson (UID 1636, 9:57pm), Elrod (UID 1646, 10:48pm), mhtims (UID 1651, 10:57pm), penalcolony (UID 1689, 6:01am on the 16th), Phil S (UID 1705, 7:22am), and DemfromWisc (UID 1708, 8:31am, about 45 minutes after actual signup). That's eleven new accounts to participate in a 144-comment diary about the Cubs losing. (Side note: Armando joined during this period; at UID 1638, he would have showed up around 10pm that evening. He waited around, though, to start commenting under Scoop—his first comment wasn't until October 20 at 7:20pm.)
I should probably include a second example here, but I'm out of time to mine my chosen diary for data. If you're inclined to take a look yourself, it's kos's More "Clark a Republican" crap, posted at 1:39pm on October 18. New accounts probably created for that diary start at about UID 2090.
To clarify, with the exception of DavidNYC's sign-up email time, which he has posted elsewhere, the times given here are the time of a user's first post. I've gathered enough of these times in the first week of Daily Kos on Scoop that I can say with reasonable confidence that they're pretty close to the actual sign-up time—in some cases, within three to five minutes, in others it could be half an hour to an hour off. But it's unlikely to be more than that. The only way I'm ever likely to get closer is if I were to gain access to a database query that returned uids, usernames, and account creation times, and I doubt very much that's in the cards.
~~~~~
There was a gracious plenty in today's submissions, which is a good thing because I completely ran out of time today and didn't find any. Thank you to all the wonderful Daily Kos readers who came through with submissions in the double digits to the Top Comments mailbox today, all in advance of the 9:30pm Eastern Time deadline. The address of our mailbox for top comments submissions remains:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can send great comments to our address. Be sure to include the direct link to a comment—the URL—which is available from that comment's date/time; we need that to find your choice. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. I say again: both link and username are important; someone today forgot the latter, though I was able to do some sleuthing and determine the proper byline, and someone else forgot the former (ditto). Not all of us are sleuths, y'know. If you send a writeup with the link, we are able to include that, too, though we reserve the right to edit if desirable to do so.
From Otteray Scribe:
In rb137's Morning Feature on Galileo and his persecution, Gooserock has the ironic solution to the problem of right wing creationists who want to teach their biblical theories to our science classes.
From Independant Mom:
In a thread talking about nicknames for my baby, dalfireplug told this tale of another nickname.
From phonegery:
Just why is BP too busy to release underwater video of the leak? Roadbed Guy notes the sort of expertise BP really needs just now.
From zenbassoon:
You have to read this diary to get the full impact of TooFolkGR's comment.
From be the change you seek:
I would like to nominate this grimly funny string of comments from BarbinMD's reporting on the site location for the 2012 RNC convention, starting with Dartagnan's.
From Jimdotz:
Sandino's got a good idea for an iPad app.
From Kitty:
In The Problem With Elena Kagan Is That She's Not You, diarist Troubadour writes a comment that's so very funny and so very true.
From confitesprit:
I found this comment by Christy1947 to be particularly insightful regarding the larger picture of discrimination and injustice, and it summed up my feelings precisely. Highest praise I can give is that I wish I had written it.
From KelleyRN2:
In today's pootie diary by it really is that important, psfinla wondered if Nurse Kelley had cake to celebrate National Nurses' Day.
From Julie Gulden:
I had to leave my diary on Rachel Maddow's links to Fishgrease, and asked Fishgrease to cover for me. After all, it was his party. When I returned, this was his response.
From emeraldmaiden
When I read this comment by carolita, I had to stop and read it again. I’ve read it several times now, and it is no less affecting than it was the first time.
~~~~~
Finally, we have today's top mojo using my revision of the cskendrick-devised mojo-to-Excel process.
First, Top Mojo excluding Cheers and Jeers, miscellaneous cute animals, search-identifiable tip jars, and first diary comments:
1) Dementia is a an evil disorder by Otteray Scribe — 143
2) {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{BFS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} by Hookah — 131
3) It is a bugger isn't it. by Demena — 111
4) Oh, my dear, BF by gchaucer2 — 104
5) HUGS Kind person and thank you for the Hugs. ;) by BFSkinner — 100
6) Thanks for sharing this personal challenge. by pat208 — 89
7) I want fresh fruit in mah dressing room! by Fishgrease — 85
8) Damn straight. by wmtriallawyer — 83
9) The Federal Reserve Deconstructed by JekyllnHyde — 82
10) I've gone beyond written expression by LaFeminista — 76
11) Thank you, Congressman. by hgregory76 — 75
12) BF - I'm so sorry by hpchicago — 74
13) As a physician it just blows my mind that many... by Ralphdog — 73
14) {{{{{{{{{dear BFS}}}}}}}}} - I wish I could do by Wee Mama — 72
15) Bar None History Will be Kind to this President by skindig55 — 72
16) My heart goes out to you BF by Deep Harm — 70
17) These are the most important sentences in your by CherryTheTart — 68
18) HUGS to you and yours my friend, in your by BFSkinner — 68
19) Agree. This catastrophe is beyond normal by Unenergy — 66
20) It's not all Obama's doing by ColoTim — 66
21) Damn, those pesky by TomP — 62
22) You Get to See by JekyllnHyde — 62
23) same here by Debbie in ME — 61
24) I am Inigo Montoya by Geek of all trades — 61
25) I worked in a nursing home fo 9 years by minerva1157 — 60
26) So this is what caused this: by beholderseye — 60
27) Well, life is life. I mean, Life is what we make by BFSkinner — 59
28) I've heard from unlinkable sources by RLMiller — 59
29) What we're pretty sure is gone now. by Fishgrease — 58
30) I don't care how anyone frames it, by Inland — 58
31) My mother-in-law by khowell — 58
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by BFSkinner — 666
2) Tip Jar by Unenergy — 436
3) Tips? Flames? by Something the Dog Said — 356
4) Tip Jar by Troubadour — 321
5) Timing is everything. by Crashing Vor — 314
6) Tip Jar by Julie Gulden — 304
7) Tip Jar by blackwaterdog — 297
8) Tip Jar by Alan Grayson — 278
9) Tips for stopping them before they come for you by Attorney at Arms — 255
10) Tip Jar by beholderseye — 207
11) Tip Jar by mwmwm — 192
12) Tip Jar by Rep Louise Slaughter — 184
13) Tip Jar by FishOutofWater — 147
14) So Reassuring by JekyllnHyde — 147
15) Dementia is a an evil disorder by Otteray Scribe — 143
16) {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{BFS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} by Hookah — 131
17) Alms (tips) by Muskegon Critic — 120
18) It is a bugger isn't it. by Demena — 111
19) Tip Jar by it really is that important — 107
20) Oh, my dear, BF by gchaucer2 — 104
21) Tip Jar by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse — 103
22) HUGS Kind person and thank you for the Hugs. ;) by BFSkinner — 100
23) Thanks for sharing this personal challenge. by pat208 — 89
24) I want fresh fruit in mah dressing room! by Fishgrease — 85
25) Damn straight. by wmtriallawyer — 83
26) The Federal Reserve Deconstructed by JekyllnHyde — 82
27) I got the message after work by Norbrook — 82
28) Same dame, new name by Independant Mom — 79
29) I've gone beyond written expression by LaFeminista — 76
30) Thank you, Congressman. by hgregory76 — 75
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