Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body of this diary you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of TAGS.
After that you can ask me any question you want. I don't know all the answers so if you stump me, you do. I invite those wiser than I to contribute and correct (or raise a ruckus, just don't scare people).
If your user id (hover your mouse over your name in any comment, look at the status bar in the bottom of your browser) is larger than 262951 you probably haven't had the opportunity to participate in one of the Welcome New Users diaries here at Daily Kos.
That would be 7133 (!!) of you, more or less.
Before we begin, a brief word from our sponsor:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives.
* Other diaries in the Welcome New Users Series.
* The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
And finally, as DarkSyde eloquently stated:
With the exception of trolls, we're glad you're here!
Note:
The realm of Welcome New Users has evolved. For now, it will be hosted alternately by smileycreek and myself, LaughingPlanet. We hope that any attempt to revive this effort is appreciated by those who got the ball rolling, and especially the person who wrote literally dozens of such entries over the years.
OK:
Tags
Admit it; you suck at tagging.
FWIW, you are in the vast majority on this site; take solace in that fact.
What?
Tags Schmags?
You think they don't matter because nobody really uses them, don't you?
Well, I am a bit of a nobody, but I search by tag daily. It's a much better way of finding things that interest me than drinking from the firehose of recent diaries and their cryptic if not gawdawful titles.
Tags are the only way I can decipher WTF a diary is about, often even after reading the whole damn diary. (See: snark)
And yes, tags are important, despite the fact that virtually no one here acts as if that is the case.
Why is this important?
When DK4 comes, tags will be at the heart of everything.
Trust me on this.
You will be able to favorite tags.
Your most commonly used diary tags will be on display for all to see.
Heck, tags will be the #1 most useful facet of DK4 from what I can glean.
• How to search by tag
It's amazingly easy actually.
Easier than that, in fact.
There are at least 3 ultra-simple methods.
1. Add a few things to the DKos URL
http://www.dailykos.com
plus
/tag
plus
/snark
EQUALS the list of the 18 most recent snarky diaries.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Once you have the cookie in your computer's memory, if you type "tag" into your browser, you can add any word in the world to replace "snark" to find what you need.
http://www.dailykos.com/... snark baseball
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Go Giants!
The SF Giants' colors are orange and black, BTW.
Is it any coincidence that they are America's the Great Orange Satan's team?
Kossacks favor Who? 2010 World Series
San Francisco Giants
41% 32 votes
2. Did you ever notice that section under the rec list?
No, not the recent diary list. That other thing.
Yeah, I didn't think so.
The BP Mothership thrived in part because it was clear nobody wanted to do this:
3. Using the search function.
You have not given up on this tool, have you? Even after all my whining to use it?
sigh
The search function is the trickiest of the 3 ways to search by tag, but is also the most useful. You can arrange the diaries by recommend, and over any time period you want.
Handy!
Here's an example:
tag="canvassing"
http://www.dailykos.com/...
• Adding Tags:
This is one of but TWO tasks with which trusted users are trusted.
Do not shirk your responsibility. Apply your Trusted User Privilege accordingly. It's not only for adding HRs to troll diaries.
As election approach, we need to help keep things orderly here for diaries to be found and helpful.
How to tag by state-
Tag: KY-Sen
Tag: CA-11
When I added a tag to this diary,
Rand Paul Debate
by Jack Conway for Senate
I at first was a bit confused as well.
People running for office are kinda sorta really busy.
Why not lend them a hand and fix their tag for them?
[UPDATE by LaughingPlanet on Mon Oct 04, 2010 at 12:53:43 PM PDT]
• And a warning...(h/t MTmofo)
tag grafitti is a bannable offense
Don't add "This diary sux"
or "TROLL" to the tags of a diary.
It could be the last tag you ever add.
Suggestion of Teh Month
Your comment was not deleted.
It was hidden. Only those of here who have earned the Trusted User Privilege can see it.
HOWEVER...
Did you know that you can see the replies to your own hidden comments even if you are not a trusted user?
I think it is true, from what I have gleaned despite never having a hidden comment AND never having gone a day without TU since I joined & earned enough mojo.
- Go to your
Hotlist
- check
New replies
VOILA!
Note: I realize this reveals that I am not subscribed to anyone whose handle begins with the letter "K" or later. But again, with DK4, all of these previously secret tidbits will be public knowledge. I am especially happy about being able to see who recs what, so they can't keep their habits secret like they can now.
Friendly Plea/Reminder of Teh Month
PLAY BY THE RULES.
Before posting your diary, when you agree to follow the rules of this site upon joining, that does not mean you can then ignore them when posting diary.Especially that parts most everyone ignores.
You know what I'm talking about; that long part that says
ATTENTION: READ THE RULES.
If you didn't read the rules, you can't exactly blame others for enforcing them.
1, 4, and 5 cannot be broken.
So here are the ones people really need to get through their heads before posting a diary that gets showered with HRs.
That is what HRs are for you know.
2. Substantive diaries only. If you don't have at least three solid, original paragraphs, you should probably post a comment in an Open Thread.
3. No repetitive diaries.
6. Copying and pasting entire copyrighted works is prohibited. Violating this rule is grounds for immediate banning.
7. Be civil. Do not "call out" other users by name in diary titles. Do not use profanity in diary titles. Don't write diaries whose main purpose is to deliberately inflame.
Recurring Suggestions
• Play nice. There is no "Edit Comment" button. Once you hit "Post Comment", it is there FOREVER. The golden rule does apply to the internet despite myraid reams of evidence that might lead you to believe otherwise.
• Use the search function. It is a better way to find diaries that interest you than just scanning the recent list. Consider it the worm on your fishing hook. You might catch fish without it, but you need lots of luck. Plus, (if and) when DK4 rolls out, there will not be a recent diary list on the front page, so you should bone up on searching now before you need a crash course!
Start with this search (as seen daily in jotterville).
Then move on from there.
You can do it; you really can (and should).
• Recommend lots of diaries and comments. What does it cost you? Nothing. People work pretty hard on their writing here. Giving them a pat on the back is a tiny thing that means a lot to some folks. The worst thing that can happen is that the diary you recommend pushes another diary off the rec list which was already there. Keeping the rec list fresh is not a bad thing.
• Question:
My diary will not publish!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Once you get HTML errors, copy the whole thing and paste into any old diary (nobody reads old diaries; trust me).
- Chop off 80% toward the end & publish.
- Repeat, adding 20% or so until you find the bad section.
• Question:
This clip won't embed!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Videos from iframe a.k.a. videos.mediaite.com never, ever embed properly. (They work fine in preview; don't be fooled.) Until further notice, don't bother trying. Just hotlink.
- For Comedy Central videos, see this diary by SBXX.
- For MSNBC videos, see this diary by SBXX
- For CNN videos, see this diary by wader.