Jesus Christ, people! Do you know how many times this site has jumped the shark? Do you know how many times it became something that just wasn’t like it used to be? Do you know how many times the rec list was overwhelmed by the latest pie fight? Do you even know why they’re called pie fights?
I do.
I remember when a GBCW was an amusing read. I remember "delete my fucking account, Kos" (and was saddened that I either didn’t see the mockery that should have accompanied the recent request for account deletion or that it didn’t happen). I remember troll ratings in unlimited amount.
Oh, how I wish I knew how to find the commenter’s rants that helped lead to the donut limit. Permit me to illustrate from memory as best I can...
Pretend that there was a comment to the effect of, "Policy aside, I think Barack Obama is the handsomest president we’ve ever had!" That long-gone, policy-changing commenter would respond with something like:
Where is your PROOF? You need to READ the FAQ before you COMMENT. You have NO FACTS to support your claim that Obama is handsome. WHERE ARE YOUR LINKS? You DON’T DESERVE to comment here if you CAN’T CITE SUPPORT for what is, at heart, AN OPINION. And don’t you TELL ME that you can express and OPINION. READ THE FAQ.
Markos gave you, and me, a fucking gift. Way back in W’s first term he gave us a place to connect. And be angry (because, yes, anger does matter sometimes, especially when you feel like your belief in your own sanity is questionable in light of a public poll result; like, say, 70 percent of the public believing Saddam Hussein had something to do with the 9/11 attacks). And read news that wasn’t getting any play in the corporate media.
Yet here we are, dealing with more pie and more asshat commenting, more grieving over the corpse of what DailyKos once was. So I’ve got some advice.
- Shut up for five minutes. During that time, ask yourself why you think your opinion matters so goddamned much.
- If you can’t take this place anymore, then go. But don’t make a big production of it. In all my time here, I’m sure I can remember the handle of only a handful of diarists who decided to leave.
- Better yet, take a leave of absence. I happen to know that Markos grants leaves of absence at full pay for any member of this community (excepting, perhaps, front pagers; I don’t know what the policy is there). I’ve taken advantage of this policy plenty of times, mostly when there’s a lot of pie and asshat commenting.
Finally, I say this: Get over yourself. You don’t have all the answers and your opinions might just be wrong (I don’t either and mine might be, too). If nothing else, remember what John Stuart Mill advised in On Liberty. Paraphrasing, you must always accept a challenge to your belief. There are only two outcomes. You either strengthen the reasoning that backs up your belief or you come to realize you are wrong.
And that ain’t such a bad thing. Neither is this site. It's you, after all, that makes it what it is. Be a dick and it will become a dickish site. Or, dare I say it, be the site you want to believe in.
Thanks for reading,
VetGrl
Update: Thanks for all the comments. Especially those < 12,735! (Yes, the thanks are sincere but it's also a polite way of saying that I'm going to bed.)