Coming and Going on Daily Kos.
There are almost a million registered users on Daily Kos; data from Bruinkid. However, the number of actual participants is much smaller. Here's data from Jotter's weekly from last week:
2014-02-08 00:11:00 - 2014-02-14 23:59:16
DailyKos posts = 1211; 173 per day; 7.2 per hour
Active Kogs: 6926 (writes a post, recommends a post, or comments on a post)
Many of the active "Kogs" are familiar to us all. They have become household names, and thanks to Netroots Nation and navajo's tireless expansion of county-wide meetups we know many personally. Since this is KTK, many of them are us. Others post sporadically but frequently enough that we recognize their names.
I am such an enthusiastic Kossack that I seriously cannot imagine leaving Daily Kos. But people do. We have the GBCW (Goodbye Cruel World) where you announce you are leaving forever and the TTFN (Ta Ta for now) where you are planning on returning. But other times the flow of comments and diaries just stops, with no explanation. This has happened for me with people who were not only enthusiastic commenters but personal friends. And without an email address they are out of touch because they are not seeing their Kosmail.
Would you want to be pursued if you decided to leave off participating for a while? It is gratifying to be missed from almost any positive endeavor; one's participation and contributions are thus acknowledged. I have avoided mentioning names thus far, but I know we are wondering about cactusgal. Usually it's just a change in interest or life situation, and I'm sure sometimes the site no longer fits the needs of someone. And there are other reasons. It was one of these that made me think about this.
Last week we visited a friend who lives in Inverness, Ca. We hadn't seen her for a while since she had been out of the country. I was excited to tell her about the Kossack event in Inverness, the famous Oysterbash. I told her that the site location and planning was by a Daily Kos member that lived right in Inverness, Dbunn. I said his real name is Dave Bunnett. She looked at me in shock and said he had died recently. She went on to tell me of his accomplishments and what a major figure he had been in the town. When I got home I checked on his last comment. P50 and I had been discussing the proper method of cleaning wood stove glass and he thanked P50 for the advice. He died suddenly the next day. I might never have known without the chance comment to our friend. His obituary, a real encomium, is here. The obituary is long so I didn't post it here, but if you want to know the man I encourage you to read it.
Dave and figbash
I plan to copy the block quoted area to tomorrow's CONNECT! UNITE! ACT! diary since many of the Oysterbash attendees hang out there.
Somber news, indeed, but food for thought.
|
|
|
|
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
|
|