At Noon on June 2, 2014 the comment rich, community oriented, conversation empowering Huffington Post died.
Here we announce the creation of a Daily Kos Group "PostHuffPost" as a place for former HuffPosters to gather at the Daily Kos.
What happened to HP?
On Sunday June 1 its Chief Technical Office announced in his blog that HP would be dropping its in-house conversation modules in favor of the Facebook Commenting Platform. The reasons?:
1) The Conversations In-House Format was very expensive to maintain and was not driving sufficient traffic to HP.
2) Given its changing mission, HP has had to emphasize those measures that increase the traffic flow.
3) Facebook, it is argued, does just that as a nexus for social media platforms and promotes networking and even more clicks.
Arianna Huffington envisioned a place where a "virtual community filled with "serious conversationalists" could gather but that vision gave way to one of service as a global platform for the dissemination of information. The move to all Facebook Comments is part of that.
I was not happy. A lot of us were not happy.
I had a significant commitment to HP. Four years, lots of fans, friends, comments and badges. The new format did not support any of that.
I also valued HP anonymity. I live in a very Red county in a very Red State where my Progressive views are not all that welcome. HP respected and safeguarded my anonymity. Facebook will not do that.
I knew HP would be missed. Day in and day out, it was HP that was my intellectual oasis, and my debate club. It was a point of connection with folks who really wanted to consider complex issues and speak in nuanced tones.
In my years at HP, I took part in some really wonderful conversations. One of them involved 23 interchanges with a nurse who altered my understanding of the nature of the choices that women make in matters of reproductive health. In others I fought long and hard with those representing the other side of the political and social policy spectrum and, in the end, agreed that we could disagree without being disagreeable.
I soon realized that there were many who felt the way I did. I have been moved by similar stories from others who left HP recently. For many of us, HP had been a friend, and a companion.
We Shared The HP Legacy:
* People want to seriously consider complex issues.
* People want to engage each other in the give and take of conversation and debate.
* People want to feel connected to others as they do this so that trust and respect can grow even when they disagree.
It is with those three ideas in mind that Mopshell, 47songs, and I (murphthesurf3) have created a group for former HP posters at Daily Kos.
PostHuffPost.
We are a group dedicated to serving former Huffington Post Bloggers as a resource in navigating Daily Kos.
We are a group providing information, assistance and advice for those getting started here and for those who want to share their experiences as bloggers at HP, DK and elsewhere.
We are a group that invites those who made connections that led to friendships at HP to reconnect here at the Daily Kos and stay connected if they wish.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE GROUP OR HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS....Reply to this diary or Send a Message to mopshell, 47songs, or murphthesurf3.