I’ve been a dKos member since November 22, 2003 (coincidentally the 40th anniversary of JFK’s assassination). I used to post here quite frequently, and in fact this is where ACA Signups got its start back on October 11, 2013.
However, I don’t hang out here that often these days; when I do it’s mostly to cross-post blog entries from ACASignups.net about the latest developments in U.S. healthcare policy.
As such, I haven’t really been keeping up with the ongoing dKos management/ union story. I don’t know enough to opine as to which side is in the right or the wrong, although it makes total sense to me that revenue would have dropped off significantly once Trump was removed from power. Traffic to ACASignups.net has typically increased anytime the PPACA was under threat and then dropped off after that threat was negated.
What I can say is that Markos, this website and the rest of the Daily Kos community have literally changed my life (for the better) in ways I never could have imagined.
It’s not just that this was where I got my start as a healthcare data analyst before launching my own website; it’s that Markos created a fundraiser to thank me for my work on the ACA & to help me out when I had lost a significant amount of my web design business due to spending so much time & energy tracking/analyzing ACA enrollment throughout that first, crazy whirlwind of an Open Enrollment Period from October 2013 — April 2014.
He created that fundraiser and the dKos community came through big time, raising enough to not only cover my losses but to allow me to continue to do my healthcare data analysis/advocacy work for a second year. Nearly 9 years later, I still owe everyone who helped me out a huge thank you.
(FWIW, by the time the third year came around, I had established myself enough that I’ve been able to arrange other funding sources and make this my full-time profession ever since, although part of that is still via my Patreon & PayPal supporters...some of whom are also from here.)
In any event, my point is that Markos is a good person, this site & its members are still important and necessary parts of moving the country forward, and I’m praying that the current management/union issue doesn’t tear this community apart.
That’s all I have to say on the issue.
UPDATE: Sorry to shamelessly hijack my own diary, but as many of you know, I’ve also raised money for Democratic candidates as sort of a hobby the past two cycles, raising over $6 million for them during the 2020 cycle and $1.3 million in 2022.
I’ve already started Dem fundraising for the 2023-2024 cycle with the following pages. I don’t have a PAC or anything; 100% of donations go to the various candidate campaigns or other Dem funds listed below. Let’s make America Blue in ‘23 — ‘24!
Update x2: At pixxer’s suggestion, here’s a link to my own PayPal/Patreon accounts if folks want to support my work (PayPal is actually preferred).