Note on Update: Many thanks to commenter OkieByAccident, who pointed out that I had omitted Melanie from this diary, a definite oversight given that she had been on the front page for two weeks in late October and early November 2003. I've placed update notices before the added material below.
I'll be using the yearly "classes" of front-pagers model from kos's introduction of the Class of 2008, but there will be some variation from his list, as I mention other folks who were on the front page as featured writers, or who served only a short term as a front-pager. If there are any corrections, please let me know: my research involved one-at-a-time looks through posts in the dailykos.net Movable Type era (I did not spend much time in the comments), and searches for front-page stories using the current Daily Kos search function. I hope I haven't missed or misrepresented any details along the way. People who wrote for the front page are listed in order of their first posts to the front page; for the purposes of this diary, I'm not considering diaries promoted to the front page before they got the nod. I'm calling them all front-pagers, but for years the term was "guest bloggers"; you'll see a lot of it in the announcement posts.
Class of 2003
The first announcement of guest posters was a few days short of five years ago on January 3, 2003, with Billmon and Steve Soto taking over posting duties while Markos was out of town. Billmon started posting the same day, and Steve Soto the next. From then on, unlabeled posts were kos's, while guest posters labeled their posts. Steve lasted into February; Billmon departed to open the Whiskey Bar in April. Before another big trip on April 3, the second announcement mentioned Billmon and Steve Gilliard holding the fort while kos went out of town; Steve Gilliard posted later that morning, and continued posting into September, shortly after his new blog went live. Preceding a long weekend a week later, a third announcement on April 11 had Steve Gilliard being joined by RonK (most commonly RonK, Seattle pre-scoop, and RonK Seattle currently); RonK posted that same morning, and continued guest blogging through the end of the pre-Scoop era six months later.
Billmon: The Shape of Things to Come projects the events of 2003 starting with the ultimate fallout from Trent Lott's remarks at the 2002 birthday celebration of segregationist centenarian Strom Thurmond.
Steve Soto: Watching Bush Mishandle North Korea has Steve (and the rest of us) doing just that.
Steve Gilliard: Good morning from your substitute blogger is an introduction by Steve, a dive into where he gets his information on matters military and Iraqi, and why Perle, Wolfowitz, et alia have no business making policy.
RonK, Seattle: Quagmire? Yes, Quagmire discusses, after 24 days in Iraq, how the invasion is already looking like a quagmire.
Class of 2004
This wasn't really a single class, but three waves of new guest bloggers. With his first group of bloggers moving on to their own blogs as 2003 progressed, one at a time, kos realized he'd be without any help at all for weekends and business trips if he didn't find a new crew. There wasn't a big rush: Markos asked in a post who the next guest blogger(s) should be on August 7, 2003, and the announcement wasn't made until September 19: two guests, Meteor Blades and DHinMI, with Stephen Yellin (who picked the username MrLiberal a month later under Scoop) as Daily Kos "highschool correspondent"; Stephen's was not as regular a gig as the weekend/travel/paternity blogging by MB and DH, but he continued posting on the front page through August 14, 2004, writing over 50 posts in that period. Meteor Blades and DHinMI continued regular front-page posts through to the end of November 2004, and are still posting on the front page today. This first wave arrived in the final month before the current Scoop-based site was activated on October 13, 2003.
[Update:] A month later, another guest blogger, Melanie, was briefly added. Melanie's first post was on the new Scoop-based site in its second week, on October 24, 2003, and she posted 50 front-page entries in two weeks, ending in the wee hours of November 8, 2003. The closest thing to an announcement of her advent was in Markos's article on October 22, wherein he references an upcoming article of hers. He posted a comment about her departure from guest-blogging duties in a November 9 open thread. [End Update]
The second wave, announced January 16, 2004, consisted of Trapper John as guest poster, and Daily Kos Iowa caucus coverage from Jerome Armstrong and Tom Schaller. Jerome may actually belong to the first wave, since his first set of about half a dozen pre-Scoop posts on the California recall election started on August 24, 2003 and lasted into October, though I didn't see any "front-page" announcement in advance of his first post; he also posted news of Ari's birth to the front page on November 3, 2003, the first of ten front-page posts made before kos announced the second wave. Because of this unheralded August post, I'm listing him first below; he posted regularly after this announcement from mid-January through mid-March 2004, and only four times after that. Tom Schaller continued posting as a regular—his role seems equivalent to the current Featured Writer gig. Both he and Trapper John appeared regularly on the front page through November up to the announcement of the class of 2005.
The third wave of guest posters was announced in two short posts on 4/1/2004, and consisted of theoria, who posted for two months only while Meteor Blades was convalescing, and DemFromCT, who brought the number of regular front-pagers to four, and continued posting through November.
Jerome Armstrong: Bustamante has solid lead, Schwarzenegger is stagnant is a post on the California gubernatorial recall election.
Stephen Yellin/MrLiberal: Show Me State could show us a Democratic senator again—in a first post that predated the announcement of his "occasional pieces" by half an hour, Stephen talks about the Kit Bond vs. Nancy Farmer contest for Senator from Missouri, still over a year away.
Meteor Blades: Billions for Iraq - Part I talks about the high costs of the Iraq war—including Iraqi reconstruction.
DHinMI: It Seemed Like a Good Idea... about the Bush Administration's protective steel tariffs in 2002, and the harm they did to the American economy.
[Updated to add Melanie:]
Melanie: Liberalism and Religion is an introduction to the diarist, and also talks about liberalism and religion.
Trapper John: New R2000 Iowa Numbers post the new Research 2000 poll numbers for the impending Iowa caucus, showing seven point drops for Dean and Gephardt, and a ten point gain for Edwards.
Tom Schaller: The Iowa Myth has Tom introducing himself to Daily Kos, and debunking "conventional wisdom" on Iowa's importance.
theoria: Science Friday: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream on the Bush administration's embrace of military weapons in space.
DemFromCT: Polls and More Polls discusses Bush's declining approval numbers on his handling of terrorism, and whether they might result in him being "fired" in November 2004.
Class of 2005
There was a real break with the introduction of this new class: this was a group of five people, all announced on November 30, 2004, and starting posts on the weekend immediately following. It was three weeks before any of the prior official front-pagers posted again; volume from the Class of 2004 picked up a bit in January. The initial class had five members—a gilas girl, Armando, DavidNYC, Hunter, and kid oakland—but two didn't last long: kid oakland stopped posting to the front page at the end of January and diaried his resignation on February 12; a gilas girl's last of five front-page posts was on February 11. Plutonium Page was added on March 31, leaving four active members for the rest of the year.
DavidNYC: Blogs off the Beaten Path proposes a new series to highlight excellent but not-very-well-known blogs, but doesn't list any specifically. His first substantive story was the next day, Lawless Courts and the Death Penalty.
kid oakland: sofa coffee magazine notes how much Western culture and ideas owes to the Arab world...including the three words in the story's title.
Hunter: CBS: Not Endorsing Prejudice too "Controversial" on the refusal by CBS and other networks to run the United Church of Christ ads on how all are welcome at their churches...though other churches may not be so gracious.
Armando: Bush v. Gore: The Chickens Come Home to Roost . . . in Puerto Rico? The Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision being used to fight over how to decide the November 2004 Puerto Rico election for governor.
a gilas girl: Assignment: Liberalism on "the ghosts of liberalism past, present and future."
Plutonium Page: Malnutrition has doubled in Iraqi children says it all.
Featured Writers of 2005
This was the year we added the most recent two featured writers, both of whom are still going strong on the front page. Bill in Portland Maine had been doing Cheers and Jeers for over 15 months (first diary: December 16, 2003), and the week after Plutonium Page was added to the roster, Bill was given his unique one-a-day front-page slot that the site now describes tamely as "Featured Writer". Late in the year, Adam B was added in a similar capacity, though it's unclear when Adam B became "official"; his first front-page "story" without a promoted notation can be found on November 1, 2005, but he says to georgia10 in the comments that he isn't a front-pager and it was Armando's doing. However, the following week, in a November 10 front-page diary on Deceptive Voting Practices, Adam says in a reply to someone asking if he's a new front pager:
Yes and No. Markos has given me front-page rights, mostly to focus on the FEC/Internet/Congress stuff. But I don't plan on being as regular as the others.
The November 3rd and 4th stories, which follow up on the story on the 1st, also have no promotion notice. I'll call it early November 2005 and leave it at that; the historical record has been blurred.
Bill in Portland Maine: Cheers and Jeers: Tuesday on April 5, 2005, was the date of the big move to the front page; Bill even describes how he lost won the privilege.
Adam B: Either November 1st's Save Online Freedom of Speech TODAY, which urges Kossacks to call and email our representatives to pass H.R. 1606, the Online Freedom of Speech Act, or November 10th's Sen. Obama: End Deceptive Voting Practices And Voter Intimidation, about Obama's remarks introducing his Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005.
Those are the early front-page posts. For links to the first posts of the classes of 2006, 2007, and 2008, see my diary of December 4th, Top Comments: First Posts Edition. (Yes, this link was given at the top of the article, but why should I make you scroll all the way back up there when you've come this far down, and are about to check out today's Top Comments?)
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Several emails arrived in the TopComments mailbox today, and may be seen below. If you saw any great comments that are not mentioned here, please link to them in your own comments below. The address of that mailbox:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can submit deserving comments to our address—the direct link to a comment is available from that comment's date/time—as long as they arrive by 9:30pm Eastern Time. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly.
A Siegel sent in these nominations:
In reaction to an excess of Christmas lights, some Kossacks developed appropriate lyrics after prompting by AnotherMassachusettsLiberal.
MissLaura chimes in about how the future of the planet should be up to the "free market".
And, in face of a challenge about an assertion in the diary, NRGuy provided backup downthread, showing the type of expertise and analysis that so often appears in posts.
From kath25:
From a hilarious troll diary in which the user asks that his/her/its account be cancelled, edwardssl has the funniest one-liner.
Also, rimjob posts a visual response to the diarist, which sets up a flurry of amusing responses.
Neon Vincent submitted this link (which I've surrounded by other links and many words):
In Avenging Angel's diary Huckabee: Bhutto Did Not Graciously Submit to Woman's Role, alasmoses talks about good intentions. Note: You may want to read Lahdee's intentions first—they set up the alasmoses comment.
va dare sent:
xanthe replies I can't agree with your sentiments to a comment by klw1963 about robber barons in Shipjack's diary Can Your Candidate be John Edwards for the Day?.
Brilliant observation on Feudalism by Jerome a Paris starts an interesting thread in the same diary. (It makes more sense if you back up to Gooserock's parent comment.)
From Hardhat Democrat:
Rob Cole and occams hatchet go back and forth in promoting yesterday's rumble between rival priests, as diaried by robokos.
From your humble diarist, sardonyx:
I knew I had to make sure Noah Jenda's diary Jazz Greats Who Are Still With Us: An Appreciation wasn't overlooked, and fortunately oldpro had a comment about musicians and other artists that resonated beautifully, even if it isn't strictly about jazz. Be sure to read through the comments for additional jazz artists and commentary.
You never know what you might find in your refrigerator. If you don't believe me, just ask Asinus Asinum Fricat about his sneakers. Several replies attempt to top AAF; I'll let you judge whether they succeeded. All from AAF's diary I Love You All! Honest... which includes a list of ten astonishingly dumb things people have done, and many commenters have examples of their own. Which one is your favorite?
RenaRF writes a diary So I Did Some Figuring... with tables and charts, but that wasn't quite enough for littlesky, whose comment surprised a big laugh out of me.
kos's front-page diary Iowa: who the hell knows? cites a poll showing the race a dead heat between the top three Democrats. GOTV, noting the closeness, is immediately inspired to make a helpful suggestion to potential diarists. Keep reading the thread for more fun. An offshoot thread, starting with the usual nonsense a suspect claim, is dissected by Anne Elk (and do read the reply).
sap writes I miss Molly Ivins (I do too, sap!), and Hillbilly Dem recounts a story told by Molly about Ann Richards at a black-tie dinner in Texas.
Rolfyboy6 explains why some people like the Huffington Post in greggp's diary I think I've had enough of the Huffing Post.
No Top Comments diary would be complete without that day's top comments by number, aka top mojo—those comments which have received the highest number of recommendations from Daily Kos users like you. Today's is supplied by sardonyx, using his own revision of cskendrick's mojo-to-Excel magic.
First, Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and Mojo Friday comments:
1) agreed by Left Shu Untied — 167
2) Absolutely. by mem from somerville — 158
3) not even as well done as ErrinF by clammyc — 133
4) It's all over but the shoutin'. by Bob Johnson — 112
5) Gotta rec this diary by DemInLux — 109
6) Already diaried. Please delete. by edwardssl — 107
7) Ditto by TXsharon — 103
8) At least by Moody Loner — 98
9) That comment is so over the line by pontificator — 98
10) I knew ErrinF. by occams hatchet — 92
11) I was going to post a diary the other day by Crisis Corps Volunteer — 87
12) Bullshit by altoid — 73
13) Its also by discocarp — 70
14) You are a prime example of by betson08 — 67
15) Not only are the candidate diaries lame, but by blue jersey mom — 66
16) What is sad by kath25 — 66
17) I LOVE YOU! by Bob Johnson — 64
18) (and for John Edwards!) by Rob in Vermont — 63
19) Heartfelt, wrenching by Radiowalla — 61
20) I'm sure their first instinct will be... by Kagro X — 60
21) Feel that? by kestrel9000 — 60
22) That's because kingfelix is pithed off. by Finck II — 57
23) I know that many people, even pro-choice ... by Meteor Blades — 57
24) Sorry by MBNYC — 54
25) As a physician who has been frustrated by leisure — 53
26) This is just the diary the community needs. by Delaware Dem — 53
27) Top of the rec list! by Sharon Jumper — 53
28) errr, we're a little busy at the moment! by PhillyGal — 51
29) well fuck you too by nevadadem — 51
30) OK, I know you love me by benthos — 51
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Candidate Wars by aaraujo — 324
2) Mojo for moi gladly accepted. by Asinus Asinum Fricat — 294
3) Tip jar by truong son traveler — 260
4) Tip Jar... by RiverCityMadman — 195
5) Tip Jar by Avenging Angel — 194
6) ErrinF, is that you? (n/t) by BlueInARedState — 191
7) agreed by Left Shu Untied — 167
8) Tips for slippin' up!! by icebergslim — 163
9) Scrooge would be ashamed, but not George by 8ackgr0und N015e — 159
10) Absolutely. by mem from somerville — 158
11) not even as well done as ErrinF by clammyc — 133
12) Friday Tip Jar. by Bill in Portland Maine — 129
13) Meanwhile on Saipan... by dengre — 126
14) **TIPS FOR TRUTH** by Shipjack — 118
15) Thanks for reading! by RenaRF — 116
16) It's all over but the shoutin'. by Bob Johnson — 112
17) Gotta rec this diary by DemInLux — 109
18) Already diaried. Please delete. by edwardssl — 107
19) Ditto by TXsharon — 103
20) That comment is so over the line by pontificator — 98
21) OK, tip jar by Glenn in NYC — 98
22) At least by Moody Loner — 98
23) tips for UHC by Rob in Vermont — 96
24) Your support by Larry Kissell — 95
25) Happy New Year! by MKinTN — 92
26) I knew ErrinF. by occams hatchet — 92
27) What path are we on? by shirah — 90
28) Tips for Victory in Iowa by Populista — 88
29) I was going to post a diary the other day by Crisis Corps Volunteer — 87
30) Tips for breathing by edgery — 85
31) Tip jar by FarEasterner — 85
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them
