Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body of this diary you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of DK4 .
After that you can ask me any question you want. I don't know all the answers so if you stump me, you do. I invite those wiser than I to contribute and correct (or raise a ruckus, just don't scare people).
If your user id (hover your mouse over your name in any comment, look at the status bar in the bottom of your browser) is larger than 279644 you probably haven't had the opportunity to participate in one of the Welcome New Users diaries here at Daily Kos.
That would be 2776 of you, more or less.
Before we begin, a brief word from our sponsor:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives.
* Other diaries in the Welcome New Users Series.
* The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
And finally, as DarkSyde eloquently stated:
With the exception of trolls, we're glad you're here!
Note:
The realm of Welcome New Users has evolved. For now, it will be hosted alternately by smileycreek and myself, LaughingPlanet. We hope that any attempt to revive this effort is appreciated by those who got the ball rolling, and especially the person who wrote literally dozens of such entries over the years.
I'm a new user & I just got here. WTF is a DK4?
Good point.
If you are new or just a non-regular here, the acronym is meaningless.
DK4 is the new version of this website which has been in beta for ever years countless months a long, long time. Originally slated for a 2008 release, it may just happen that DK4 will be revealed before DADT is repealed.
We were recently been told by an admin that it will likely be rolled out before New Year's Eve. Yeah, New Year's Eve 2037, wiseguy.
No, THIS New Year's Eve (2010).
For reals.
They mean it this time. No, really.
With that in mind, it's not too early to let the proverbial cat out of the hat bag and begin to share some of the secrets of what this place will soon like like with the rest of you. And, yes, this leak was authorized by none other than this guy.
So continue below for just a few tiny insights into the future of the Great Orange Satan. You even can use the info disclosed here to begin writing your first "I HATE DK4!" diary. But you will not be the first cool kid on your block to have done so.
Just come right out with it.
DK4 sucks ass, doesn't it?
Actually, no. If it did I don't think I'd bother writing a preview diary.
I think the current (DK3) system is tired and broken, actually. Almost all of the changes in DK4 will prove to be improvements, not attempts to fix what ain't broke.
This guy sure seems to think you will beg to differ:
I warn you all -- the new Daily Kos will be a marked departure from this one, and everyone will hate it and I'll be accused of having jumped the shark (it happens every time I make a major refresh on this site).
Lots of people will whine, but eventually it will prove to be more effective in promoting good ideas, and not just writing by popular/ famous authors. There will be tools for networking, which leads to organizing, which is obviously needed if we are to overcome the likes of the Koch Brothers in 2012.
But once everyone gets used to the new digs, you'll realize it's bad-ass and will have taken this blogging platform to a whole new level.
OK, dude. As long as we aren't talking about a totally outrageous new paradigm.
One example of a change everyone will like: The one-diary-a-day limit will be eliminated.
Yeah, but...
The necessary accompanying changes are already getting whined about.
Face it; people will whine and moan about the changes. They already have begun to do so. Sure, some of the complaints will be worthy ones, but I will chalk up 97% to these 2 simple facts of human nature.
- People love to complain
- People do not like change
With that in mind, I am listing the features about which I have positive things to say right now, and will largely leave my suggestions for improvements for a future date.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
LESS TYPING, MORE HYPING!!!
Alrighty then...
Some features, in no particular order:
• Profile Page
Instead of the mystery you get with most people right now, you can actually learn about folks when you click their name.
Things like Most Recommended Diary, # of People "Following" (Subscribed), Most Frequent Tags, and more are revealed. Just don't ask me what Mojo means and why I have maxed out on it. Also, you can see what diaries people have recommended. Currently, people need to manually allow others to see that info. I hope they keep this info public, and it is good info to be shared, and there is no legitimate reason why it should be hidden.
• Private messaging
Like other info, email accounts are not often volunteered by DKos members. (Are they afraid of a little hate mail?)
Now, we will be able to send that heads up to someone in private. Don't ya hate having to tell someone they can't spell in the comments, or is it just me?
If you get hate mail from a stalker or otherwise annoying person, you will be allowed to block them. The DK4 version of Unfriend, I guess.
• Groups
I'll let one of the site developers try to introduce this one:
One of the most important new features of DK4 is the group function. The idea is to make it easier for people to work together and to create their own subcommuities within Daily Kos. Many people have already launched these kinds of groups, and have had to fight the software like wildcats to collaborate. Our intention is to make this easier, and to make it possible to communicate and collaborate without having to go to outside mailing lists or give up your DK anonymity.
Here are the limitations:
- You must be a Trusted User to create a group.
- You may create multiple groups.
- Anyone can be invited to join a group once it is created, Trusted or not. The invitation must be accepted before the user gets any permissions within the group.
- You can hand off administration of a group to another user, but the creator will always be listed as part of the group statistics.
• Fashion/function
There are drop down menus on the side so you can access your desired info more easily. The current (DK3) hotlist system was clunky, which leads me to believe that's why almost nobody uses it.
The most whining I have come across about DK4 revolves around the recent list getting pulled from the from page. OH NOEZ! How will I find all of the dreck and other festering fail that normally clogs up the recent list pushing good diaries off the front page!
But seriously, why in the fuck would someone prefer to have ErrinF's DELETE MY FUCKING ACCOUNT, KOS!!!! on the front page? Or the other various obnoxious trollish diary titles?
Having your choice of 4 different "quality" lists of diaries to choose from on the front page is much, MUCH better.
And if you absolutely must see the shittier mediocre diaries, there is still a Recent Diary list, exactly like we have now with dk3.
• Tags: Not just for graffiti anymore.
Again, I'll let one of the site developers explain:
Tags now have their own information. A tag can have a picture, a description, and links to the outside relating to the issue or topic.
Tags can be associated with other tags
We've pulled out a set of Master Tags, tags that cover broad topic areas and that most diaries will fall into.
One of the great, humongous failures of DK3 is the tagging system. People do not listen to those who whine about it implore people to give a shit. Therefore, searching for good info is hard, and everyone just defaults to the recent list (If I don't see anything in the past 30 diaries, then I am posting a duplicate!)
The goal here is to make it easier to find content, especially for areas that are not necessarily on the national stage every day. By linking authors to tags, we hope to make it easier to find authors with similar interests, and by allowing people to follow tags, they will be less likely to miss a diary on a topic of interest just because they didn't login at noon on Wednesday. And, by making it easier to find great diaries from the past on a particular topic, it will be easier to come up to speed on an issue even if you haven't followed it from the beginning of time.
I hope people will begin to accept the utility of proper tagging, and that more prominent authors will lead by example instead of following the foolish garbled tag theater of long-since-banned users.
• The rec list is 10 spots instead of 8
The more the merrier, I say. From someone who has been #9 perhaps dozens of times, it is nice to know there is more room at the top.
Everyone here knows that the most frowny faces and meta wars revolve around the rec list. Now there will be a larger playing field on which these turf wars can be fought.
I suppose there is a downside to that too: The people you would rather not see reach the rec list will have a lower threshold for doing so.
• The Community spotlight
This is perhaps the best new feature of all. It's sorta like how Diary Rescue posts every night around 8PM Pacific, but using a 24-hour rolling list featured prominently atop the home page. Combined with the expanded rec list item above, it is almost as if Dkos has gone from a football field to a baseball park.
And now another brief word from our sponsor...
Recurring Suggestions
This is supposedly a New User's helper diary, so I gotta at least repost a few useful morsels about DK3...
• Play nice. There is no "Edit Comment" button. Once you hit "Post Comment", it is there FOREVER. The golden rule does apply to the internet despite myraid reams of evidence that might lead you to believe otherwise.
• Use the search function. It is a better way to find diaries that interest you than just scanning the recent list. Consider it the worm on your fishing hook. You might catch fish without it, but you need lots of luck. Plus, (if and) when DK4 rolls out, there will not be a recent diary list on the front page, so you should bone up on searching now before you need a crash course!
Start with this search (as seen daily in jotterville).
Then move on from there.
You can do it; you really can (and should).
• Recommend lots of diaries and comments. What does it cost you? Nothing. People work pretty hard on their writing here. Giving them a pat on the back is a tiny thing that means a lot to some folks. The worst thing that can happen is that the diary you recommend pushes another diary off the rec list which was already there. Keeping the rec list fresh is not a bad thing.
• Question:
My diary will not publish!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Once you get HTML errors, copy the whole thing and paste into any old diary (nobody reads old diaries; trust me).
- Chop off 80% toward the end & publish.
- Repeat, adding 20% or so until you find the bad section.
• Question:
This clip won't embed!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Videos from iframe a.k.a. videos.mediaite.com never, ever embed properly. (They work fine in preview; don't be fooled.) Until further notice, don't bother trying. Just hotlink.
- For Comedy Central videos, see this diary by SBXX.
- For MSNBC videos, see this diary by SBXX
- For CNN videos, see this diary by wader.
So there ya have it. A sneak peek at what the jumped shark will look like from above in a just a few days weeks eons from today.
Commence shrieking and howling in the comments in 3...2....1...
NOW!~
:: ::
UPDATED by LaughingPlanet, Mon Nov 29, 2010 at 11:52 PM PST:
Either people didn't read the diary, don't know what "drop down menus" are, or I did a piss-poor job explaining what "drop down menus on the side" means.
The 4 lists shown above can be shrunken (as shown) or expanded (default). Like this:
You like your recent list; I get it. But try to keep an open mind about having numerous quality lists instead of merely a chronology.