From a
diary below, (link now included!) I found out that Stirling Newberry is in some way severing his relationship with Kos. The reactions to this news were basically "don't let the door hit you on the way out." I strongly disagree. Not that I agree with Stirling choosing to leave, but that I think his criticisms of Kos - not Kos individually, but of the site as a whole - are very well-taken, and ones I think people here should take much more seriously.
First, I'll start out by giving a bit of my history in the blogosphere. I came to Kos in late 2003, as a result, I think of a link from Kevin Drum, whom I had found via Josh Marshall, whom I had been reading for a while previously, maybe a year. As such, perhaps as you can tell, my introduction to Kos was not via the Dean campaign, as many early members were. I was never a believer in Dean. Not that I dislike him, but I always felt he would not be a strong general election candidate. I was kind of weekly committed to Clark at the time, but basically was just looking to get behind any viable Democrat for the 2004 election (or perhaps casting around for the Democrat whom I found most viable). I drifted away from Clark in the winter/spring, and basically settled on John Kerry as the least bad option amongst a flawed Democratic field. As such, while I have a low user number (somewhere in the 4000s), my status was unlike most of the early users, who were generally hardcore anti-Iraq War-ites (of which I did and do oppose, mind you) and Deaniacs. Also, as a result, my drift away from frequent active participation in Kos is not so much one of a lefty becoming disenchanted when they found out Kos wasn't really a lefty (witness Booman Tribune, My Left Wing, Liberal Street Fight's formation), but as kind of a liberal wonkish type who no longer finds the discourse here as good as it could or perhaps should be.
Personally, I love Stirling's writing. It is often quite brilliant, and always attempts to see what is REALLY going on. Stirling can definetly be wrong, but I always listen to his opinions closely. I have lots of his posts bookmarked.
That said, this isn't the real point. His real point is that Kos is becoming dumber, both intellectually and politically. Kos himself isn't, but the diarists and commenters are. The level of political and tactical sophistication and big picture thinking is in decline. As such, I find myself visiting TPMCafe, Bop News, EuroTrib, and The Next Hurrah, which I think - in their differing ways - are much more attuned to the real nature of things.
Really, what Kos has become - for me - and probably for about a year now, is a liberal cross between the Drudge Report and Free Republic. I.e. its a great place to go to get the progressive pulse on an issue, or to find out an obscure, but important news story. As such, it is a useful ecochamber/incubator of pressure that will help drive media narratives in ways more favorable for Democrats. But it is no more. It is not a vehicle to remake the Democratic Party, certainly not in the short run.
The kinds of diaries that people recommend are frequently junk. Cindy Sheehan is case in point here. People see her name and just hit recommend, even though she is seen now by a majority of the country as, at best, a self-publicist who is making a fool out of herself right now. And this isn't just the GOP who thinks this - indeed, they think much worse.
The nature of the Alito fight, as it did for Stirling, really brought this out also. The fact that many posters here thought that this was somehow some kind of defining moment, a fight they were likely to win, shows this. Kos is what it is. Which it is good, but it is not what some people think it is.
That said, I still think Kos is a vital community. It just isn't what some people think it is.