I'm at a loss for words.

After posting a diary + a comment on the quality of diaries here at Kos, I now find my TU status is revoked.

Best as I can tell, both the Diary and the comment were well received.

I post a lot of comments and get a fair bit of mojo, so I usually have TU status.  But while reading through comments this morning, I noticed that my "Troll" button was greyed out... I apparently can't hand out donuts no more.

This struck me as odd.  Was I nabbed in another sweep of TR abusers?  I haven't handed out a troll rating in days, and I won't use them for partisan purposes (I'm not much of a partisan anyway... I like all the candidates, albiet some better than others).  I went back through my ratings and found I'd given 98 recommends and zero trolls in the past three days.  And I'm not a diarist... I haven't written a diary since the 35W bridge collapse.

edit: ct is currently tweaking the ratings system, so it's a software issue.  False alarm on my part!  I'm leaving this up so others know.

I'm not a Kosoholic.  I'm really not.  

I can stop blogging any time I want to.  

In fact, for the last couple weeks I pretty much did, doing just a bit of lurking and posting only the rare (and largely unnoticed) comment here and there when lots of other things got in the way.

And the result:  my two beautiful radio buttons morphed into a single ugly checkbox.  Mortification! Shame!  Fear!  Loss!  Depression.

I don't mean to bellyache, and I know that some consider this kind of thing a waste of space.  But I do think from time to time we ought to make our voices heard about the way the site is administered, in the hopes of making Daily Kos a better experience for everyone here.

It's the trusted user (TU) thing that's been on my mind recently.  I've had TU status several times, always to end up having it revoked when I go on vacation, hit an unusually busy period where I can't post, and so forth.

If you go to the DKos FAQ you'll find, near the very top of the long list of answers to frequently asked questions, a block quoted paragraph that explains the purpose or mission of this forum and who should be it's participants. It's kind of a mission statement. Just a quick paragraph to let new users and visitors know the reason for it's existence who should consider belonging and contributing here. It's not complicated...as a matter of fact it's elegantly simple.

I finally received my TU status...and watch me shit it away!

As a devoted kossack (addicted more like it), I am often most excited and drawn to the framing discussions.  How do we separate the good (read democrats) from the make-you-vomit-a-little bad (read republicans).  In that vein, I was thrilled to read kid oakland's diary rescue from last night.  kid oakland is a true standard bearer for what I love about dKos, great ideas, excellent diary.

But I have to disagree with the kid (there goes the TU), I think stem cells, Chevron and Saudi Arabia are interesting departure frames, but I am concerned that they will not resonate with the crossover voter that we need to truly dominate in November.

More below the fold....

Today I checked my voicemail and there was a message from a debt collector. Not that I knew that from the message itself, which only said, in a pre-recorded voice, that this was "a personal business matter" or some crap like that. I knew it was a debt collector because the message was like one I had a year or so ago, the last time they had the wrong girl and it was up to me to fix their mistake.

Today I had the constant stress of dealing with a 13 year old whose defiance switch got flipped to the "on" position.

Today I had to go to work and when I came home I resumed the seemingly endless work of getting my little condo ready to sell so I can finally, after years of hard work, move into a house I like and that's right for me and that defiant 13 year old.

And today, my TU status disappeared. I'm tired, but I'll try to connect all this below.

I am not trying to start a SYFPH war, but IMO we have a serious problem with the new rating system.

My understanding {correct me if I am wrong} is that in order to 'hide' a comment, a poster must have at least two troll ratings. If one person decides to buck this and give a recommend, it will then take an additional 3 troll ratings to hide the comment, if two people give a recommend, it then takes another 5 people to troll rate to hide the comment.

Agian, correct me if I am wrong, but autoban does not work for a single comment that is troll rated. So, if a troll wants to just post a few times, we can see quite quickly the dynamic that is going on here.

Well, I just gained TU status for the first time. I, know, congrats, pat myself on the back, right? Problem is, I'm kinda clueless as to like, you know, what it really means and all? Like, is there a manual for this or something somewhere that I should read? Well, I looked at the posts which were tagged TU and didn't see anything that looked promising at first glance, so I decided to make this diary post (with poll). Now all you TU vets can play stone soup with me and weigh in with comments as to what TU might, can, should, shouldn't mean and/or what a TU noob should/ shouldn't do. Or you can just troll rate me until my TU status goes away. I doubt I'd really miss it at this point, since I've only had it for a 1/2 hour or so and am still clueless...

I am a former TU. Kos came back from his tour to kick ass and take names and I am among the fallen.

So anyway, in the spirit of WYFP, if you choose to be counted, post here if you are a former TU and a little about your contributions to the community and what TU means to you.

The last time dKos realigned the TU status algorithm, several folks suddenly found themselves unintentionally "demoted" Seems like we're having a repeat of that episode:

Update III: There was a small error in the new TU algorithm that excluded more people than we intended.

We addressed this problem last time by having a "MoJo Fest" to offset the collateral damage. What's a MoJo Fest? Well, basically, those who have been "victimized" by the mean old algorithm post a comment, then everybody PILES ON with lots of recommends to help restore their TU status.

So let's have a MoJo Fest to help those, who just barely missed the cut, get their TU Status back. If you have been here longer than three months and have consistently had TU Status, then post a comment below so we can show you some love. Post Away!

I am sick and tired of hearing of  Troll Wars, and Troll War diaries. But I also understand Kos's frustration and revoking of TU status for many readers.  So I have thought long and hard, and think DailyKos would be improved greatly if Kos would do the following.

Hey Kossacks-

Like me? Been around for a while, don't regularly participate in C&J, and just witness your TU status go out the window?

Well, come on up to the mojo bar here. Recommend this diary, put your comment down and watch the mojo roll in. All Kossacks welcome, and all comments must receive mojo. If you want to get, you must give.

And, by the way, I totally agree with the decision to limit troll ratings to two a day. However, I have a feeling that with the heightened TU requirements, those of us who don't participate in C&J will never see that lovely troll button again without regular mojo fests.

Your Democratic Action Group meets once a week. You started a few years back as a strategy group to win back the City Council, but it has since evolved into a forum to debate a wide array of topics relating to important national issues, the soul of the party, shared values and social responsibility.

One night, you see a new face. A young guy who was invited by a member who saw him deliver a most excellent anti-Bushco snark at a local college rally. You get to talking over cocktails. Out of nowhere he says "I think we still don't know the full truth about 9/11."

"Holy crap!," you think. "Not again!"

What comes next: