First of I applaud the changes you are making to your site, the Meta-Jesus-Fuck Ohio-Pie-Troll wars have forced good diaries off of the list faster than they could be read. I am glad this site is here and will always abide by the rule of "Your Site, Your Rules"; but I respectfully disagree with your remark about C&J.
"It will also be more difficult to achieve TU status. It won't be enough to head into C&J and rack up the mojo overnight. People will actually have to earn TU status."
My reasons for this are below the bump.
While everyone there would agree it is an insane mojo mosh pit, that does not make the love garnered there bad or lessen it. We are the community kiddie pool or welcome wagon. You can get love there; but if you abuse it or come just for that reason, we know about it. If that happens, those of us long timers in there (Don't let the UID fool you, I have been here posting a lot longer under a dead UID that was killed in a lost password, dead email account incident). I gained/earned TU with both UIDs that I have had. I do not and will not use that to beat/intimidate anyone as that is not my mission. I use it to see hidden comments, to be aware if they show up there. I also use it to try to keep away disruptive people. The entire DK community seems to love Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Humor is sometimes all we have left to make our points.
Bill will welcome new people with a snarky comment and a 4; we all will. We do read, write and post in other diaries. We DO watch what over those newer "Doofi". We watch how they behave and are the first to warn, and first to punish those who abuse the love ascertained there.
Yes, we are a bunch of goofballs that get a little randy, snark about stupid stuff, and pick on each other. We use humor to relieve the tension of what is going on in the world, so we do not blow a gasket. We will be the first to jump to the defense of any kossack getting attacked. If you did a demographic of C&J, odds are you would find we are all a little older and less prone to blow up over some of the Meta-Jesus stuff that has gone on.
We also try to add content to the site. On any given day, you can find stories, links, pictures and opinions that could be a diary unto themselves. I have seen many good diarist bust their first DK posting cherry in C&J. It is the area where you can post and know that as long as it is not trollish, people will not beat you up. This "comfort" allows them to gain the courage to create that first diary.
We are also serious about trying to make the Progressive/Liberal movement come to fruition. You will see a whole bunch of us next week. We have passion and we can be serious. I have never been front paged here and I highly doubt I ever will; but my defense of Memorial Day in Monday's C&J did get front paged over at "Little Green Footballs". I do not say that with pride, but with the hope that you can see that we can add something to this community, that we care.
Starting in August of 2004, I was a lurker. I lurked until February 2005 and what kept me here during the dark days of lamenting was a two letters and an ampersand that would show up in the recent diaries. It was the tonic that helped me decide to laugh and get active.
Thank You Bill in Portland, Maine for what you do 4 days a week.
Thank you Markos for this site.