I thought it would be helpful to provide a guide for the candidates and the politicians who post diaries here since none exists yet. While a few already know how to post, some are just beginning to understand and embrace the internet and the netroots. This is intended especially for them. As we get closer to the 2006 elections, and the candidates will be trying to get their message out in so many forums, that we could provide a little help to them explaining what
we look for in a diary. Here's what I recommend:
Title:.
If this is a Press Release or a call for help, let us know. e.g. "Release: Action needed on HRxxx" or "Canvassers needed in VA-08 this weekend."
If the diary will be live blogging, give the parameters, e.g. "Live Blogging for 30 minutes." or "Live Blogging: Time for maybe 10 Questions". If someone from the Staff will be doing the responding, make that clear, i.e. "Kerry Staff will take questions for 20 minutes." As DailyKos is a forum based on discourse, these types of diaries are preferred, but not mandatory. Remember, the members of the DailyKos community are people who will take your talking points and discuss them with other voters. Taking thirty, twenty, or even ten minutes to share your opinions and positions on issues, no matter how small, may help them to convince one more voter.
Tags:
This is just another name for Keywords. Put in the issue, the district, etc. -- words that will help a user find the diary weeks later, grouped together with other diaries on the same subject. For an example, see the tags for this diary just above the commenting bar.
Intro:
First, start with clarifying what the goal of the diary is: PR, Live Blogging, who will be responding to questions, etc. Next, give a synopsis of what the diary is about and what action we can take. e.g., "We need help with [issue], please visit [link] to write to your representatives, visit this [link] for more information, and go [here] to provide support."
Extended Body:
This is where the meat of the diary is posted. The FAQ has the answers to many of the question on how to format your diary, but here are a few tags to cut and paste to help in composing your entry:
<a href="URL">the candidate's website</a>
<blockquote>paste text you are quoting here, even if it's your own press release</blockquote>
<strong>bold text between here</strong>
<em>italic text between here</em>
<br /> <- paste this if you need more line breaks
and lastly,
Comments
If the Diarist is going to comment and/or answer questions, which we hope they do, this will happen in the Comments section. Quite often, Staff have posting rights for their candidate. If the commenter is not the candidate, please specify this. e.g.,
Where we stand on [Issue]
STAFF: Ms. Candidate believes that we should...
This lets the reader know that the comment came from someone authorized to speak for the diarist, but is not the candidate herself. When the candidate or staff are out of time to take questions, make that clear in the title of the comment
LAST RESPONSE
We believe that Congress should act to implement...
Thank you all for your questions and your interest. We hope to be back soon.
When possible, come back later and read the questions that you didn't have time to answer. You can use your responses to these questions as the basis for your next diary and to keep the conversation going.
That's all there is to it. Thank you for your time and all of your efforts.