There are a number of communities here on DailyKos. There are environmentalists, C & Jers, feminists, foodies, cooks, gardeners, teachers, learners, home improvement folks, crafters, puzzlers, cartoonists...oh, and some people who like certain candidates. And some drunks, I hear.... And those are just a few off the top of my head. A list of the community diaries and their scheduled appearance can be found in the faq.
A real strength of this site is that under the giant orange umbrella these different groups are finding each other and carving out a niche. And in those community diaries we can be friends with each other even if we differ on the candidates, or the issues, or our place on the political spectrum.
There is a community of people who enjoy diaries by edscan. In my opinion edscan is seriously misunderstood. edscan has a brevity and style that is often mistaken by the uninitiated, and has been characterized as troll diaries, open-thread-comments, and such. But for the devotees they are more than that. We like to think of them as ed-ku--think of extended haikus. They are written often in a Kōan-like manner.
And you need to absorb the edscan for a while to really get it. I have described edscan as the the love child of the X-files + Jack Handy + Twin Peaks. And the regular readers are something of a text-based MST3000. I hope from this you get an idea of the gestalt which is edscan.
And the tags. People have been admiring the creativity of the edscan tags for a long time. For those of you who are new to the edscan oeuvre, you need to know that the text/koan is usually paired with a great tag. I have been wanting to do a retrospective of the tags for a long time, and decided that the end of the year was the right time for the review.
But please: do not think of this as a call-out diary. I really enjoy the edscan diaries and the edscan3Ks. I think edscan has been around the block and that he does have some real insights on where we are today. I think of him as very much like my dad with better typing and a bit more intrigue.
Some of you will not appreciate the edscan, I know. But I wanted to shed some light on the collection, though, because he often gets chided in the comments by those who aren't familiar with the material.
So "off we go". "Behold" the tags of 2007. I have used the original tag as provided by edscan. Some were changed back when tag librarians were editing them, some by people who didn't know how much a part of the experience they are.
Links will go to the diary of that tag:
The undoing of them all.
Free At Last
Some are lies-Some are not
Poison
Shock and Awe
The Joke
A "Wrong" Righted
LIAR
The "Original Sin"
The Age of Reason.
"Serendipitous"
Fascism
Wisenkraut
Thieves will gather
Don't Tread On Me
RATS
Think !
Enough
Phony War
The Button
Twenty year SCAM (was changed to "Republican Party" by tag librarians)
Insanity
Traitors
Get Out
Graft and Fraud
Treason Uncharged
A Phony All the Way
Al finally answers
The Inevitable
Confessions
Election Fraud
More Lies
suicide???
Think
"Psycho"
Key Words
Fools
"Twofor"
Heads or Tails
"Sucker"
The "Drop"
Entrapment
Bastards
BS
The Enemy
"Not Our Nancy"
Into the Corner {this tag version starts at 52. Does that mean edscan edited this work at least 52 times?}
Tide ??
True or False
NOW
Control
Which are You++
Do "Something"
Voter Fraud
whistle blower
Where
think Note: edscan returns to a previously used tag for the third time, quite rare. This is from the diary called Not a blogger, and it conveys both frustration with the responses to the collection, and yet bemusement with us as he metaphorically pats our heads and shrugs.
A Thinking man
Neocon losers
Fraud
A Way Out
Outrage
Fraud
More fraud
Mitt
"lame vulture"
"1984"
"Believe It"
Fred
Do Something
"Gone"^
Fake
Barn wall
answers
When you hear Al Qaeda.........
Cowards
cancer
choice
"Contractors"
Greed
A Warrior - if someone else fights the war
Caution
Representation ??
rewards
The Cover-up
No Justice
insurance fraud by the insurance companies.
GREED
The "Rub"
HONOR
The Jackass This rare single-version tag in the diary entitled STOP highlights one of the really classic edscans, in my opinion. Make special note of the last line, which will become a recurring theme. {edscan appears in the comments here as well, worth perusing in addition to the diary text.}
The fresh "New War"
Action
"The Real Winner"
JUSTICE ???
Reason
"1984" Revisited
More "Crooks"
"The Oil Maggots"
Backbone
Links
Justice
NOW
Cash Cow
"Blackshirts" or "Blackwater"
Caligula
Wake Up
1984 Redefined
From Watergate to Waterboarding
A Bargain
OIL MAGGOTS
First Choice
Lightbulb
The Unraveling
"Boom" This was one of my personal tag favorites until subsequent entries came along.
mistakes ?
"Who"? This 55-word diary generated 65 comments, and edscan seems to endorse a candidate here. Or something.
It's only 'fare'
Lackeys
"NOW" !
Sad
Be Prepared
Both Ears and the Tail. This tag refers back to The Jackass theme from above. Again, edscan appears in the comments with a cutting additional thrust of insight.
sophomoric
awakening
Any Port in a Storm
My way or.......
Skim--Scam--Scum
day sha vuu Although the first use of this as a tag, variations on the "de ja vu" phrase appears in several diaries and/or titles.
It's Easy
The Problem
Bucket of In this diary, edscan chastises me for misunderstanding the tag, and elucidates as only he can.
Treachery
POOPSIE COLA
SCAM
dogs In this diary, we learn that edscan believes someone is using the edscan name to place comments that do not belong to edscan. Hmmmm.....
Another Tea Party
light bulb
scum
imposters
B.S.
The Strings
"Clean Again"
Answers
Plumbers
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Footnotes+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
^In this diary entitled Being "Coy", edscan actually comments several times, including this gem about his fans:
Amused
It is always the same group of "groupies" that
put down all of my diaries. Are they the same people that attack my computer ever
time I go on line? Or are they just avid readers?
*I must have missed this one, I would like to repost it now:
Who's There?
Perhaps I am writing all of these "diaries" in vain.
Writing is supposed to be a method of communication.
Similar to speaking, but with a more lasting effect.
It seems that no one understands my letters. They
are not that complex.
Perhaps I should state exactly what I "think".
The American reader is not capable of understanding what is happening to his America today.
You have no idea what is happening in Iraq, the World markets or even
Main Street for that matter.
When an individual tries to tell you the truth, you are skeptical.
When an official tells you a "huge lie", you accept it.
This, even when the official has been a tried and proven liar.
Strange.
++If you would like to know a bit more about edscan, see this diary: Are You Pathetic or Apothetic?
What edscan thinks about tags:
Tags
I never realized "tags" were so important.
"Tags" are just titles.
Are we so sophomoric that the tile is more important than the substance?
And, the quintessential ed-koan:
The Text
The truth is in the text----not the tags.
Anyway, I hope you will have some appreciate for material. I know it isn't for everyone, but I think if you can spend some time reading them you may enjoy them! And if edscan will come to the convention, I will buy him "beers".
{note: the poll isn't dealing well with quotes, similar to what happens to quoted tags, so they had to be removed}
ADDED AS AN EDIT, FOLLOWING INITIAL RELEASE:
dum de dumm dum. Wow. First tag of 2008 is a winner.