Good God have we gone "meta" lately. I was pleased to check in the morning and see, at least at one point, zero "meta" diaries on the Rec list.
In light of all the "meta" talk, and a handful of GBCW diaries - mostly due to the banning of an apparently somewhat popular diarist (unbeknownst to me... I've been on dKos practically since its inception, and though I've seen Toque's diaries, I never really followed them), I come here to rant today. Last summer I posted lots of hurricane diaries as something of a "public service" to fellow Kossacks. I will do the same this season, time permitting, if there are any threats. So, my diaries are usually content-heavy. Not this time. Time for a rant from me. Hope you don't mind...
As to the diary title, HGW, this is an anti-GBCW rant... I'm calling it "Hello, Great World!". Why? Well, I find all this GBCW and Toque talk a real downer and want to raise a few points.
- We are here at the open invitation of the site owner (Markos). Though I'm a great admirer of all he's done, I'm not here to lick his boots. I actually agree with those who think Toque should not have been banned. His ban-worthy diary was something of a veiled step over the line. But some folks hollering "censorship" are, plainly, clueless. There is no censorship. Toque was allowed to speak his mind. In doing so, he violated site rule (even if only obscurely). So, he got banned. Right call, wrong call? Honestly, I don't care... Toque knows the rules, Toque broke the rules. Look, this is not a forum for post-anything. It has guidelines. That's not censorship. It's a set of rules/principles to help guide the discussion and purpose of this site. Plain and simple. This is not complex. If one posted legal porn you'd get banned too. Some things are just unacceptable to the site's owner and administrators. They have laid these out clearly and unambiguously.
But this is not an "anti-Toque" rant. Rather, it's supposed to be positive. The point above is meant to simply turn the page on the whole Toque affair. So, on to my second point...
- I can only speak for myself, but I come here as much for the community of Kos as I do for the diaries/stories. I've been on a lot of the recent gay marriage diaries, and the discussions have been extraordinarily interesting. There has also been an immense amount of verbal comfort-giving (after Prop 8's passage) and celebration (after CT, IA, VT, ME and NH... and, soon to come, NH again!). This is a wonderful community made up of diverse, caring, intelligent, reality-based individuals. There are few other cyber-communities that I'd care to interact with so much.
- The content found here is, in my view, unparalleled with most/any other political community blog site. The diversity (see #2) of knowledge-bases amongst our community members is incredible, and the willingness of those individuals to offer their knowledge to the community is astounding. I've seen incredible diaries (or comments within diaries) from lawyers, health care experts, the politicians themselves, teachers, community leaders, volunteers (from many fields), soldiers, etc. I try to be a contributor to this myself, sharing my meteorology knowledge. In short, the resources this community brings to bear on relevant policy discussions is extensive... and that's a beautiful thing.
- Because of #2 and #3 we have built ourselves a fairly large, plugged in community. As a result, this site also serves as a highly efficient news distribution source. I often see interesting and/or important news popping up here on dKos before it shows up anywhere else. Even the vomit-inducing Sludge Report, taking pride in its "breaking" sirens, often trails behind dKos. Typically, news is heard first in the local region where it takes place. So, with the dKos community spread across the globe, it's like having local news corresponents covering every inch of the country and every country (with internet access) on the globe.
Bottom line, let's not get all caught up in the "meta". And let's not focus on the negatives. I'm not saying we shouldn't address the negatives. Everything, including this site, certainly has room for improvement. But a weeklong meta and complaint-fest has been bloody awful, in my small opinion. It drags the community down. This is a fabulous forum with a supremely wonderful community. I say, "H.G.W." and let's re-focus on the progressive way forward. Peace. :)