Welcome, New Users, to the Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of Eyeballs.
After that you can ask me any question you want. I don't know all the answers so if you stump me, you do. I invite those wiser than I to contribute and correct (or raise a ruckus, just don't scare people).
No permission slips needed, join us at the deep end of the pool for adult swim.
Hello Devil. Welcome to Hell.
If your user id (hover your mouse over your name in any comment, look at the status bar in the bottom of your browser) is larger than 212092 you probably haven't had the opportunity to participate in one of my Welcome New Users diaries.
That would be 4155 of you more or less.
There are 13 of them that I consider the New Users Guide and I encourage you to take a look at the table of contents at least so you can see what kind of information is already available.
But don't panic, I'm always happy to review.
Many Dozens of Fans
So last week in addition to coming up with an excellent and informative Overnight News Digest Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse made the suggestion that maybe we could put together a webcast because everyone loves videos.
It's a great idea though I suspect that it's not quite as easy as iCarly makes it seem (Sam and Carly have all the madcap antics and Freddie does all the work), but in any event I jokingly suggested that Overnight News Digest has many dozens of fans.
How do I know?
The Rec List
Well, the conventional measure of success on dKos is whether or not your diary makes the 'Recommended Diaries' list, the eight spots in the right hand column underneath 'Menu', 'About', 'Tools', and 'Diary Drafts' (note- if you are a very new user you might not see that last one but I'm reluctant to create a sockpuppet just to test that out).
Now many photons have been spilled in vain about what goes on the Rec List (as it's commonly called) and whether it should and how it gets there and the truth is at once simple and extremely complicated.
The simple part is this-
After about a week of membership each registered user gets a bright shiny gray button in the top right column of each individual diary, underneath 'Menu', 'Tools', and 'Diary Drafts' in the 'Recommend Diaries' section that says- 'Recommend'.
Right beneath it is a button that says View Recommenders.
Why even this diary has a Diary Recommend button and if you wish to experiment you can press it now and see what happens.
But only if you really mean it.
Sometimes your browser will complain about sending information over the internet and you'll get a new copy of the same page in your browser history. Mostly what happens is that the button changes to say 'Unrecommend'.
If at this point you push the View Recommenders button immediately below you'll see your screen name (or handle), sometimes on the left in the first position but normally sorted by UID.
UID is your User ID and it's just a number assigned to you in the order in which you joined. Mine is 49,281.
Sometimes when dKos is under maintainance or your Java interpreter is not working correctly you'll get thrown back to a different display that lists each Diary Recommender on it's own line in a gray box. Like many of the other original features of scoop (the software that runs dKos) this works when the most recent Ajax (a variation of Java) improvements fail or you are stuck with a non-Java device (like some older cellphones and Blackberries).
Rec List Democracy
At any given time the Rec List holds the 8 most popular diaries as measured by Diary Recommendation Score and I'll pause here for just a second to make the distinction between Diary and Comment Recommendations.
Beneath each comment is a square box (or a round button) that says 'Recommend'. This too is a measure of how popular you are and directly affects your status here at dKos.
You see there are 2 classes of users, Regular Users and Trusted Users. Trusted Users have at least 3 months of membership and are sufficiently active and popular that a mysterious formula called 'mojo' allows them to do additional things.
If you are really interested in this topic I suggest you read my definitive monograph on ashes here and here.
One thing that Trusted Usership, or indeed the status of Guest Blogger, Contributing Editor, or Admin does not do is give your personal Recommendation of either a Comment or a Diary any more weight than any of the other 200,000+ registered users of dKos.
Really.
You may doubt that assertion and I'll be forced to admit I do not speak for the site but I am an Admin at DocuDharma and I can speak with confidence about the tools that Soapblox (a Java based scoop analog) platform provides.
If I want to make you a TRUSTED_PEON I can mess with your user role directly. Changing your status to NEW_PEON or PEON has no lasting effect as the mojo formula kicks in with your next post. This is significant because it is an observered phenomena that dKos can remove your priviledges to Recommend either diaries OR comments OR both. I can suspend all your priviledges temporarily or permanently and I can remove your diaries temporarily or permanently but your comments only permanently.
But my Recommendations count for no more than anyone else's.
If I think your essay is of special merit I have the power to promote it to the Front Page. Indeed DocuDharma aggressively promotes user content and it's a mixed blessing. You are likely to remain longer on our 'Recommended Essays' list (50% longer than dKos') than you are on our Front Page.
How do you get on the Rec List?
Here's where it starts to get a little complicated.
You are essentially in competition with every other diary published in the last 24 hours or so. The 8 diaries with the highest Diary Recommendation Score appear on the list.
THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE NUMBER OF DIARY RECOMMENDATIONS!
Once you recommend a diary your recommendation starts to age. It counts for less than a more recent recommendation. This is a good thing because otherwise the top 8 diaries of all time would be on the Rec List forever and nobody else would ever have a shot. It's confusing because you push that View Recommenders button and the diary has a gajillion recommenders and yet is sliding down teh tubz. Your recommendation can help because it's fresher and counts for more than the others which is why you should not hesitate to recommend a Rec List diary though I seldom do because I like variety.
This also explains why diaries at certain times can make the Rec List with very few comments and recommenders. I myself has made it with as few as 4 comments and 9 recommenders because of the weakness of my competition.
The comments count not at all and the diaries with more recommendations had old recommendations. If you want to game the system you withhold recommendation until you see a diary slipping.
Me? I'm seldom that organized nor do I care that much. If my diary demands my attention for more than an hour or two I'm already bored and that level of visibility is easily achieved by educating you to using any of the techniques I've outlined as early as Speed Reading.
My issue is more important? Vanity!
If prominence is important to you post at times when Diary Recommendations are old and the list is vulnerable, early morning is best.
Otherwise, many of the "famous names" that dominate the Rec List have spent years and hundreds of diaries building their audience.
Most of us who get to the end zone learn to look like we've been there before.
Why Should You Recommend Stuff?
Well. mostly not just because I'm your buddy and a charismatic guy (although I am a charmer). The rock solid reason is that you think it's something everyone should see.
You can get called out on your Recommendations if people think they are inappropriate, but on the other hand people don't monitor all their comments all the time let alone their Recommendations so setting a countdown for a response is nothing but a Chris Wallace ObamaClock.
Otherwise I admit to Diary Recommending friends, people with whom I've had good interactions on dKos mostly so that they could show up on jotter which is my next subject.
Unrecommending
Just push the gray 'Unrecommend'. Or on your 'Recommend' box or button beneath the comment
Now you will remember that I warned you to recommend only if you really mean it and the reason is that while you can 'Unrecommend' you can not re-Recommend.
Why Unrecommend?
Well, if the diarist asks you to it's only polite. Sometimes there will be live blogging of an important event and once a diary gets too many comments to manage someone will post another one and active participants will be asked to 'Unrecommend'.
Sometimes people make a mistake and believe what they read on the internet. Some are swept up by passion that they later regret.
I am unrepentant.
Other Measures of Eyeballs
I prefer diaries that have at least 100 comments because I take a perverse pleasure in proving peeder wrong, but I'm not obsessive about it. In terms of the way jotter measures impact it's a combination of unique Diary Recommends and Commenters and you count twice if you both Recommend and Comment, so there.
Additional comments don't count at all nor unique Comment Recommends and the value is expressed in percentages of the base- Bill in Portland Maine's Cheers and Jeers Diaries Between Jan 1, 2005 and April 4, 2005 (commonly known as bharns).
Not kidding.
But in human terms it had about 80 recs and 413 comments so there you go. That's a value of 1.0 bharns of impact.
For this and other valuable statistics you read jotter's diaries and that's where I'm going to prove that Overnight News Digest has at least dozens of fans.
I'm also going to select the month of May which has the benefit of not being overly obscured by holidays or primaries and elections. June had both myself and jlms qkw take vacations and witnessed the swap between Oke and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse on Thursday and Friday nights.
Pay attention? Not much.
Anyway in May (more or less) the Numbers were-
Date | Day | Author | Cmnts | Recs | Impct | jRank | jnrec | jncom | jtors | jcnx | jview | jipct |
4/27 | Monday | jlms qkw | 176 | 60 | 0.617 | 20 | 54 | 175 | 33 | 63 | 141 | 0.58 |
4/28 | Tuesday | wader | 163 | 45 | 0.491 | 35 | 40 | 157 | 22 | 43 | 86 | 0.42 |
4/29 | Wednesday | ScottyUrb | 97 | 36 | 0.363 | 46 | 33 | 96 | 25 | 40 | 70 | 0.36 |
4/30 | Thursday | Oke | 129 | 48 | 0.484 | *27 | 48 | 129 | 31 | 60 | 136 | 0.53 |
5/1 | Friday | PDNC | 95 | 77 | 0.761 | 22 | 67 | 92 | 32 | 76 | 229 | 0.72 |
5/2 | Saturday | Neon Vincent | 79 | 50 | 0.468 | *29 | 50 | 79 | 22 | 54 | 122 | 0.53 |
Date | Day | Author | Cmnts | Recs | Impct | jRank | jnrec | jncom | jtors | jcnx | jview | jipct |
5/4 | Monday | jlms qkw | 90 | 66 | 0.611 | 20 | 58 | 83 | 25 | 65 | 163 | 0.62 |
5/5 | Tuesday | wader | 124 | 48 | 0.480 | 33 | 44 | 122 | 24 | 49 | 71 | 0.47 |
5/6 | Wednesday | ScottyUrb | 70 | 45 | 0.421 | 44 | 42 | 70 | 20 | 46 | 79 | 0.45 |
5/7 | Thursday | Oke | 100 | 55 | 0.522 | *26 | 55 | 100 | 25 | 59 | 115 | 0.58 |
5/8 | Friday | PDNC | 125 | 125 | 1.140 | 19 | 109 | 117 | 42 | 123 | 589 | 1.17 |
5/9 | Saturday | Neon Vincent | 73 | 61 | 0.561 | *18 | 61 | 73 | 19 | 64 | 115 | 0.64 |
5/10 | Sunday | ek hornbeck | 135 | 74 | 0.702 | 17 | 69 | 125 | 31 | 74 | 171 | 0.73 |
Date | Day | Author | Cmnts | Recs | Impct | jRank | jnrec | jncom | jtors | jcnx | jview | jipct |
5/11 | Monday | jlms qkw | 89 | 53 | 0.499 | 23 | 48 | 84 | 15 | 50 | 108 | 0.50 |
5/12 | Tuesday | wader | 85 | 46 | 0.437 | 31 | 40 | 81 | 18 | 42 | 75 | 0.42 |
5/13 | Wednesday | ScottyUrb | 84 | 42 | 0.403 | *32 | 42 | 84 | 21 | 46 | 88 | 0.45 |
5/14 | Thursday | Oke | 59 | 38 | 0.355 | *36 | 38 | 59 | 20 | 40 | 85 | 0.40 |
5/15 | Friday | PDNC | 104 | 98 | 0.896 | 19 | 80 | 96 | 27 | 86 | 269 | 0.84 |
5/16 | Saturday | Neon Vincent | 125 | 78 | 0.731 | *16 | 78 | 125 | 30 | 86 | 243 | 0.83 |
5/17 | Sunday | ek hornbeck | 66 | 53 | 0.488 | 32 | 43 | 64 | 17 | 47 | 69 | 0.46 |
Date | Day | Author | Cmnts | Recs | Impct | jRank | jnrec | jncom | jtors | jcnx | jview | jipct |
5/18 | Monday | jlms qkw | 218 | 64 | 0.685 | *20 | 64 | 214 | 34 | 71 | 148 | 0.68 |
5/19 | Tuesday | wader | 94 | 37 | 0.369 | 36 | 35 | 91 | 21 | 37 | 57 | 0.37 |
5/20 | Wednesday | ScottyUrb | 83 | 53 | 0.496 | 29 | 49 | 81 | 25 | 55 | 105 | 0.52 |
5/21 | Thursday | Oke | 102 | 49 | 0.473 | *28 | 49 | 102 | 21 | 54 | 125 | 0.52 |
5/22 | Friday | PDNC | 233 | 284 | 2.576 | 15 | 191 | 188 | 70 | 219 | 1142 | 2.05 |
5/23 | Saturday | Neon Vincent | 74 | 59 | 0.544 | *17 | 59 | 74 | 27 | 65 | 128 | 0.63 |
5/24 | Sunday | ek hornbeck | 108 | 51 | 0.493 | 27 | 42 | 107 | 21 | 46 | 97 | 0.45 |
Legend-
Date is target publication date. Our editors are encouraged to publish 'around' midnight (et) and some publish before and some after. It's not a big deal, those published after midnight are noted with an '*'.
Day is because I contend dKos has a weekly rhythm, just like other forms of entertainment. Indeed I look at it like a Radio or TV station and I encourage those who wish to develop a franchise to publish regularly and on time so their audience knows when to expect them.
Author is significant because long time authors have developed their own audience who are otherwise not attached to the series. This is a phenomena I particularly observe in TDS/TCR when we have guest hosts.
Cmnts, Recs, and Impct are taken from Search and are different from their High Impact Diaries counterparts for two reasons-
- jotter samples when he does for publication, but diaries are not closed for 2 weeks (24 hours for Recommendations) so you do get some late activity.
- The formula for Impact is slightly different in details I don't think are important for this particular discussion.
So that takes care of jnrec, jncom, and jipct too.
jRank is the High Impact Diary Rank which is done by number of Diary Recommendations.
jtors is the number of unique commentators.
jcnx is the number of unique members who either Comment OR Recommend. Those who do both are counted only once, though your unique Comment adds to the Impact of the diary but not as much as you Recommendation does.
Please remember the the Rec List does not count Comments at all, only Diary Recommendations.
PDNC == Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse. Bold == Recommended.
Views
Now even the most superficial analysis of this data shows that Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse pretty much leaves the rest of us in the dust, so much so I'm tempted to drop the highs and lows to remove her outliers.
But I'm not much for sophisticated analysis, I'm merely trying to demonstrate alternative ways of measuring eyeballs and justify my contention that Overnight News Digest has 'many dozens of fans'.
It all depends on what your definition of many is.
jotter defines views as unique views of logged in members. So if you're not a member, or not logged in, you don't count at all. If you visit many times in the course of the night you count only the once.
On our highest night in the sample that was 95 dozen. On our lowest 4.75. Our average 14.6.
Many dozens I tell you.
That we are measured at all depends on the fact that Overnight News Digest pretty reliably gets in High Impact Diaries. On my wish list for dKos 4.0 is an actual measure of unique page views, not dependent on jotter.
Try not to be disappointed. I like to chat.