I have been reading all of the back and forth here these past few months. I have felt much the same way as several of the folks who have decided to abandon their visitation altogether or take a hiatus. I don't disagree with their reasons, but there are reasons I won't or can't do it. I will outline some of them below the fold.
I have been a kossack since 2004. My uid is 28008. I am not a old-timer, but I am far from a newby. And I have to confess, I have a very short attention span. That is really why I love it here. I don't always love the pie fights or the spats or the troll wars and if a diary has over 300 or so comments, I generally don't read through the comments, but I can always find something to read.
I have tried going to other blogs. In fact, my blogging life started here in 2004 when I tried to engage some others in civil political discussions. I was referred to Little Green Footballs, and couldn't get a user ID. How can a website claim to want to allow civil discourse when they don't allow people to sign up? Plus, it was clear that their world view was nowhere near my own. I wandered to several other sites, Liberal Oasis, Booman Tribune, MyDD. I have logins on both of the latter two. For a while I read all of them. Then came the Hillary wars and MyDD was off my list. There were many folks who left this site at that time, as well, because of their ardent support of Hillary (and others)
I still go to Booman Tribune sometimes but always shock myself when the front pagers are either copies of diaries here or are up for days at a time. I get bored! I love the diversity here, the good writing, the analytic thought, and, of course the humor. I get my news from here on most days! I couldn't tell you how many times I'll read the paper or an on-line web site and think to myself, I know that, I read it on kos days ago.
So, for all of the bad things that have happened here, from the pie wars, to the Clinton wars to the ridiculing of John Edwards, to the discussion/disagreement about the Palestine/Israel situation...there is always something new. And interesting. And generally thought provoking.
I thought the kitty diaries that overtook the rec list on April 1 were pretty silly, so I ignored those diaries. I don't like some of the more heated rhetoric and the trolls, but they are generally put in their place by one (or usually many) diarists here.
This is one giant community. There's a lot here to like. There is some here to dislike. I don't blame anyone for going, they certainly have that right. But I, for one, am here to stay. Because every day there are dozens of diaries about things I know little or nothing about. And because this is my family. Reading the diaries about the wonderful things that people have done to help each other is awe-inspiring. We, as a community, have accomplished some absolutely wonderful things. And we've done it, in part, because we are a big enough community to make a difference. Turn $5 into $5000...sometimes in minutes!
Plus, I have a short attention span.