Welcome, New Users, to 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 of this diary you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of Sockpuppetry.
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).
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 252492 you probably haven't had the opportunity to participate in one of the Welcome New Users diaries here at Daily Kos.
That would be 5542 (!!) of you, more or less.
Before we begin, a brief word from our sponsor:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives.
* Other diaries in the Welcome New Users Series.
* The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
And finally, as DarkSyde eloquently stated:
With the exception of trolls, we're glad you're here!
Note:
The realm of Welcome New Users has evolved. For now, it will be hosted alternately by smileycreek and myself, LaughingPlanet. We hope that any attempt to revive this effort is appreciated by those who got the ball rolling, and especially the person who wrote literally dozens of such entries over the years.
OK, so...what do you mean by "Sockpuppetry" exactly?
I'm glad you asked!
Lately, we have seen a huge spike in new registrations here at Daily Kos. If you didn't notice, the number is roughly double what it was this time last year. Most of these "people" are spammers or worse.
BruinKid now adds this proviso to his daily diary rescue post:
Quite a few of these new users have handles where they have two names separated by a number, or just a bunch of letters and numbers mashed together in the middle. That's a bit too coincidental, and they seem to be foreign spammers trying to sell their shit here. Fortunately, I talked to ct about this, and he assures us that these spammers have been taken care of.
A good portion of the rest are what should rightly be called sockpuppets. Or maybe not....
Our community overlord moderator has this statement to make on the issue:
- sockpuppets (when the definition is a single individual posting as two or more personas) are instantly banned when discovered
- people should not toss the term "sockpuppet" around promiscuously.
OOPS!
Some prefer the less pejorative "Community accounts", I say potatoE...
If you are scratching your head, check out this list and feel free to add to it, as this is merely off the top of my head:
Gulf Watchers
Gulf Watchers Overnight
Back To Basics
Criminal InJustice Kos
R K B A
Black Kos
eKos
SheKos
KosAbility
The above accounts were created to serve a common goal, and hence are not to be labeled as rules-violating sockpuppets, per se. But the people controlling those accounts should take extreme care to ensure they are not using those handles to recommend diaries, a.k.a. game the system, hence they risk potential banning for their careless or reckless behavior.
Our community overlord moderator again:
Mistakes happen when people have two (legitimate) accounts. But, no, people should not intermingle. And they should never recommend a diary or comment made by themselves in one account with another account. In egregious cases - repeaters - this can lead to banning.
Indeed, mistakes are made, as they say. But don't try and use that as an excuse for gaming the system. It will catch up with you.
There is yet another type of sockpuppetry which is also benign if done properly.
Not long ago we were hit by the a.k.a. waves. Many of the front pagers removed their veils of anonymity, and lots of us regular folk followed suit. Most prominently, droogie665321 dumped his old account in favor of a poorly-veiled new handle. He then returned to his more renown name after the 2008 election and has never returned to his alter ego.
JayinPortland used to be Hardhat Democrat
RLMiller used to be indigoblueskies
Patric Juillet used to be AAF
and so on.
These people are not using their old handles anymore hence they have skirted any possible rule-bending.
The problem is when a banned user, a.k.a. zombie, tries the same tack.
That's when one should promiscuously toss the term "sockpuppet" around.
;-)
For the record: You will be caught if you were banned and try to re-enter the Kos-o-sphere. It may take a few days or weeks, but the cheaters never win; we are too sharp around here.
IMPORTANT NOTE::
If you know any of the myriad tricks the admins use to find and slay the zombie trolls and other demons who have tried (and failed) to sockpuppet, please do not mention them here (or anywhere). It is better to have a few secrets to combat the ghouls, meddlers, and other various asswipes who would otherwise diminish our little corner of the blogosphere.
K?
Thanx.
Speaking of tricks, for a textbook example of how to properly sockpuppet, see the history of Trix/Bizarro Trix/Silly Rabbit. Never once has he tipped or recommended himself.
Others, such as jlms qkw, have managed to hold down a sock without incident because they are so careful to never abuse the system. She is even so bold to have her alter-ego named after her : socks for jlms. (She does this due to her tireless work with different communities here which sometimes puts her in a position of needing to post more than 1 diary per day. DK4, if and when it ever goes public, will remove the 1 diary/daily shackles, so we have been told.)
Suggestion of Teh Month
Did you know that clicking the word "Recommend" in the little area below the comment also works to rec that comment?
It's true!
Try it right now:
It sure is easier to aim the cursor at a big long word than in that tiny little circle, ain't it?
Recurring Suggestions
• Play nice. There is no "Edit Comment" button. Once you hit "Post Comment", it is there FOREVER. The golden rule does apply to the internet despite myraid reams of evidence that might lead you to believe otherwise.
• Use the search function. It is a better way to find diaries that interest you than just scanning the recent list. Consider it the worm on your fishing hook. You might catch fish without it, but you need lots of luck. Plus, (if and) when DK4 rolls out, there will not be a recent diary list on the front page, so you should bone up on searching now before you need a crash course!
Start with this search (as seen daily in jotterville).
Then move on from there.
You can do it; you really can (and should).
• Recommend lots of diaries and comments. What does it cost you? Nothing. People work pretty hard on their writing here. Giving them a pat on the back is a tiny thing that means a lot to some folks. The worst thing that can happen is that the diary you recommend pushes another diary off the rec list which was already there. Keeping the rec list fresh is not a bad thing.
A few recurring diaries that I recommend without a 2nd thought include High Impact Diaries, Top Comments, IGTNT, eKos Earthship, and Overnight News Digest (OND).
Q & A
☻ Question:
My diary will not publish!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Once you get HTML errors, copy the whole thing and paste into any old diary (nobody reads old diaries; trust me).
- Chop off 80% toward the end & publish.
- Repeat, adding 20% or so until you find the bad section.
☻ Question:
This clip won't embed!
Woe is me!
What should I do?
☺ Answer:
- Videos from iframe a.k.a. videos.mediaite.com never, ever embed properly. (They work fine in preview; don't be fooled.) Until further notice, don't bother trying. Just hotlink.
- For Comedy Central videos, see this diary by SBXX.
- For MSNBC videos, see this diary by SBXX
- For CNN videos, see this diary by wader.