Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos, from your host Susan Grigsby. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
Below the orange gnocchi-doodle you will find links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in this edition is information about the Community Spotlight, staffed by the volunteer Rescue Rangers.
Every single diary written on Daily Kos is read by a Rescue Ranger and could be featured in Community Spotlight.
After that you can ask me any questions about the site you want. [If I don't know the answers someone smarter is bound to be along who does, or I'll go find the answers and bring 'em to ya (wink! wink!). ]
AND-- if you're new and wondering what is and isn't OK around here, read Kos' Community Guidelines. That'll keep you out of trouble!
Wanna follow us around or send us a kosmail?
Click the ♥ to follow us in your Stream, or click Send Message to send us a private kosmail.
The Community Spotlight, seen in the right hand column of the Daily Kos website, began as an open thread. And it was written by a single person. Long before she was the Executive Editor of Daily Kos,
Susan Gardner was still known as SusanG when she decided that there were diaries falling through the cracks every day.
There were diaries written by unknown, or little known diarists, who did not have a large following that would guarantee them a spot on the Recommended List. There were diaries that were well-written, but about topics that were not BREAKING news, diaries that were being overlooked by the larger community.
So she started rescuing them. She would read every diary that was posted, and find those gems that were unnoticed and put them into an evening Open Thread, like this one, on the Front Page. Eventually, she recruited a posse of Rescue Rangers who worked behind the scenes to identify and promote those diaries worth a second look.
Almost five years later, in February of 2011, DK4 was introduced and the Community Spotlight became a Group that eventually found its way to the right hand side of the page. But the mission remains the same as it was on that day in April of 2006 as summarized by Susan Gardner in 2006:
People, I'm getting a lot of emails asking for diary rescue on behalf of self or others. While I don't really mind this (it actually doesn't help your cause much though since I take a look at all diaries regardless), I'm finding I need to make something clear. The purpose of diary rescue is to help overlooked diaries authored by active Kossacks gain readership and comments. The criteria for selection is that the pieces show originality, critical thinking skills, research and are well-written. Obviously, this is subjective and not all will agree with my choices. But hey, I'm trying.
I want to help the writers gain a larger audience and, in turn, to continue to provide the community with original writing. The more people we have coming to the attention of readers here, the more variety of recommended diaries we are going to have. We'll also be nurturing the next generation of political writing talent, whether it's in short humor, research, historical pieces or analysis.
This is not to say if your diary doesn't make it, it was necessarily poorly written, or that the information provided in it was not important. It means, for that given day, there was a whole lot of stuff that piqued my subjective interest and that I wanted to share with the readership.
A lot of the emails I'm getting are about how important a certain issue/campaign/candidate is and that it must be brought to the attention of the community. Fine. I agree. Bring it to the attention of the community in comments on diary rescue, or in any or all of the (at least) three open threads that are posted throughout the day.
Today, there is a group of Rescue Rangers who devote hours every day to reading every diary that is published at Daily Kos. Our history was best described by Unitary Moonbat in his diary,
History for Kossacks: Community Spotlight.
What we look for in a diary is, as Susan Gardner explained, good writing that shows originality, critical thinking and research.
Let's break that down a little further.
Good writing is just what your ninth-grade English teacher taught you it was: complete sentences, correct punctuation, a thesis that is proven and words that are arranged in a manner that clearly state the message you are trying to convey. All that good stuff.
Critical thinking is displayed in the analysis that the diarist brings to a topic. And that means that we need more than cut and paste quotations from other sources in order to rescue a diary. Go ahead and cut and paste the quotations, but then give us some of your own thoughts. Expand upon the points made or disagree with them.
Include your research sources. We love links. Naturally, if your diary is a "slice of life," or a personal story there will be no links. But if you are writing about the mess that Sam Brownback has made of the economy in Kansas, links will be helpful.
The rescued writers are those, like yourself, who may be new to the site, or those who may have been around for a while but have not written very many diaries, or do not have a large following. We look for diarists whose work does not appear on the Recommended List on a regular basis but probably would if more readers were aware of the quality of the writing. Many writers have gone from the Community Spotlight to regular appearances on the Recommended List. And more than a couple of diarists have gone from rescued to the front page.
Every diary at Daily Kos is read by a Rescue Ranger. These are volunteers from the community who spend twelve to sixteen hours a week, reading diaries, looking for those gems that are missed by the larger community. It is a committed team effort: no single Ranger rescues a diary, there are always two or more members of the team reading and agreeing to rescue any given diary.
None of it is going to happen if you are not writing diaries. Without good material to rescue, our jobs become a lot less fun and the Community Spotlight has less to shine upon. So please continue to write in the confidence that someone will be reading your words.
and a Tip of the Hat to Some Recent New Users:
echochamberlain is actually a new user from August but has gotten rescued twice in Sept. and has since posted 17 diaries, and shows how a person can start out cross-posting from another site and still become part of the community. h/t smileycreek
350Energy was surprised that his first diary wasn't about his consuming interest, climate change, when she posted "Hands up!" (my 1st diary), showing that kossacks have many interests and passions. h/t nomandates
An astonishing and moving first diary by Charming Mistakes, posted on Labor Day: I’m Lucky My Rapist Is Black h/t smileycreek
The subject of 13-Year Old Who Schooled Palin, McCrory, and Phyllis Schlafly - Has More To Say (VIDEO), stopped by to thank the diaristfor mentioning her work. h/t smileycreek
lizcastro's beautiful debut diary told us why we should be watching Catalonia. h/t smileycreek
It's always so cool when a new user like TulsaGal signs up to offer not just emotional support but also practical advice from one who's been there. h/t smileycreek
What new users have you met or helped in the past month?
Share them with us in the comments!
Please also check out the buddy system over at the New Diarists group. While WNU and New Diarists do quite a bit of cross-pollinating, there is one essential difference between us: Over at New Diarists you can request a mentor who will help you learn how to write and publish a diary that won't get you publicly consigned to Worst Diary Hell at the GOS (Great Orange Satan, as we are affectionately known among wingnuts). Just send them a kosmail asking for an invite! Also check out their Resource Diaries. Note: The New Diarists groups also welcomes experienced diarists who would like to be mentors.
Got questions? Comments? Ideas? We're all ears-- just join us in the comments. And remember: Since this diary is for New Users no question is too basic, no matter how long you've been here!
For More Helpful Diaries, Check Out Our Archives:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives, going back to WNU founder ek hornbeck and including the list of teaching diaries republished to our Group page.