From time to time the thorny subject is raised concerning the prominence of the Community Spotlight on the Front Page of Daily Kos. The latest to open this discussion is OPOL, a well respected contributor and a regular on the Recommended Diary List. He mounts a good case for the suggestion that it should be placed below the Recommended List, but I want to take a moment to disagree.
I’ll declare an interest but I, in the tradition of Judges all over the country, will not recuse myself from the debate.
For two years I was a Rescue Ranger, one of that merry band of men and women who devote hours of time reading every Diary on the site, yes, even the spam, so you don’t have to. Sometimes, truth be told, it could be a chore, but rarely was it boring. Many are the Diarist who were brought to first prominence by the Community Spotlight, and more than a few can and do thank the Rangers for a helping hand when their Diaries needed it the most. I count myself among that number.
To qualify for a place on that list is not an easy thing. The Diary has to be written by someone who needs the help — sorry Front Pagers. It has to be well written (the prime consideration), of sufficient length to be interesting and it has to be sliding away from general view, unloved and un-noticed when it is deserving of a far wider audience.
If you write a Diary like that I can assure you it will be read by a Rescue Ranger, and they will not allow it to go un-noticed. that is their prime and only directive.
The entire premise of Community Spotlight (or “Rescue” as it was originally known) was conceived and implemented many years ago by Susan Gardner. As far as I am aware she remains a true supporter to the ideals she designed, and given that it has survived the upgrade, I assume that it still does. I’ve had no personal involvement for a couple of years so assumptions are all I have.
Originally Rescue was a Daily Diary. Rangers recommended Diaries throughout the day, and a mid-evening Diary was published linking the Rescues with a note from the Ranger who found the piece. Even then, and during my time, and I guess still, no single person put a Diary on that list. There is a process and rescue has to be agreed by a minimum of two Rangers, often three or four will chip in. It’s a pretty thorough vetting process and labour-intensive.
With the advent of DK4 came the first iteration of the Box we now have. One implication was that there was suddenly much more prominence and space to rescue a greater number of Diaries. That not only increased the workload but also highlighted any mistakes that slipped through the screening. Rangers are human, it happens. To their credit it happens incredibly rarely, what happens a lot, however is that Diaries rescued frequently hop on to the Recommended List. While no one particularly aims for this to happen, it is a tribute to the judgement of the Rangers that it happens so frequently. It also validates the belief that those Diaries DID deserve a wider audience, and when given one they attracted recommends.
The decision to place the box above the Recommended List was made by Markos. The Community Spotlight might not be where the action is, but it is a place where some of the best writing on the site is displayed. He wanted that front and center, and I agree with him 100%. I’m guessing that with the shift to DK5, that view has remained the same.
The Recommended List is controversial. We hear so many references to the “Wreck List” and other terms not quite so polite, that its place on the site is never wholly supported, yet, and again Markos has made this plain, it is crucial to the community aspect of this place. Daily Kos was never a democracy, but the Recommended List is, or should be, or can be depending on whose friends, or friends of friends are freeping the Diaries on Facebook at any one time. Of course it happens, it always has.
So the order of business on the Front Page has long been … FP Diaries most prominent, Stellar writing next, and community voted immediately after. It’s balanced and it works.
No one is suggesting that the Diaries in the Spotlight are better, more popular or more important than the Rec List. Usually they are reflective pieces that will never stand a chance in the fast-moving environment of political discourse. They get that chance in the Spotlight and they earn it. There’s gold in them thar hills, and other gems too.
No one who regularly writes on topical issues that are popular with the community gets over-looked. Their Diaries appear regularly in the Recommended List where they probably get more attention than Diaries on the Front Page given the speed at which that scrolls. You guys on the Recommended List are not being pushed out, you are not missing out on readers or attention, and you are not grabbing top-billing :)
If anyone wants to use the comment thread of this Diary to give a heartfelt shout-out to those who work so hard, with little recognition, to bring the readership that which they enjoy but would have missed, please feel free.
Back in the day it was very easy to see which Ranger had rescued a Diary, and what they had to say about it. As an early beneficiary of those efforts I much appreciated it. It is not so easy now to see that information, and that’s a shame.
Thanks for listening …. and OPOL, I love ya Dude!