Information for absolute beginners is in the final section, § 4. Getting started doing kosmails (you MIGHT need to refer to the first 3 sections as well. If you find you’d like to see more/other diaries on kosmailing/messaging in DK, click on the KosMail tag at the foot of the diary).
For experienced kosmailers, start at § 1 especially The Proactive Basics ¶ A-D to help save on tearing hair out if you encounter glitches a lot. § 1 ¶ E is when a message-to-group gets no reply, that’s probably not a glitch, and what the sender can do about it.
To know if the fail is a genuine, glitch, go to § 2. “You’ll know if a message glitched” and examples+advice from the HelpDesk.
If you already know it is, go to § 3. “In case of glitch, you only need a new/better starting point/page to send the kosmail from”. Chances are you already get the drift now. If not, read there for the details.
If the glitch involves an unreceived invitation to join a group, go to § 1. [G.]
This illus. may come in handy for all readers - Fig. 1
<big>§ 1.</big> There are 2 main causes of kosmails not going through. One cause is not a glitch.
Since fails of both kinds are always possible, the PROACTIVE BASICS are:
<big>📌 [A.] </big> always copy your message after you compose it and before you send. That way, you can instantly paste it in again if another try is necessary, rather than have to re-type — quite often your message draft will not reappear if you try to back-arrow to it.
<big>📌 [B.] </big> If you used PREVIEW before hitting SEND and the message glitched, you may need to back-arrow past an ‘expired’ page before getting the message-form page back again.
<big>📌 [C.] </big> Your re-try probably needs a NEW starting point/page for best odds of success, so back-arrow past the message-form page, too.
<big>📌 [D.] </big> The system saves all message titles (a.k.a. ”Subject”) —even for those that glitch— so, anytime you start a kosmail, you can begin typing the same title and the Subject bar will display all your similar past ones, letting you save keystrokes by just clicking on the one you need.
The commonest NON-GLITCH cause of kosmail fail is:
<big>📌 [E.] If you send a GROUP a message, it will NOT put a new-message alert/number at the envelope icon of anyone’s blogview page</big> (Fig. 2) the way a kosmail to an individual would (Fig. 3)
<big>Nor at the MESSAGES line in anyone’s own private <big>WELCOME BACK</big> box</big> — the words No New Messages will go on showing there even though they’re an admin or editor at the group you kosmailed to.
So, if you don’t get a reply from anyone in the group fairly soon, it’s likely because none of the admins or editors checked for messages — they didn’t realize any might be waiting for them.
In that case, use the group’s <big>Members</big> page to find a coupla admins & editors in the group whose individual <big>Profile</big> pages show them currently active in DK, judging by how recent the dates of their <big>COMMENTS</big>, and send the message to one or two of them. You can’t judge by their most recent diary posting, which is all the recency data the Members page/list will offer. You’ll need to click on some likely looking admin or editor (admin only if you’re requesting to join the group) to see when they last posted <big>Comments</big> (there’s a line on every kosak’s profile page for that — nothing on that page is private information in DK).
Below is the <big>Profile</big> page of a kosak known as GravyBear. See the <big>Send Message</big> button/link? Not included in the illo is the information lower on such a page, but <big>Comments</big> followed by a date & how many days ago will be displayed lower down, among other things. The same as on your own Profile page.
<big>📌 [F]</big> The main cause of getting no reply from an individual is [i] they don’t feel like it, but more often [ii] many kosaks don’t realize to click on the envelope icon or on the MESSAGES line even if an alert is there. Admins and editors usually do realize and respond to a new message indicator …. [iii] if they’re no longer active in DK. Accounts can’t be deleted/erased, not by request and not if the kosak hasn’t used the site for years, so a lot of groups have no active admins or editors. Hence the advice 2 paragraphs above to find out if the person you’re kosmailing to is actually around to get the message.
<big>📌 [G] </big> Invitation-to-join-group glitches: According to the helpdesk here, 28Sep2020, invitations to individual kosaks to join a given group are no longer delivered via Kosmail. Part of the reason behind that change arises from the comparative brittleness of the Kosmail system, which relies on a software that site management is attempting to eliminate.
So, instead, group invitations now go to the kosak’s email (but in a way that does not reveal the sender’s or recipient’s email address). But there are still some ways that the process can fail:
- If the recipient kosak's email address of record for their DK user name is current, then the group invitation should be delivered and received properly. If the addy DK has on record is NOT an addy the recipient kosak is using, a fail is very possible.
- And there are still other vagaries to which email is subject, so that sometimes an emailed invitation can bounce around without ever reaching intended destination. Even to kosaks who do receive other DK administrative emails without problems.
There IS a work-around the recipient kosak can try, if you think a group invitation for you to join has gone missing:
- You can copy this “join” URL into a fresh browser tab while logged-in at DK:
https://www.dailykos.com/groups/GROUPNAME/join
- You’ll need to replace GROUPNAME by typing the name of the group into that part of the URL — this is do’able even if you already clicked the URL arrow & got a DK 404 message staring you in the face :-)
- Note two details:
- 1) You have to type the actual formal name of the group in, not a nickname or abbreviation or etc; and
- 2) any spaces within the groupname must be replaced by %20 (e.g. official%20group%20name).
- If there really is invitation pending to you "live" from an admin at that group, you’ll get a confirmation popup that you’re in.
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IOW, emailed invitations arriving are not the determining factor — it's the initiation of the invitation by an admin on the website that counts. If that hasn’t happened, that URL won’t work for you.
Admins can assure a speedy invitation process if they now make a practice of kosmailing to each invited kosak —aside from and in addition to having sent the invitations— with the "join" URL to anyone whom they invite, be it by their own initiative, or in reply to a request. In that kosmail, copypaste the info in the above blue box, after saying which of your groups you sent him/her an invitation for. This is because there is no automatic way for a kosak you’re inviting to join on your own initiative to know an invitation was sent if the invitation email glitches, and there’s also no way for a kosak who requested an invitation to know if it was actually sent if it glitches en route to her/him either.
Is this added labor upon admins? Yep. But if your group matters to you, you’ll put in the effort. DK’s tech crew seems to keep being told to make site improvements that somehow often aren’t — the Germans have a word for it, schlimbesserung (“worse betterment”)— and the only way for anyone not a shareholder in the corporate to overcome that problem is with effort and skillz.
<big>§ 2.</big> You’ll know if a message glitched when, after you hit SEND, you get an error message, e.g., this one:
Can't call method "id" on an undefined value at /www/dk4-perl/current/lib/ScoopDK/Data/User.pm line 251. Hostname: dkperl2
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Helpdesk questions and responses about that (besides “let it rest and try again”) sometimes go along these lines:
I also get an error when I send a message from a person's profile page using the "Send Message" link next to the username. I have to go to my messages and type in the username on new message from there in order to be successful.
I have found the Lazarus add-on for Firefox a handy help so I don' t have to retype messages and comments when they disappear.
Support Staff 3 Posted by Daily Kos Staff on Jul 12, 2016 @ 05:40 AM: ...Unfortunately, it is a known problem with an unknown fix date. The problem arises from a mis-communication between the two main systems that underlie the site... though it is annoying, there are a few workarounds.
First, if you are writing a long message, it's a good idea to have it saved somewhere else [e.g., in your Drafts Folder, or simply copy it for the moment to save handy in case the attempt onscreen doesn’t work]. Despite the suggestions I'll offer below, the draft messages still sometimes get dropped.
Second, do use the Preview function before you hit Send. That can help, though it's no guarantee.
Third, when you do get an error message, don't give up. Use the back arrow on your browser to see if your draft message is still there. Usually it will be, and you can repeat the Preview and Send process. Sometimes, unfortunately, you'll have to do this more than once. But please be persistent; eventually it should go through.
Hope all this helps!
Thanks for your patience and forbearance.
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<big> § 3.</big>In case of glitch, <small>and if the above suggestions don’t work,</small> you really only need a new/better starting point/page to send the kosmail from.
As Figs. 1 and 5 suggest, there’s a <big>Send Message</big> link at the top of all the public pages of every group and every kosak, not only at their Profile. Any of those pages you haven’t used Send Message from yet makes a good re-try point.
Messages to a group rarely glitch. If they do, or if a reply seems overdue, the available pages to send a message from will be:
<small><small><small><small>Diaries</small></small>(List) Members Send Message To Group Profile</small> |
It’s usually best to use the Members link/button as explained in § 1. especially [E] onward.
Kosmails to individuals are what glitches most. It appears often that the more active the kosaks is, the more likely a glitch. As Fig. 5 shows, the promptly available pages to find a Send Message link/button are:
<small><small><small>Diaries</small></small>(List) Stream Groups Following Comments Profile</small> |
It’s usually best to always just start with (List. If a message sent from that page glitches, try the next option (Stream) and so on across, ‘til you finally make that sucker fly.
Don’t click on DIARIES, — it’ll only take you to the blogview and there’s nothing useful for kosmailing there.
Sometimes getting through takes a 3rd or 4th try. Up to you whether your message matters enuf that you want to work thru’ all the potential starting points, or take a break and try again some other time.
Working thru’ the starting points can be tedious. But timely communication is the life-blood of being organized enuf to make the whole really add up to more than the sum of its parts.
So, when it’s necessary, we persist, despite the obstacles. After all, the 225,000 people who Marched on Washington August 27-28, 1963, didn’t just show up by coincidence, did they? Nope. A small cadre of workers —mostly volunteers, mostly women— who had developed proven methods and worked them, tediousness be damned, are who got the word out … and didn’t let any barriers or system glitches stop them.
<big>§ 4.</big>Getting started doing kosmails:
The #kosmail —in the list of tags up at the near-top left margin of this— can be clicked on to reach a clickable list of all diaries so tagged (here’s that tag’s link —kosmail— to pop open a parallel tab in your browser for that list) so you can click on any of them in case this diary you’re reading right now doesn’t answer questions you have (earliest sections included).
🔶 a “kosmail” {or verb: to kosmail} ;-) is an internal DailyKos message from an individual kosak/member to another kosak or to a group.
The commonest reasons for kosmailing to a group are to request reblogging there of a diary you wrote or found, or to request to join the group if you’d like to be able to write for the group or reblog diaries (yours or other people’s) there.
If you’re kosmailing to ask to join the group, you actually only need to join if you want to write diaries for the group, i.e., via their blogview page (it’ll post on your own page simultaneously). If you just want to be able to get all their postings easily, no need to kosmail, just click on the Follow ♥ at the group’s page and all their postings will be automatically delivered to your Activity Stream. There, I just saved you a lotta kosmail hassle. ;-)
To find the dk group nearest you, to follow their postings, click on
There are links in its introduction for how to find Connect!Unite!Act!, the organizing group of dk local-groups, and a link to a diary teaching how to find others kinds, such as for history, quilting, television, science…. Two other directories are:
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<big>🔶 To kosmail to join a group or for other reasons, or to an individual</big>, find and use the Send Message link/button at any of that kosak’s or group’s public pages (excluding blogview — that link is not there), e.g.,
or
When you click on Send Message, you’re taken to the message-form page for that person or group. The form gives you a title/Subject bar, and a body-of-message space for you to fill in. (try to put a clear subject/title in the bar). Below the body-of-message space are 3 self-explanatory buttons: SEND PREVIEW CANCEL.
See § 1. E—F for why, when you want to reach a group timely, it’s usually most efficient to kosmail to a currently-active admin or editor rather than to the group, despite that glitches are more common kosmailing to individuals than to groups. If your message is time sensitive, such as requesting reblog of a diary of yours or someone else’s, managing to reach an individual will make the effort worth doing.
<big> 🔶 Follow procedure A—D in § 1</big> to save yourself some grief in case of any kind of fails.
<big> 🔶 See the beige box at the top of § 2</big> to recognize a glitch, and see <big>§ 3 </big> for how to work around it. Don’t freak, you didn’t break the site.
🔴 If you’re requesting diary reblog:
BE COURTEOUS. 99.99% of all admins and editors are doing their group’s tasks on a volunteer basis, many of them for years. RESPECT THAT FACT. Otherwise you may not encounter as much cooperation as you’d like. (See also diaries at dk group Courtesy Kos).
Many admins and eds are in several groups, so you need to specify which group you mean. A useful title/Subject line for your message might be (using the not-real Geography group and not-real kosak Kosakistan and not-real diary title “Where’s Carmen SanDiego”)...
Please consider reblogging to grp GEOGRAPHY Kosakistan’s diary “Where’s Carmen SanDiego”
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Then copy and paste that diary’s URL into the message-body.
If the title/Subject bar isn’t long enuf for full description, put in Just “Please consider reblogging to grp GEOGRAPHY this diary by Kosakistan” and put title and URL into the message-body. A “thanks either way” at the end never comes amiss.
Essentially the same is good for requesting reblog of your own diaries, just put “my” in where “Kosakistan” is in the example.
For a list of “
Some actually official [instructive] pages, diaries & grps” click
Presidential Candidate Groups in DK & Links to Reach Them and scroll to the bottom of the diary.
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To kosmail to the author of this diary to complain about it ;-) click on the author’s name up under the diary title.