Disclaimer:These diaries are my personal interpretation of how the latest changes in the Rules of the Road will need to be handled. I’ve had no input from administration (though I wouldn’t mind hearing from them, should they care to weigh in), and am putting the whole thing together from a) the written changes in the Rules, and b) the modifications that have been done to three or four diaries in the past few days. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong and suggest a better interpretation. (Politely, if you would.)
It was interesting that one of the first new comments I checked out this morning was an attack on site credibility, or rather an attack on a diary title as hurting site credibility. Of course, my first stop in the mornings is the Hidden Comments page, which is where it ended up, but it very nicely provided an opening for this diary.
Listen to the preface:
If you ever wonder why DKos is considered to be a hysterical echo chamber...
Anyone who repeats that, or paraphrases it, has no interest in Daily Kos being, or becoming, a credible site. Most likely, they think it already is and are trying to undermine it. We have had, and possibly still have, a small percentage of users who have taken delight in repeating that type of statement, and a number of its close cousins, whenever they got the chance. I’m not speaking to them here — it wouldn’t help. IMHO.
People are not only worried about whether a site carries fake news, they’re downright paranoid about it, without really knowing what it is they’re getting agitated about (interpretation), and companies are stepping up with new filters that promise to keep fake news out of their computer systems. (Fact)
Which means that, at this point, besides creating division wherever possible with constant fake news reports, damaging the perceived credibility of legitimate political sites, especially liberal ones, has got to be one of the major targets for anyone who’s running this kind of campaign. (My best guess/opinion)
So Daily Kos, and I presume other political websites, are taking steps to make sure that their content won’t simply be filtered out on the perception that they either produce or pass along Fake News. One of those steps here is a new Rule for community moderation (see below). And I’m trying to take steps to
- make sure people are aware of the changes,
- minimize the casual insults and putdowns of the site and its policies and staff that the community lets through the moderation sieve, and to
- raise the level of attention that we give to
- over-the-top callouts of people and organizations we disagree with, and to
- the people who are most prone to make them, who are also most likely to damage the ongoing credibility of the site.
This has been categorized in certain dubious quarters as knuckling under to fascism. If you think so, you might as well stop reading now, and go do something else. If you think this is a legitimate problem that we’re going to have to ride out at least until we’ve dumped the current Occupant and fixed some of his worst meddling, you may want to think about helping fight for the perception of credibility that this site needs to maintain.
All the advice and rules we need to do the job are already in place. Stay civil, check your cites, keep the distinction between opinion, interpretation, and fact clear, and have fun. Ninety plus percent of what’s published here will never be touched by this. The rest of it — could be interesting.
And that’s it. Full stop. Thanks for your attention, and now we will return to our usual meta.
Appendix
1. Change to the Rules of the Road:
DO NOT Post “Fake News”: An especially dangerous type of CT, “Fake News” presents a threat not only to the site’s reputation but to political discourse in general. If a claim seems especially exciting or surprising, take a moment to verify it before posting it, even if it fits a left-wing narrative. Fake news of any persuasion is prohibited on Daily Kos. Posting stories judged to be Fake News can not only lead to the removal of the story from the site, but also to banning of the poster’s account.
2. Previously:
Part I — Weaponizing "Fake News": What It Means, How To Avoid Writing It, And How To Respond to it.
"Fake News" - Part II: Gone are the days... Negative Nostalgia and Site Reputation (This one went over like a brick, but there’s still some good stuff there.)
“Fake News” — Part II.0I: Gone are the days… Overturning an old Daily Kos tradition (Second try, less dancing around)