By Hal Brown
I readily admit that I have a horse in this race…
... since I post just about every day and 95% of what I write is either opinion or less frequently an analysis based on Trump’s psychopathology.
There are many hundreds of opinion and analysis writers posting on Daily Kos and it is fairly unusual for them to get enough recommendations to make the Trending List. There is just too much competition from posts about high interest news stories. Opinion stories are generally not clearly titled as such.
Everyone who writes an opinion should have a reasonable chance of having their story seen so Kossacks can decide if it interests them. The neophyte writers of these kinds of diaries not only deserve to be read but also not to get discouraged when their efforts disappear after an hour or two if their story doesn’t make the Trending List.
I have no problem with diarists excerpting from free and subscription websites on the major news stories of the day because our comments section generally has between 20 and 200 comments and this low number enables a lot of debate. Otherwise such stories can be found on the Associated Press website or Google News, the later having the benefit of being customizable.
Again, I want to emphasize that opinion diaries shouldn't compete with news stories to make the Trending List so they stay online for a long span of time..
Kos community posts are a mix of diaries which fall into the original primary three general categories: 1) alerting readers to stories from other sources with links and excerpts, but little or any opinion, or 2) the same as 1) but with short opinions added between excerpts, and 3) diaries that are all or heavily weighted towards opinion and/or analysis.
There are new sections in the redesign which are well worth looking at and which and augment Daily Kos. One consists of stories in the new Prism education section which is unique and has worthwhile stories. It is missing this link to the explanation as to what it is and how it came about. The DAILY KOS LIBERATION LEAGUE features highly recommended posts about racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ and disability rights. There’s also the Civics polling data section. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and you’ll find “From Marko’s Desk” and the “Kos Daily Comics.”
I consider all of these improvements except for my one gripe.
Let’s consider where a reader finds the opinion essays in the two best newspapers in the country. You don’t have to dig down to find them. Illustrated below is how prominently The Washington Post and The New York Times position their opinion columns. (You can see the current opinion titles by clicking the links.)
All I am asking for Daily Kos to do is give opinion community members more of a chance to have readers.
Some or many Kos regulars may have already read breaking news stories elsewhere and don't use Kos as their primary news website. I think they and others should have a chance to easily review what members of this unique group of ordinary opinion writers have to say.
Here’s a version I cobbled together of a modified community story section by way of an example. I’d have no objection to staff opinion essays having its own section under the general community story section. I also think that Kos should consider having a group of columnists the way newspapers and websites like Salon and Slate do.
Please weigh in on the poll and if you post diaries, particularly expressing your opinions or analyzing a subject, please comment about your experience.