Top Comments has been a regular feature here at Daily Kos since June 14th 2006, when Carnacki penned the first of what he originally called Commentary Central but which became known as Top Comments. On its first Anniversary, Carnacki posted his thoughts and those of other TC Commenteers of the time on the mission and effect of the series, and it’s well worth the read.
For over fourteen years, we’ve published every single evening. Oh, some may have been a wee bit later than our customary 7pm Pacific post time, and some may have been less original material and more Open Thread + Tops, but we have always posted a diary. Over 5300 diaries have been published under the Top Comments banner. Over the years we’ve probably discussed every topic under the sun, unofficially staying away from divisive topics best handled in other diaries, and we’ve welcomed everyone. We’ve always given writers carte blanche to pen their thoughts on whatever topic interested them, and I’ve learned as much in these diaries as I have in those “other ones” on the front page or in the Recent Diaries list.
There have been many Top Commenteers, far more than I was aware of based on that first Anniversary diary. I’ve been a writer for this community diary series since September 22, 2007 and have handled the catherding and other administrative features of the group since sardonyx stepped down in mid-2012. And so it falls to me to deliver news of a change we’ve tried to avoid for several years, but can no longer put off:
Starting this week, Top Comments no longer will publish on a daily basis.
Simply put, we do not have sufficient writers in our pool to cover every single night. I am sure you’ve noticed stretches where one of us posts two or three nights in a row, and that we have a very small rotation of diarists. In fact, 18 of the 25 diaries published this month have been by either gizmo or I. We cannot sustain that, but we also feel this diary series is important enough to keep it going, even if not daily.
So, you ask, how is this whole thing going to work? For now, we have a small group of diarists who intend to continue writing as often as possible, plus several others who will be able to resume in the next month or so. We are open to considering adding additional diarists who can work under our guidelines and commit to at least two diaries per month — if this is you, PLEASE message me so we can chat about whether there’s a good fit between you and Top Comments.
Each Monday, I’ll post in my diary the posting schedule for the coming week. It’s always possible someone will be able to take an ‘empty night’ so keep an eye on our stream, and our Top Comments Twitter feed. Top Comments, Pictures and Mojo for evenings where we do not publish will be added to the next available diary, so PLEASE continue to send in those nominations.
Here’s our ever-tentative plan for this week:
Monday 1/25 — Yours Truly, brillig
Tuesday 1/26 — No Diary
Wednesday 1/27 — Tara TASW
Thursday 1/28 — No Diary
Friday 1/29 — Chitown Kev
Saturday 1/30 and Sunday 1/31 — It’s likely both gizmo and I will pen diaries but not certain yet. Stay tuned!
And now, as always, hop below the fold for the trio of Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures that are the cornerstone of this diary series!
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
TOP COMMENTS
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down. Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
From Puddytat:
I had a laugh at the suggestions that MessagingMatters had for menu changes at Mar-A-Lago that's too funny not to share. Enjoy scottdc’s diary Members are quitting Mar-A-Lago as it's become a "sad place", too, about the exodus of members.....I recommend the schadenfreude, it's delicious.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, January 24th 2021, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for yesterday, January 24th 2021 had some sort of error when the search was autoperformed, and generated this: 'search failed', 'EXIT CODE: 256'. Sorry.
