There have been a number of online meetings the Advisory Panel has been included in.
In Oct & Nov we have been discussing what the new site will look like, how it will act and how the Users will interact with it. Mostly from the comments point of view.
The company that has been chosen to provide Comments action is going to knock your sox off, folks - not only do we get some great visual help in comment heavy threads, but they will be offering us something the site has needed a long time — the ability to run Live Blog comments, just like the big players on YouTube do now with their podcasts (think Lincoln Project, Democracy Docket, Brian Tyler Cohen, etc).
There is one tiny hitch, that company is running full steam for us, but there will be a small gap between launch after the rollover in March (about 4 to 6 weeks projected at this time) when you won’t be able to embed (YouTube, Bluesky, etc). But you will be able to include images from day one and add a link to the embed itself).
I know for a lot of your folks in Groups, losing access to embeds will make your stories hard to manage for that short 4 to 6 weeks, and Markos knows it too — there was a very long and deep discussion about the pain you will suffer during that period. Some people run regular weekly work that depends upon the use of embeds (like Denise Oliver-Velez and her Black Music Sunday series). Believe me, the conversation over that issue was poignant and vigorous! But the original timeframe for the comments company was 3 to 4 months to add embeds and they’ve recently come back and shortened that to 4 to 6 weeks — so we are taking the better, more functional and future looking add-ons, too, provided by a company called Viafoura.
So the new Daily Kos is going to look fresher, provide all of that stuff that you have come to depend upon and will be bringing you New Features and more functionality!
The other issue I’d like to discuss today is the cost of the roll over.
This donation link (which of course I am asking you all to BOOKMARK and make some donations to as the rollover continues to build steam as the process moves forward):
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kos2025wp?refcode=CAP
THIS is what you see if you click that link:
Daily Kos is officially moving to WordPress—the world’s most trusted and powerful open-source publishing platform. This long-overdue upgrade will give us access to modern tools, faster innovation, and a global developer community that ensures we’ll never be stuck with broken or outdated systems again. For the first time in years, we’ll be able to build the features this community actually wants—without vague promises or endless delays.
But here’s the truth: this transformation depends on you. Reader support now makes up nearly 90% of our revenue, and we need your help to fund this migration. If you’ve ever wanted a better commenting system, easier community tools, or just a more modern Daily Kos experience—this is the moment to make it happen. Chip in now to help us launch the future of Daily Kos.
If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible.
Current fundraising for the rollover:
As of 8 days ago, the donations to the cause are at $72,937.05 and the projected full amount to pay for this move is now at $400,000 (which may or may not include the cost of the comment add-on, I haven’t heard back on my question about that yet) so I and the rest of the Advisory Panel need to start making Donation appeals to the Users and Readership over the next couple of months.
I know, it’s getting close to the holidays WHICH IS WHY I am asking today that everyone who reads this story send in a $5 or $10 donation via that link I provided ONLY. That money is all pointed directly at the cost of the rollover and not general funding of the current site.
ALSO — next weekend I will be posting up a story about donations and Subscriptions and the ADs that we all love to hate! I know from reading in the comments that there is a ton of confusion about this issue and mostly over the issue of “I’ve donated and I still can’t get rid of the ADS, help!!!”
So watch for that, and if you have thoughts about any of this?
LEAVE ME A COMMENT — all of your responses are brought back to the full Advisory Panel and staff at the next online meeting we have — and some of what you’ve said has already made a difference to what is decided.
Since the question arose I got permission to share an image of what the new splash/landing page for Community Users MIGHT look like.
Be aware — this is not the end product, it is merely a mockup
one of a number of choices of formatting for that page. But it’s the one that I personally thought was the best of the bunch. Still it’s a first go mockup and the end result may be different. I just thought it was a good idea to give the Users a look at what some of the new site MIGHT look like by next March:
To show you that I’m sincere in fundraising this money from everywhere possible, I will continue to reach out to those not only here, but ALSO those who have been the recipients of our Community’s assistance over the years:
