The best thing about Daily Kos has always been the Rec List.
There, the power of democracy is put to full use in elevating the best, most important, or just the most fun content to read. Elevating content has always been the role of editors in a news organization. But here, editors are replaced with the mob, and while I often disagree with the mob’s choices, I always find it far more interesting than top down managed content sites.
Apparently, so do millions of others. Reddit, which is completely based on a democratic model of content management, has now become one of the most popular sites on the internet. According to data compiled by Alexa and Similarweb, two site traffic monitoring services, Reddit is in the Top 100 with a ranking of #38. The New York Times, with it’s crusty staff of editors, barely even makes the list at #96.
Of course, some will object to comparing the feeding frenzy that is the Rec List with a reputable “news” gathering operation like the Times. But I would point out that it was sites like Daily Kos and Reddit that forced a lot of stories to the front burner where elite news providers like the Times buried them. If, for example, you had been an exclusive reader of the New York Times back in June of 2013, you would have hardly been aware that a young man named Edward Snowden had just blown the whistle on the NSA for criminally violating the rights of millions of innocent American citizens.
If you were a regular reader of Daily Kos, however, you would have known Edward Snowden’s shoe size. And this is my point. With all the bull shit that makes the Rec List, overall, it has usually been a great elevator of the stories that are actually important to real people.
So here’s the problem. Despite the popularity of the Rec List, and its obvious benefit to the popularity of the site, in every site update since DK3, Kos keeps diminishing it.
Starting with the introduction of the Community Spotlight, which abandoned the democratic model of content management, and replaced it with the old model of a small, select group of people (which often really amounts to one person) choosing what should be at the top, Markos has continued to show his disdain for Daily Kos users with every update.
Now, with this update, you have this super massive center column, which is actually obnoxious it’s so big, especially with super sized graphics of Republican men’s faces, and the User Provided Content, by far the most interesting content here, is relegated to relative oblivion.
I just noticed that to read the Recent Diaries list, you have to scroll all the way down to no man’s land to find it.
But it’s not just the diminished placement and prioritization of User Generated Content, it’s the diminished value of the whole idea that really made this community from its first days: People Power.
Where is the People Power movement? Where is the idea of “Open Source Politics.” These were prominent themes back in the early days. Dean would yell, “You have the power.” and we here in the Netroots would yell, “Damn right we do!”
What happened to that? I know some people are still working on that dream. But it’s not facilitated in the least by the architecture of this site, nor the philosophy of its staff.
I’ve heard that Kos instructs all his people, or at least some of them, not to participate in the comments of diaries. And while I have no first hand evidence this is true, it sure fits. Most front pagers are what you call drive-by posters. Even when challenged, staffers rarely bother to engage those challenges.
And then there’s the staffer spam of the diaries list. What the fuck is that about. Recently, I tallied up the number of diaries on the Rec List that were written by Daily Kos staff, and it was 80%.
The diaries are supposed to be for us, the users, to add our two cents to the political discussion. But over the last few years, it’s been taken over by staff using it for click-bait, most of which has nothing to do with People Power, or even the stated purpose of this site.
How the fuck does the headline “Florida Man Impales Self on Confederate Flag Pole” elect more or better Democrats? (And yes, I made that one up).
If click-bait drives readers to the site, fine, post it to the front page. But why the hate on DK users?
Real estate on a site like this is pretty valuable. That’s part of the appeal of the Rec List and Daily Kos in general. It has always been a way to get your message out. A way to make the powerful listen to us, the people.
And back in the day, the powerful did listen. Back in the day, the Rec list was seen to host diaries by leaders of the Democratic party, including even Barack Obama himself.
What happened?
I’ll tell you what happened: The Democratic elite, which now includes Markos Moulitsas, want you to shut the fuck up. They want to to quietly get out your credit cards, debit cards, or checkbooks, and send money to the candidates that have been selected for you, and be happy about it.