It's been a year and a half since the ability to add easy links to dKosopedia was added to this site; I don't think there's been a story or diary specifically discussing this feature since then. So to recap: You can create a link from any word or phrase to the dKosopedia article of the same name, by simply putting double brackets around it. For instance, [[George W. Bush]] becomes George W. Bush. (Notice the special styling to indicate that it's a dKosopedia link.)
So why is this a good thing? When should you do it? And what is dKosopedia, anyway?
dKosopedia is the collective memory of Daily Kos. It's where we collaborate on projects together and store our accumulated knowledge. If you're familiar with the user-edited online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, dKosopedia is a similar idea — but it's written by us, for our own purposes, from our own point of view.
There's a lot of valuable information and insight that gets slung around in the diaries and dialogs of Daily Kos, but it's all ephemeral; after a few hours or days, it's lost to anyone who doesn't have the time to sift through ten thousand comments in hope of finding something useful.
But if you create dKosopedia links from the key words and phrases of your post, anyone reading that post has instant access to anything about those subjects that past Kossacks thought worthy of recording there. And just as important, they have access to a place to record any new information contained in the current discussion before it's lost down the memory hole.
So be liberal with the dKosopedia links:
- Does your post refer to any political figures? Link their names!
- Are you describing local political events? Link the name of your state, congressional district, or city.
- Link the names of any significant committees, organizations, countries, or events.
You don't need to know how to edit dKosopedia (although it's not hard); you don't even need to go to dKosopedia first to get the url. Heck, you don't even need to know if the article you're linking to exists at all — if it doesn't, those who follow your link will get a form letting them create it.
Linking to dKosopedia only takes a few extra keystrokes; it should be second nature to all of us.