This is an update to the events described in this past diary.
To recap: Around 1 AM, multiple StopRush-Related diaries were published to the recents list, to the tune of 30-40, all at once, flooding the list and pushing out all other diaries. They were from multiple accounts: hrhprissy, Carol Kernahan, and FlushRush. Almost all of the diaries were related to the Stop Rush Limbaugh campaign. Most of the diaries were old posts. They had old comments, old recommends, and old tip jar. However, the diaries had new timestamps, indicating they were republished.
There was a speculation that this could possibly represent a cyber attack by Rush operatives, which is not wildly unfounded.
So after writing this diary about the past last-night diaryspam by FlushRush, I sent a message through dailykos to carolkili and hrhprissy.
She has finally responded back in a message through the carolkili account:
Sat Mar 28, 2015 at 10:20 AM EDT
elfing nailed it. I had no idea what I was doing. I would never ever do anything that would damage Daily Kos. I sincerely apologize for my recent activity.
I did not know that the urls would be different when I republished the diaries. When I received the error message from DK that I was not allowed to publish so many diaries at once, I mistakenly assumed that those diaries had not been republished.
Further, I did not know that the url would change. I have linked diaries in the past only to notice later that they no longer exist. I was hoping to avoid that by republishing. What a mess I have created.
I need to make amends to the guardians of this website. I sincerely apologize for all the time they have used trying to unravel the activities of an inexperienced user. I am in the PDT timezone and did not see any of this unfold until now.
Daily Kos has provided me with a platform for my opinions in the past. I have appreciated that. I have also used many of the diaries of others in posting on other sites and while tweeting. At this point, I am tempted to take down my most recent diaries. I would appreciate your comments regarding this idea.
Please pass on my deepest regrets.
So there is at least closure on this particular adventure.
I for one am actually quite glad to hear that it was nothing more than a significant technical glitch. Other explanations, particularly someone who took over these accounts, would stand to be a far worse scenario.
I personally hope the deleted diaries can at least be recovered or restored in some way, so I suggested that she contact the dailykos helpdesk about recovering them somehow. Even if original URLs can't be restored so links on the internet will still work, one hopes that all the work the content of those diaries represent at least will not be lost.
Carol and the other people behind the Flush Rush campaign are an admirable group of activists, fighting back against a despicable power structure. The inclusion of the Dailykos community in their efforts is something, I think, our community should be proud of.
Not only do I hope that this mis-adventure in online communication has not served to undermine the achievements of Flush Rush in any way, but I also hope that it serves as a learning opportunity for those of us active on this frontier of online activism.