Hello,
I've been a member of DailyKos for years, but this is my first diary. I'm moved to write by the ridiculousness of the diaries I've recently seen on the recommended list. I'm discouraged by the total lack of perspective exhibited by some of these diaries and by Dkos community members. I've been around this site for a few election cycles now, but it's never been this bad or this filled with hate. I want to express a few things that have been bugging me.
Many of us on this site have a favorite candidate. Often, community members write diaries in support of those candidates or attacking other candidates. Many of these support/attack diaries are fairly low-quality diaries. A diary might take most of its content from a news article that's supportive of/negative about a particular candidate, and offer little additional commentary. Or it might offer a poll, without much else. Or it might offer pure speculation. These are not good diaries.
Election time notwithstanding, I am proud of the quality of diaries on our recommended list. They are thoughtful, they engage seriously with fact, they discuss policy, economics, culture, history, they provide intelligent commentary on punditry and politics, etc. During election time, we're apparently incapable of such thoughtful response to current affairs.
The problem is that people see these candidate-driven diaries and recommend them not based on their thoughtfulness, but rather based on whether the diary treats their favorite candidate charitably, or treats their least favorite candidate negatively. I'll be straightforward here: I have seen a huge number of very very low-quality pro-Obama, pro-Edwards, and anti-Hillary diaries make it to the recommended list. I certainly appreciate the fact that many community members here support Obama, and many support Edwards. Fewer support Hillary. And that's fine! That's great, even! I'm glad that we can be a community that doesn't buy into the "inevitability" line and that maintains our total independence from the mainstream media.
And occasionally, these diaries are good! There was one, months ago, that methodically compared Edwards's and Clinton's senate voting records. It was a fascinating diary, incredibly informative, and actually helped me make an informed decision about who I was going to support in the primary.
But the vast majority of these recommended diaries are bad. Hastily written, poorly reasoned, full of name-calling, nasty sarcasm, and bitterness.
Could we all take a few steps back, and promise each other that we'll stop recommending bad diaries just because they happen to promote the candidate of our choice, or attack our least favorite candidate? Honestly, it makes me so embarrassed to be a part of this community when I look at the recommended list and see attack diary after attack diary. I'm especially embarrassed when I click on those diaries and see rampant, sensationalist speculation.
Each of the candidates has strengths, and each has weaknesses. That's a no-brainer. Could we please talk about those strengths and weaknesses in a productive manner? I'd rather stay away from name-calling and false attribution.
While researching for this diary, I went through old recommended diaries and found about 20 examples that I could use. But I decided not to use that list. I don't want to get personal or offend anyone here. But you all know what I'm talking about. Even Kos mocks the candidate-fetishists. It's not hard to find examples.
And I'd guess that most community members actually feel the same way I do. Hey, we have some great candidates this cycle. It's a hard choice! There are a lot of undecideds out there! Each of the major candidates has something truly extraordinary that he or she brings to the table.
So... Starting today, I promise to recommend only the candidate-driven diaries that provide thoughtful, reasoned, fair commentary. I promise to take a step back from the fray. I promise to respond to heated, overblown rhetoric calmly, and contribute to reasonable conversation. Doing this will make DailyKos a sane place to hang out during this campaign season.
Will you make this promise with me?