Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
In the Body of this diary you will find some links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in the Body this week is a discussion of minutiae.
After that you can ask me any question you want. I don't know all the answers so if you stump me, you do. I invite those wiser than I to contribute and correct (or raise a ruckus, just don't scare people).
The bug squashing furiously continues every day.
Or so we are told.
However, it seems none few of the things that I am most eager to see fixed are addressed despite many moons setting since the inception of dk4.
Alas.
There is a bit of progress to highlight now and then.
Before we begin, a brief word from our sponsor:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives.
* Other diaries in the Welcome New Users Series.
* The Welcome New Users dKosopedia page.
And finally, as DarkSyde eloquently stated:
With the exception of trolls, we're glad you're here!
Note:
The realm of Welcome New Users has evolved. For now, it will be hosted alternately by smileycreek and myself, LaughingPlanet. We hope that any attempt to revive this effort is appreciated by those who got the ball rolling, especially the person who wrote literally dozens of such entries over the years.
Random DK4 observations
Instead of lifting Bill's C & J format, I will try the YAY vs. EH? model for items that I find either improvements or in need of improvements.
ITEM EH?
The lack of Permalink was debilitating for those of us without the fanciest newest glowing rectangles.
Thankfully, at least part of the lack of comment free links has been assuaged. I still miss being able to merely type the word "only" to the word story to achieve the goal. now one must add a garbled HTML stream (the addition stuff you need here in bold ?detail=hide ) to the end of a link to be able to see posts with zillions of comments without locking up your ancient 3-year old device.
Addendum: With DK4, there is a bit of a vestigial tail effect with links. Now, it is all about from whence the link came. In DK3 days of yore, we had but 2 links to each story/diary.
1. Story
2. StoryOnly (permalink)
Now, it is all about the ?__=__ string at the end of each link. Did I click from the rec list? Or from the stream? Or from my profile pages? Etc. So no when someone posts a link, my browser cache does not notice if I have clicked a link before unless it is THE EXACT SAME STRING of detail items. I, for one, would be just fine if we zapped all these new-fangled footprint/where you from? items in exchange for a return to the olden days.
ITEM YAY
When you view someone's diary or profile page, the column on the right shows you that person's most recent recs.
Recommended by LaughingPlanet
I love being able to see the list of who has recommended what diary. It is a way I find items I had otherwise missed. It also clues me in about people who do not use this site as a collaborative forum. When I see someone has never recommended another's work, it tells me a lot about that person.
ITEM EH?
• So, what is the difference here?
Diary frequency: often
Comment frequency: frequent
Last time I checked, those 2 words are SYNONYMS
Adv. 1. often - many times at short intervals; "we often met over a cup of coffee"
frequently, oft, oftentimes, ofttimes
ITEM YAY
• Little red "{NEW}" signals in diary comments. I check my recent diaries for new comments regularly. When they have around 100 comments, and 1 is new, it can be very tough to find that most recent comment if it is not a new thread at the bottom.
It would however be nice if the red "flags" remained when shrinking comments (like they did with DK3). My computer is aging; every click I choose these days is like opening a PDF. A diary with 100+ comments is akin to a 50-page PDF (read: Go get a drink while the computer is frozen.)
ITEM EH? YAY
In the past, clicking "[ Parent |" below a comment would pop you back up to the comment to which it was replied without reloading the page. Today, I must wait for my aging laptop to reload yet another page things are "back to normal."
ITEM YAY
One thing I just LOVE LOVE LOVE is the Diaries page options-
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Even though Kos added the Recent list to the front page, I use the diary page much more often. I think it also shows more current info that the FP (I think there is about a 3 minute delay, if I am not mistaken).
I do use the chronology view most often, but the ability to click "Most Recommended (Today)", "Most Recommended (This week)", etc., really helps me stay abreast of the latest here at DKos. These days I have but a fraction of online time compared to past years, so knowing ALL of the most recent rec'd/popular diaries instead of just the 12 currently highest rec rate items is a far better metric for the likes of me.
The current rec list suits those who live on DKos as much as I used to. The other views are more akin to jotter's daily list, and to the old search that I once loved (now defunct) showing what diaries just missed the rec list.
ITEM EH?
I am with SuperBowlXX with regards to DK4's Save & Preview Function. Too many of us have lost literally HOURS of work due to unknown glitches, power outages, and the like.
I would far prefer an auto-save feature that is obnoxious to the point of Nanny State to having absolutely no back up and having to click twice (!) every time I want to save and keep writing.
The problem is exacerbated by the lack of the "Previous Story Revisions" link that DK3 provided and DK4 does not. I think I once heard that "it is on the list" to bring back.
Still waiting....
ITEM EH?
• Blogroll FAIL
So we have gone from list of 30 links to about half that. When you click "Next" you always seem to get this message.
Error: Unknown target specified: [undefined]
No great loss, I guess. Maybe i am one of but a few who have more than a few links on their blogroll. It would be nice if the option to have more, of control their listing order, were made available. Not a high priority, admittedly.
Follow this group for your stream. Bookmark the group page for regular viewing.
Become a "follower" by clicking the little ♥ thingy under the GROUP name (like so ↑) Welcome New Users until it has a little check mark emblazoned on it.
Following the tag is also recommended, but you will find that smileycreek & I have begun adding items to the queue that do not have the WNU tag added. You will see new diaries that feature useful teaching about the new site every day or 3, if all goes well.