I'm an old school kossack, from the days when we would rhetorically bash each other over the head and not go whining to mommy about it.
The new daily kos is a different place - probably for good reasons. But there are (were?) still a few users that play it old school.
A suggestion - how about an isolated place (non-reccable, non-ratable) where folks can go at it old school? This group would never be on the rec list, or even the recent diary list.
We could all just scream shit at each other and occasionally make a point. Perhaps as importantly, people would see what is not permissible in the rest of the site in terms of incivility. And people who played in that pond would know what they were in for.
Wouldn't this work? If not, why not?