Welcome, New Users, to Daily Kos, from your host Angie in WA State. This Diary is intended to help you orient yourself to the site and ask questions about how to use it.
Below the orange fleur-de-kos you will find links intended to get you participating more effectively. Also in this edition What can Daily Kos offer you, New User?
After that you can ask me any questions about the site you want. What I don't know, someone else who drops in likely will. Or we can ask the HelpDesk. A link to the HelpDesk is at top right of every page on Daily Kos, just to the right of the Login/Logout link, labeled "Help".
AND-- if you're new and wondering what is and isn't OK around here, read Kos' Community Guidelines. That'll keep you out of trouble!
Wanna follow us around or send us a kosmail?
Click the ♥ to follow us in your Stream, or click Send Message to send us a private kosmail.
What can Daily Kos offer you, New User?
I've been a user here at Daily Kos (DKos) for longer than a woman of my age should admit to doing anything, which is now a bit over a decade. So I've seen this place go from a small one-man blog to a major web portal for liberal and progressive political action and so much more.
I hope that you new users will stick around as long, too. There are a million and seven things which you can invest your time and energy in here, most of them are likely fun or rewarding and the ones which aren't are probably the ones your participation in is most important, like Twitterstorms or Blog Marathons for a single issue. In any event, it will take you some time to figure out where everything is here in Orange Territory (a nickname for DKos). And by "some time", I mean forever. I still keep learning new stuff, and I've been around since the stone age!
Since I'm not the best writer in the universe, I'm borrowing the words of another Kossack (nick name for users of Daily Kos) as an example for you.
A comment left on ExPat Girl's terrific diary (which you should go read, yes, right now, I'll wait here for you to come back), "Why I am Here", on Mon Jun 02, 2014 at 09:52:39 PM PDT, by thanatokephaloides. The time stamp is the link to the comment. The user name link is to that User's profile page, which is your personal home page here at Daily Kos.
This is simply a perfect example, in few words, of what exactly is available to Users here at www.dailykos.com:
I am here because I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A town at least as red as any town in the former Confederacy. With a strong additional flavor of Dominionistic Talibangelical "Christianity" to just make matters all that much worse.
Having a heart and half a brain in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and acting as if you do, is a mistake. And it can be a painful mistake. I learned very quickly not to go around speaking my mind.
Then I discovered Daily Kos and started reading it.
I found out that I wasn't the only one who thought the way I did and cared about the things I do. That there was at least one place I could be myself and speak my mind in safety and peace.
And then I discovered the recipes.
The pootie, woozle, and birdee diaries.
The comics, especially Animal Nuz.
The humor.
And, of course, the snark.
Finally, the hope. The simple hope that, through our thinking, cuss-and-discussing, and actions we could make this the kind of America it should be.
So today, I am hopelessly addicted to Daily Kos. I have my own comment page bookmarked so I can read what my fellow Kossacks say to the things I say. And if I go without my Kos-fix for a whole day, I'm worse off than I am with a whole day without coffee.
So, yeah, a million and seven things to read, discuss, write about your own bad self.... But don't get worried, there are tons of lovely, friendly kossacks who will help you if you only ask.
Hence these
Welcome New Users diaries and the
Partners and Mentors group. So, if you find yourself wondering, "
hmmmm, how am I supposed to do
that?", help is just a click away...
What can these folks help you with? How about this, for starters. When you write your own first diary (yes, you will get up the nerve to write one and publish it, I promise), there is a little trick which you can use on your "Tip Jar". It was, once upon a time, thought considerate to "tip" the author of the diary you were reading if you thought it was good, or worth other people reading, thus the name Tip Jar. That's the first comment on a diary. The platform here will automatically post you a comment, and it's subject line will be "Tip Jar", but the comment will be empty. However, you can post a custom "Tip Jar" by following Side pocket's advice in this comment:
Comment by long-time kossack, side pocket from kos's diary, Ask me anything about everything because why not?
This is what that looks like, in a
draft diary which you have not yet published, the big orange arrow is pointing at the link you use to create a custom Tip Jar:
So, click that link, write a custom subject line (like "Tipping Point Jar", on a diary about climate change), write your comment and then post the comment.
FYI Once you post that custom comment, you only have 24 hours to publish the diary, or no one will be able to "tip" it.
I'd also like to introduce you to what this place is all about.
Many people will tell you that the site's Founder and Publisher, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, has said what it is, and that is "More and Better Democrats" in our government at all levels.
I disagree. I'm as sure as the day is long that this more closely resembles what Daily Kos is all about: Came for the Politics, Stayed for the Community.
Daily Kos has become what it is because of the Community which you will find here. The politics? That's the frosting on the cake.
So come on in, read the Front Page for breaking news and to see what issues the Daily Kos Community is actively pushing, what you can do to participate (like calling your US Senator, imagine the nerve it takes to do that, now imagine that you have that nerve, I know you do!).
Read the Community Spotlight diaries rescued from obscurity, written by people just like you, hoping to find their voice here.
Read the Recent Diaries List, to see what your fellow Kossacks want to talk about, or better yet, talk with you about.
After a bit, you'll find yourself joining a Group, or ten of them. You'll be sharing diaries on Twitter. You'll be the most informed person in your crowd on issues from Climate Change to the latest news in battery improvements for electric cars and solar panels to why the US spends more on it's Defense Military than any other nation in the history of, well, history.
I look forward to getting to know you. Really. So do a whole host of other users here.
Welcome, New user.
:)
and a Tip of the Hat to Some Recent New Users:
A stunning, insightful first comment by Nigerian new user AfricanManikan. h/t peregrine kate
New user Seattle Socialist has gotten off to a great start! h/t joedemocrat
Superiorkayaker's2008 grad school thesis comports with today's 4 star general's fears of climate change. h/t smileycreek
Young Invincibles wrote a fine Recommended diary on the frustrations of being saddled with crippling student loan debt from a for-profit college. h/t smileycreek
While it's usually not the best form to post your first comment correcting or criticizing the diarist, this correction of Elizabeth Warren's biography by new user dstoff was a positive example of how to do so and was well-received by front page diarist Susan Gardner. h/t belinda ridgewood
Sometimes a new diarist like Pragmatic740 has been around for a couple of years before posting an interesting first diary like We need a “Victory Plan” to fix the Veterans Administration. h/t a gilas girl
This 20 year old activist for the homeless community, LauraCase spoke up for her people and was rescued to Community Spotlight with Homeless Person Speaks About Shelter (New Rochelle). h/t smileycreek
Physician Rhett23's first comment reached out to help a struggling patient with solid helpful information. h/t smileycreek
Alexius Banks found a good home and the Recommended list in her outrage at Rushbo with Limbaugh calls #YesAllWomen "Militant FemiNAZIs" h/t smileycreek
Justin Mikulka's first diary, Oil By Rail - Week of Action was spotted by the Rescue Rangers and promoted to Community Spotlight. h/t peregrine kate
What new users have you met or helped in the past month?
Share them with us in the comments!
Please also check out the buddy system over at the New Diarists group. While WNU and New Diarists do quite a bit of cross-pollinating, there is one essential difference between us: Over at New Diarists you can request a mentor who will help you learn how to write and publish a diary that won't get you publicly consigned to Worst Diary Hell at the GOS (Great Orange Satan, as we are affectionately known among wingnuts). Just send them a kosmail asking for an invite! Also check out their Resource Diaries. Note: The New Diarists groups also welcomes experienced diarists who would like to be mentors.
Got questions? Comments? Ideas? We're all ears-- just join us in the comments. And remember: Since this diary is for New Users no question is too basic, no matter how long you've been here!
For More Helpful Diaries, Check Out Our Archives:
Everyone is encouraged to review some of the previously written goodness that survives here in the DKos archives, going back to WNU founder ek hornbeck and including the list of teaching diaries republished to our Group page.