Your recs do not matter. Your followers do not matter. How many times your diary has been shared and liked and tweeted and facebook'd and blah blah blah does not matter.
No one person has a monopoly on the dialogue here, that is the way it has always been. No matter if you have written a diary every single day and gotten each one of them on the rec list or if this is your first diary, everyone has a voice here. Everyone gets a say. And no, you do not get to throw how popular you are in everyone's faces if you start getting legitimate push back on a diary.
I know how it is. I have had a few diaries on the list in my day. It can feel terrible to start getting heat for something you write, and you feel like that piece is your baby. When people attack it, they are attacking YOU, in full force. It can feel like you are surrounded. but when there are no names being hurled around and no insults, just genuine, legitimate criticism, its best to listen. And heed. And perhaps make changes. Because you are no more perfect than the kossack who has had one measly rec listed diary. Or has written nothing.
Fact of the matter is, around here, everyone gets a voice. Criticism is welcome, and is not necessarily an effort to "troll", "discredit", or keep your diary off the rec list. Most of the time it is a good Samaritan who is simply saying "if you clean this up, it'll make your diary better". Take the advice, for gods sake. YOU DO NOT WALK ON WATER BECAUSE YOU MAKE IT ON THE REC LIST EVERY DAY.
Heres a clue for all of you with outsized egos and even bigger mouths: it is a test of a writers ability to be able to adapt well to criticism and collaborate on projects. Writing, like science and music and many other things in this life, is rarely done in a vacuum. Other people are going to have input, and if you can't handle legitimate criticism you have no business being a writer, especially a politics blogger on the rough and tumble orange desert we call dailykos.
Either be open to criticism and not reflexively defend every post with "Well I had this many diaries on the rec list" like a three year old or don't write diaries. Simple as that.
Note: This isn't addressed to one person or tackling one incident. Yes the incident today inspired this diary, but this behavior among some of our more prolific writers is becoming a trend. And let me tell you what, its extremely immature. Especially for people who claim to be the only adults in the room. We don't need this high school bullshit drama.