Today I mark my one year anniversary as a Kossack, and how better to celebrate than with a diary? I guess when commemorating a milestone it would make sense to note statistics relevant to my activity during the year, you know like number of diaries written, number recommended, most recommends, did any make it to the top of the rec list? How many diarists do I follow and how many follow me?
That seems kind of boring, and it's all on my profile anyway, so I'll probably not do that, except to say that when I click the "publish now" tab it will be for the 70th time.
I first discovered Daily Kos kind of by accident while browsing online for ammunition to use against the cons on Huffington Post, where I at one time maintained a regular presence, before they went all Facebooky and side-booby. For almost a year, mostly in 2013, I referenced D.K. articles and even downloaded several -- I didn't know they were called diaries -- on my computer for future reference. D.K. had what I was looking for on gun control, civil rights, economics and politics with links to original sources so I could do further research. I opened those saved diaries this morning and immediately recognized several authors -- Jed Lewison, Egberto Willies, gjohnsit, John Perr, and others. So I must thank them for representing and fighting the good fight.
Before too long I realized that D.K. was an interactive political platform, a left wing social blog for the cognoscenti, who were actually creating the content themselves. It was very democratic. If your stuff was good it would rise to the top. And if it didn't get recommended it would at least get read by smart people who might even let you know what they thought. I wanted in on this action. So 365 days ago I decided to join the party. I became a Kossack. Not only could I make comments but now I was getting the front page delivered to my inbox every day!
It was over a month before I got up the nerve to publish my first diary. It was actually a six page paper I had been working on for over a year on the topic of men and spree/rampage murder, all very scholarly with dozens of sources. It bombed. There were six recs and eight comments -- half of them my responses. I was discouraged. Not so much about the paucity of recs as with my failure to engage people in what I thought would be an important discussion. I really felt I had found a community of kindred spirits, an audience of progressives who thought the way I thought, who might at least be interested in reading my piece.
I didn't write another diary for a while, but I still looked forward to getting my D.K. front page email every day. I read each diary on the list and started clicking on the author's recommended list as well. I grew more familiar with the format and what kind of diaries were getting read and recommended. On July 1st I finally posted another diary, about getting rid of Koch owned Georgia Pacific products at my work. This started to get a response right away. I noticed it was published to Community Spotlight, then Rescued, then Rescued to Recommended, and then Recommended. There were lots of comments and recs and I was so happy I shared it with my cyber circle of influence.
My confidence was restored and I was emboldened to published another diary on immigration and the American flag, just four days later, on the 4th of July. It didn't take off but was published to Community Spotlight and Rescued and garnered some great comments. So I was hooked. Since then I have published at least one a week. I've found that the highly partisan one offs, that may only take a few minutes to write, can do quite well, and a screamer of a headline doesn't hurt. But the diaries I am most proud of are those related to my work or the well researched offerings on the environment, music and politics.
There are so many Kossacks doing important work, like Shaun King, Brainwrap and SemDem who are receiving national attention, that I am truly surprised and humbled when what I write gains some traction and is recommended. If I didn't work 55 hours a week I would contribute more. I sometimes miss engaging the cons at Huff Post, but it is possible with Daily Kos to write in-depth diaries and be read by hundreds and if you count Facebook shares, tweets and retweets, by thousands. I hope that every once in a while someone searching the internet will happen upon one of my diaries and find something that will advance the progressive cause.
There is much to do. The forces of evil are well funded but we have truth on our side, which, like gravity eventually overcomes all resistance.
So there you have it . . . my one year anniversary diary . . . not likely to make the rec list, but if you made it to the end you are a true Kossack, a true friend. Thanks for reading. Mike