It’s been twelve years since my signing on, and I hate to say how many hours spent on my computer with Dailykos.com I put up my own website before I joined and had kept it up to date for many years, but have let that go dormant, It would get a few, may a few score, readers — but never a conversation such as I usually get from my Dailykos diary. My list of some 700 diaries is abbreviated, as when there is not even a few comments, I often take it down as an embarrassment that I want to forget about. But, when they spark a conversation, occasionally even are advanced to the “Community Spotlight” or “Recommended” list, wow, I’m elated. It’s my fifteen minutes of fame, of celebrity, being the host of my very own intellectual gathering.
I fought the changes that came with the new version of this site several years ago . The previous one had stated “Diaries are the main event of Dailykos.” They were required to be at least three substantive paragraphs; and anything less was to be placed as comments on “open threads” which were diaries about given subjects specifically for such short statements.
In effect with the new update, diaries could be like comments, as brief as a single sentence and as many times a day, rather than restricted to only one. No matter how much effort you had put into it, a diary would disappear down the list rapidly.
It appears that four negative flags on the tip jar of a diary (if not reversed) can bring a warning to the diarist. What is not defined is whether these flagging events are accumulated, and with a given number or of frequency can lead to banning. Let me just reference the poll of this diary of many years ago that shows that almost no users want to exclude opinions they are contrary to the consensus of this site, as long as they are well thought out, and respectfully expressed.
I write this diary at this particular time as I’m in a quandary. I’ve engaged a conversation with a man I play tennis with, who, after being a highly successful entrepreneur mostly living in Hong Kong, returned to the U.S. and spent a year at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where very few get in even if they can spare the 100k tuition. He happens to be a supporter of our current president, and we have discussed the idea of having an email dialog on our differing views.
One hot button issue of the moment happens to be Trump’s contentious post election press conference, specifically his “firing” of Jim Acosta, sparked by his contesting the word the President used to describe a large crowd of people who are heading to the U.S. border. Ii just so happens that I’m the only person who has written about a similar exchange at this same event about Crimea. I wrote the following diary that describes it, with a title suitable for the mood that we share here on Dailykos.
Based on this diary, Sir, FDR was responsible for the Nazi invasion of Poland
Fox, and right wing radio, interpret the conflict between Trump and Acosta, ignoring for the moment the accusation of video tampering, as the reporter attempting to turn his right to a question/comment into the right to have a debate. This criticism does, on its face, have some validity.
Here’s the crux of this instant diary, which the title I prefaced with “Meta” meaning it’s about structure and philosophy of this site more than the specific point that may be used for illustration. I do want to write such a diary, one that will compare the unnamed reporter who directly corrected a false statement by Trump, and then reiterated his point after Trump’s further distortion of the issue, with what happened in the Acosta dialog. The public would have been more likely to have accepted Trump’s rejection of Acosta’s implied assertion that branding the caravan of those desirous of sanctuary in the United States are appropriately depicted as being an “invasion — or at least it is within the range of ambiguity for him to choose to use the word.
I would find satisfaction in doing the research of comparing how previous Presidents handled challenging questions from the press, and then use my example from the unnamed reporter who’s refutation of Trump’s exaggeration is forever unknown to the public. Jim Acosta’s point has become an occasion to affect the public’s awareness that according to all dictionaries, the caravan of asylum seekers is only metaphorically an invasion- the word primarily reserved for use of military force (which does not mean the throwing of stones, or even rocks by a few.)
The “Meta” of this diary boils down to whether a diary-essay on dailykos such I want to write, in dialog with a serious Trump supporter, will be welcomed here. It could be that I’m seeking a Dailykos Diary that no longer exists; and to pretend that it does will just add to my personal distress.
It may be best just let that dialog with my tennis friend expire, along with any small chance that something could be gained by our sharing of our views.