Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Really Tired of It

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I have been a member of The Daily Kos for many years. I have made a lot of on-line friends there. They came together and made a community quilt for me. The helped me through the death of my Mom, the loss of my job, the sudden death of my brother, and all the stress that Mike’s death brought. Lately I have been involved in numerous conversations as one of the Admins for Courtesy Kos. I am beginning to wonder if it is all worth it.

The latest in fighting regarding gun control has gotten totally out of control. The influx of neo-Nazi trolls and the invasion of IGTNT is horrendous. The following of people around and Hring them and sending threatening Kosmails to them doesn’t seem to bother TPTB over there. Kos publishes a “I’m going to ban people who write TTFN diaries” without bothering to read the diaries and find out what the problem is.

The dilemma I have is that I have committed to writing diaries over there. I regularly publish the Street Prophets Thursday Coffee Hour and Sunday All Day Brunch. Since we lost our own little corner of the world the only place we have in over at Daily Kos. I don’t want to let the people down that I have promised to write for but this constant in fighting is really getting me down.

Any one have any suggestions? I have diaries ready to go for Kosability on February 3rd, The Grieving Rooms for February 4th, Books That Changed My Life on February 8th, and What Are You Working On for February 10th. Those I’ve committed to. Do I just do Street Prophets after that? Should I ask someone else to take over Thursday and Sunday from me? I’m just torn. I don’t want to let people who are counting on me down.


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71 comments

  1. sarahnity

    If posting over there is so difficult, for whatever reason, and it is bringing you so much grief, then don’t.  The people who you feel connected to and who supported you are not the same as the site.  The site may have brought the individuals together, which allowed them to form a community, but the site is not the community.  

    I don’t know if you can set it up to auto-post diaries, but if so, I would put a disclaimer at the front of each one you have scheduled, explaining that you wrote these ahead of time, but have decided to take a break for a while and then crosspost them here (or wherever else you feel most comfortable) and then be here to engage in any conversations that follow you.

  2. wordsinthewind

    seen too much loss in such a short time, healing thoughts for you michelwin. I think sarahnity’s advice most excellent. Be good to yourself even if for no other reason than to teach the people around you how you’d like to be treated.  

  3. blue jersey mom

    heartache. Here’s what I did. I had committed to some IGTNT and WYPF diaries in December. I did those, so I would not let anyone down, and then I left. I stayed on the IGTNT e-mail list, and I have offered to help with research and writing, but I will no longer post under my own name. My only lasting link to the GOS is through IGTNT.  

  4. Portlaw

    help with solace and good feeling and you do wonderful diaries. But if they are causing stress then maybe there are other options. I am not a diary writer so am just speaking off the top of my head. Could someone there post those you’ve already done for you? In that way, you might feel you’ve fulfilled your commitments.  Do you feel you can just do Street Prophets without looking at all the other stuff? If not, maybe there is someone who can sub for you for a while or just take over.  Think Sarahnity’s ideas on auto posting are really good and might work. But, for what it’s worth, in my opinion, added stress is not a good option, Good luck. I hope things are smoother and easier for you.

  5. michelewln

    Things are rough at the moment. I’m battling Social Security to get help for Medicare drug costs which I’m eligible for but was denied because they claim they didn’t get something back from me which they did. I have to spend more money on lawyers fees to open up getting some financial problems settled for my brother. I’m just too stressed.

    I did something I rarely do and spent some money on myself. At $19.97 and loving unicorns I couldn’t resist. Valentine Unicorn now resides on the Community Quilt on my bed. Pixie already has designs on him.

    photo Unicorn001_zpsa52e0269.jpg

  6. Its the Supreme Court Stupid

    I have made the decision to publish my diaries exclusively over here.  I participate in diaries that are cross-posted, but only here (one exception– I do Rec and Tip FR’s F-Bomb there, although I comment here).  But, I do comment, rec and tip over there, as I see fit.  I decide what level of participation I wish to have over there.  You should too.  Do what you want.

  7. Chris Blask

    As others have said, the best I can suggest is to do what you think is right.

    The Moose Management is pointedly non-partisan in regards to other communities. While we take some pleasure in an expanded herd here, there is no joy in Mooseland when it comes due to unhappiness elsewhere.

    Speaking only for myself, not for other elder Moose or the ever-changing consortium that concerns itself with managing Moosedom, I find the lessons learned through the success and mistakes of other communities fascinating. We are all trying to figure out what this online community thing is, and how it will work in the future. Taking a purely academic approach to the examples each community produces along the way is necessary if we are to progress. While caveating and standing back from various positions is appropriate, it is not imho productive to ignore the examples around us.

    MyDD was my first political blog, starting during the Democratic Primary wars of 2008 (which Peter Jukes wrote an excellent magazine article about). I didn’t know Adam from Adam or the history of blogging. As it turned out, MyDD was among the first if not the very first political blog, and both Jerome and Markos cut their teeth there.

    MyDD suffered a meltdown of faith around that period and is now mostly a shell. DKOS has grown and remained a vibrant community, taking the lessons of early blogging out to a new scale and a longer span of time. DKOS upgraded not long ago (you all would know better) and made an effort to carve out communities among its community, and despite kerfluffles remains a very large and vibrant community.

    The lessons of the two remains similar though, it seems. Despite a leading position in online communities, the issue of faith in those ‘in charge’ among the user population is as real in online communities as it is in the brick-and-mortar communities we physically live in. Cities and countries have come and gone in the past due to a loss in faith in leadership or the inability of leaderships to adapt to growth and change.

    There may in the end be few new lessons learned in online communities that cannot be found to have been learned in communities throughout history, after all. Small and cohesive communities can exist stably for a long time. Larger communities can exist stably for the length of time that force can be imposed on them. In the end, however, communities governed by some form of consensus provide the most flexibility and can adapt to the changing environment.

    The individuals who have started these communities deserve respect for taking on the burden in uncharted waters. Jerome Armstrong and I remain Facebook friends and I have no doubt his efforts with MyDD had the best intentions. Markos I don’t know personally, but I think it is clear that he has invested a lot of effort in his experiment and clearly with good intent.

    It is not a failure of the leader directly inasmuch as these communities do not thrive over the long term. It is likely just that online communities are the same as any other, and the methods of managing them must bend in the future towards their analogs in the physical world.

  8. BlueStateRedhead

    In case one is too busy to google it.

    That’s from someone who joined DKos in 2007 after longtime lurking and did not know what TTFN meant until the TTFN trend began this year.

    Did know GBCW and knew it was a BAAAD.

  9. BlueStateRedhead

    1. no right to say so. I am an infrequent diarist over there, so I have no standing in giving advice.. I am also a lurker in all the threads you mention, so no cred there either.

    2. nevertheless. the threads you mention are why the orange should continue to exist.

    3. For the isolated sake. I am a privileged person, a blue state person in a congenial community. Behind those screen names are ppl unable to speak out about their situations, beliefs, the self-motivated projects, even the books that have changed their lives.

    To speak only of grieving; they are  alone, or worse, in a family whose idea of redemption or salvation involves condemnation of who they are.

  10. BlueStateRedhead

    “In-fighting”: are we sure it is in-fighting? Someone has suggested there are agent provocateurs at work. That the IGTNT is invaded suggests an organized infiltration of something that is otherwise beyond contention and reproach.

    “TPTB”. I think there are none or there are people and power but the force is not with them. There is a void at the moment–Brit’s comment on post election drift got it exactly right there. Jan F has the link.

    “Kos courtesy”. Is it a response to the void? Also Talk me down? Can those of us who are purple-orange help by frequenting these new threads?  

  12. BlueStateRedhead

    I am glad KosCourtesy is there. I have gone back and read all the diaries posted to it up to today. I want it to make a difference.  Kos courtesy seems custom made to help me stay at GOS to make it a better place.

    Just to take one situation cited in the diary: threats in Kosmail. Bullying kosmails. Is it forbidden?

    There must be rules. the person who bullied Avila in the Kosmail she posted was banned, so he [as he is a he] was banned for something.

    Or did Avila break a rule when she posted the bullying kosmail? She musta’ done, as kids say, as three days later, even in a Kos courtesy diary, the reason she TTFN is not described with any specificity. Or is the banned person so powerful that he shall not be named?

    Thanx in advance.

  13. justme

    Never posted at or wrote on Daily Kos.

    The writer formerly known as Majikthise, for one.

    I could go on, but I’m exhausted, and I’m not sure naming names would bolster my point, which is you need to have the freedom to write when and where is best for you. Daily Kos is not the be-all or the end-all, although I think it (and some of its diarists) might fancy itself as such.

    I think if you follow your heart, your work will be that much more powerful and persuasive. Writing done by force (?) rarely makes for satisfying reading.

    K, off to bed with me. Do what’s best for you, and take care of yourself.

  14. sillia

    due to lack of maintaining the infrastructure. Gee, we know a country like that! Great size and richness has big advantages, can also be the downfall.

    People function better in smaller environments in general. If you can stay in your sub-communities there and feel useful then I think it’s good. But if you are impinged on by the general noise then it might be time to find other pastures.

    For me personally there are still some sub-communities there I care about. But my heart is telling me to stay away more and more. It’s the bullying tone, and the literal bullying. It’s sort of how I imagine Republicans would run a website…

  15. Rustbelt Dem

    my opinion is that the most recent upgrade to the place was a bridge too far.  DK4 has been a disaster for civility.  

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