Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

An Insider's Guide to Motley Moose DRAFT

Artist: fogiv

Greetings fellow Moose (and lurkers!). Welcome to our Insider’s Guide. While most of what one needs to know of the Moose can be found in our Posting Guidelines, FAQ, and About pages, there are lots of quirks of the Moose that are unwritten. Longtime moose are in tune with the spirit of the blog, and they’re familiar with the ins and outs of “getting around” in these parts. For new people, Moose formatting, settings, and culture may be quite foreign.

Not to worry. Motley Moose strives to be a highly inclusive, comfortable, open environment. As such, the last thing we want is for any of our newcomers to feel left out or confused. Hopefully this diary will provide adequate answers to any lingering questions you might have, and perhaps it will answer questions you haven’t even had time to think of! We hope the following tips help you get your bearings and find your stride. If any of your questions remain unanswered… you must be one creative moose! And you are always welcome to email us via the Contact Moose link at the bottom of each page.

PhotobucketHere at the Moose, there really is no such thing as threadjacking. Just about any thread on the Moose is a potential Open Thread, and no one is going to get fired up over a left field comment.

PhotobucketThere is no such thing as Jumping the Tip Jar because we don’t traditionally use Tip Jars. Our diarists may not even leave a top comment (though, if a diary has JUST been posted, it is courteous to wait a few minutes before commenting in case one is being written).

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PhotobucketRatings on the Moose are more for fun and support than anything else, especially since we have such a courteous, well-behaved group of regular commenters. We do not tend to take ratings as seriously as other sites might. In the most general of terms, our ratings can be defined as:

Fierce = Anything from “Ayup” to “Oh hell yeah!!!”

Meh = “Meh.”

Fail = “Oh hell no!!!”

We really are pretty laid back as a rule. As such, Fail ratings are rare, rare, rare. If someone has Failed a comment of yours, odds are it was in error (easy to do on a laptop when rating multiple comments).

PhotobucketThink of our comment threads as dinner table conversations. We start with the assumption that all come to the conversation with good intentions and go from there. If you get upset or angry, get up from the table and step outside for a bit. Things can still get heated here at times, but we do tend to make peace quickly and continue working towards finding common ground.

PhotobucketThe Moose does not allow retaliatory HR’ing. Do not exchange Fail ratings back and forth with anyone during an argument, and do not fail a “bystander’s” nearby comments because they HR’d one of yours. If Fail ratings are being passed around in earnest, something is wrong, and it’s time for those receiving them to take a little break from the computer.

PhotobucketThe Moose moves at a slower pace than some other sites. Rather than lasting a few hours, a conversation may last for days (and/or be carried over into multiple diaries). Don’t be shy about commenting in a diary that is more than a day or so old. Chances are, moose are still watching it.

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PhotobucketThe Moose is an Anti-Flame Zone. Our interactions are more like casual discussions with family and friends. That said, everyone has a bad day now and again, and we just try to cut each other some slack when it happens.

Avoid this!

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PhotobucketTry not to drag drama and/or altercations from other sites over to the Moose. Odds are, the moose it would interest are already aware of it, and those that aren’t probably don’t want to be aware of it in the first place.

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Users on the Moose are to be judged and rated based on the content and quality of their diaries and comments HERE only. Do not pick fights with people based on their behavior on other sites. The Moose also does not allow Hide On Sight (HOS) rating. Do NOT hide a comment that is not hide-worthy just because you do not like a user or his/her message.

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PhotobucketAvoid excessively criticizing other blogs’ moderation, membership, or site content. We try to avoid bashing other sites in general (the obvious exceptions to this rule would be Rightwing and/or Hate sites). We see no need to build a divide amongst those fighting for the same causes. In fact, most Moose are active across the blogosphere. For example, many Moose diary and comment regularly on Daily Kos.

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PhotobucketTo follow what we are up to on DKos, join and f
ollow the Group Moose Tracks: Moose on the Loose. By looking at the profile for the Moose Group, you can click on individual Moose and follow them as well.

PhotobucketMoose have pretty thick hides, and many (if not most) comments have a healthy dose of snark in them. Almost universally, we tease each other out of affection. If you find snark aimed in your direction, just laugh and roll with it. Even if you’re new and not accustomed to this sort of banter, chances are it was well-intentioned and good-natured.

PhotobucketThis is YOUR blog. Write about whatever you want. While our primary emphasis is politics, we also love food diaries, horse/pootie/woozle diaries, poetry diaries, science diaries, biographical diaries, photo diaries, funny clip diaries, and any number of other things you can think up! Music, books, travel, personal stories, and the occasional unicorn porn fansite are welcome. Whatever you feel led to blog about is fair game on the Moose, so long as it abides by our Posting Guidelines. Not only do we want you to join in on the conversation, we want you to start new ones!

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PhotobucketWhile the Moose is indeed now YOUR blog, we understand that many people keep personal blogs as well. Moose with Blogs is a blog roll found in the right column that links to… you guessed it: blogs that belong to other Moose. If you have a personal blog that you would like added to the Moose Blog Roll, you can ask in any active thread or use the Contact the Moose link.

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PhotobucketIf you are plugged into social media, Motley Moose has Twitter, Facebook, and Networked Blogs accounts. You can find links to all three in the far right column beneath the Moose with Blogs section. Add us, Friend us, and Follow us!

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PhotobucketIt is highly recommended that you download the browser add-on Lazarus. It is available for both Firefox and Chrome, and it can be an absolute sanity-saver. It prevents the loss of a diary draft or comment (on any site) in the case of an errant click, power outage, or balky computer (and it also prevents the loss of forms and emails). Do yourself a favor and take the very brief time needed to add it.

Lazarus for Firefox

Lazarus for Chrome

PhotobucketPut quite simply: Our Search sucks. Try using the Advanced Options beneath the search box at the top righthand corner of the page, then hit teh Googles in case of colossal Search FAILure.

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PhotobucketYou will occasionally see a diary labeled The Lounge. The Lounge was an early forum for all things silly during the building of the Moose. Our resident snarkmeisters reigned supreme and kept us all from getting too serious. We carried The Lounge over to Motley Moose in the form of snarky and/or free form diaries. A couple of examples:  

The Lounge: Flashback-Gate and part deux

Zee Lounge: Evolution Edition

Feel free to use the “The Lounge” as a subject header when you want to get your snark on. It is NOT necessary to begin a diary with that heading simply because it is apolitical or whimsical. The designation is really only meant to be used in cases of [how to word?].

PhotobucketOur comment threads tend to become “unmanageable” at about the 200 comment mark. Things get boggy and can really frustrate those with slower machines. So when a comment thread is hopping and has reached that point, just start a “Part Deux” diary to continue the conversation.

PhotobucketYou may find that using Preview while writing a diary is a frustrating experience. The font, spacing, and general “look” do not accurately depict the way the diary will appear once published. In order to see it properly, select Draft, then Preview, then SAVE (as draft). Viewing the saved Draft allows you to see the diary as it will appear once posted. This process adds a couple steps, but in the long run, it can save time in editing.

PhotobucketTo post YouTube clips, please select “use old embed” code when embedding. Soapblox does not accept iframes as valid tags. Also, when posting video OR images, please avoid using those which exceed 500px in width because it distorts the formatting of the site. Be aware of how far to the right margin you are in a comment thread — if it is a long thread, the images should be even smaller.

PhotobucketThe front page of the blog has a Recent Comments section which displays the full subject lines of our most recent comments. Because of this, a subject line which is just a long string of characters with no break (e.g., “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”) can actually throw off the formatting of the entire main page. Needless to say, this should be avoided.

Nobody is perfect — not even the great Motley Moose — so I am sure there are many quirks of the Moose that I am missing.

I hope you all stick around to figure them out (and perhaps contribute quirks of your own!).

Wayback Machine: Real Change Takes Time: Lesson #6,743

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a sporadically recurring diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine revisits diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

Today we turn the dial and tune into a vintage diary from fogiv. In September 2010 fog was in the mood for a rant, and rant he did. His ‘Real Change Takes Time: Lesson #6,743’ took to task those on the Left complaining about the pace at which Change™ was happening under Obama. It is a diary that offered up some free learnin’ for those threatening to take their ball and go home.

While the diary was spot on when written, it has also, sadly, proven itself to be prescient. The lessons contained within are just as applicable to the present political environment.  It seems that, in the case of some of Obama’s most strident detractors, the more things Change™…the more they remain the same.

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back….

Wayback Machine: Real Change Takes Time: Lesson #6,743

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a sporadically recurring diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine revisits diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

Today we turn the dial and tune into a vintage diary from fogiv. In September 2010 fog was in the mood for a rant, and rant he did. His ‘Real Change Takes Time: Lesson #6,743’ took to task those on the Left ….

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back….

Wayback Machine: I Don't Know What To Call This

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a sporadically recurring diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine revisits diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

Today’s trip down memory lane takes us to a Kysen diary from January 2010. His thoughtfully titled ‘I Don’t Know What To Call This’ includes a tongue and cheek look at some of the more ‘interesting’ teachings from the Bible. It seemed like some perfectly cheeky fare for this lazy Sunday.

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back….

Wayback Machine: Glenn Beck's InsaniTea (w/ bonus)

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a sporadically recurring diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine revisits diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

In (dis)honor of Glenn Beck’s last show on Faux…we bring you a Moosey Golden Oldie from sricki: Glenn Beck’s InsaniTea (first appeared on Moose April 15th, 2009). Also, as a bonus, since sricki writes so eloquently on good ole Glenn…a snippet of one of her Wingnut Watch diaries (Nov. 22nd, 2010 edition) is included at the end. I think everyone will agree that she has a way with words (and perhaps a bit of a thing for Mr. Beck?).  

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back, and a (hopefully) last farewell to Glenn Beck….

Wayback Machine: Lovin' Your Ugly Sugar Daddy

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a fairly new diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine will revisit diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

Per request…this, the second diary that we shall revisit, is pulled from the writings of GrassrootsOrganizer (one of our earliest Moose). She is strong defender of Unions and brings the fight with some heat (and some history lessons) to the Moose in her diary ‘lovin your ugly sugar daddy’ (follow link for original diary and comment thread). We thought the diary rather prescient considering the events currently unfolding in WI.

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back…

Wayback Machine: Millennium Moose

Welcome to the Wayback Machine, a new diary series for Motley Moose. The Wayback Machine will revisit diaries of days gone by…a peek into our moosely past. The original diary will be linked to, and reposted in full, but, with a fresh comment thread. If you have requests for the Wayback Machine, use the ‘Contact the Moose’ link at the bottom of the page and let us know your ideas.

The first diary that we shall revisit is the celebratory Millennium Moose diary. It is a brief look at the beginnings of the Moose and has, in itself, some examples of our early diaries. The original diary Millenium Moose: A Message to All Moose and Lurkers was Motley Moose’s 1000th diary, one of many milestones we have passed since we launched.

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As someone somewhere once said: “you can’t know where you are going without knowing first where you have been”

So, join us for a look back…

Editorial Guidelines










Editorial Guidelines

Editing

1. Do not change or delete the content of a diary without first giving the diarist the opportunity to do so.

Exception: Diary title if it contains profanity (e.g., Fuck –> F**k).

2. If asked to edit a diary, edit for grammar, punctuation and spelling, not for content. Regardless of the content of the diary, never edit in a way that changes the diarist’s intent.

3. If a diary is so flawed that it needs to be edited, yet the diarist has not requested help, email the diarist and clear the edit with them before correcting the diary. If the diary does not break the site rules, do not edit or delete the diary without the consent of the diarist.


Front Page Promotions

1.
Be sure that the diary is something that properly represents the Moose as a whole. Front Page diaries should as closely as possible match up with the overall views of the Moose. There are well-written diaries — good diaries — that just do not belong on the FP.
*For example: If someone posts an informative, well-written diary that is anti-Health Care Reform, it still should not be FP’d because it does not represent the majority stance of the Moose, and we would not want it representing the community as what a new visitor sees first.


2. Avoid FP’ing diaries of a personal nature, or diaries which contain especially controversial content.

3. Try not to FP Open Threads or Lounge Diaries unless there are no current content-bearing diaries that can be FP’d. There is nothing wrong with Open Threads or Lounge Diaries, but we should aim for content on the FP.

4. If an editor or admin did not FP their own diary, ask before doing it for them. There is often a reason they opted not to do it themselves.

5. If a diary has recently been FP’d, refrain from writing or promoting another FP diary directly over it. Let it ride for a half day or so (length of time will be flexible depending on how busy the site is — the busier the site, the lesser the time needed between FP’d diaries)

6. When FP’ing a diary

          – Correct egregious spelling and/or grammatical errors, but do not edit content.
          – Adjust the “above the fold” content so that it is approximately two paragraphs or less, plus an image.
          – Attach an image or YouTube clip related to content if one is not included.
          – Make sure the image is ___ or smaller.
          – Double check to ensure that the diary adheres to the Posting Guidelines.





Haitian Relief (Updated x2)


In light of the recent quake-wrought devastation, we think it might be helpful to pull together a list of relief organizations and charitable groups working to aid the people of Haiti. Our hearts and thoughts go out to those who are suffering in this tumultuous atmosphere, and their friends and family in the US and around the world who are hoping and praying for the safety of their loved ones.  

If any corrections need to be made in the list below, please let us know in the comments. This is a hastily thrown-together list because we’d like to get the info out quickly. Thanks to all Moose who have submitted links and information. If you find anything else, please submit below.  

Let your voice be heard – Tell your representatives in Congress what you think

Click here to send a message to your representatives and senators in Congress.

Click here to view a list of pre-written messages for various subjects.

Democracy imbues the citizens of that democracy with many rights. Along with those rights come some responsibilities. The United States of America is a representative democracy. All this means is that we elect individuals to represent us in our government instead of our having a direct voice about how laws are passed.

Voting is only one way we can influence our government. The other way is by letting our representatives in Congress know how we feel about various issues. In some ways, this is more important than our votes. It does little good to vote someone into office if they end up not representing our views.

That is why the Motley Moose has provided this section of our web site. You can use the link on this page to send a message to your representatives through www.rallycongress.com. The site uses your zip code to identify your representatives and senators.

While we encourage everyone to use their own words to tell their representatives what they think, we have also provided some pre-written text that you can cut-and-paste into the contact form. Please browse through the list below to see if your subject is covered.

Available message texts:

    Politics:

  • Senate Committee Chairmanships – End the seniority method and switch to a secret ballot every 2 years.

    Finances:

  • Pass true credit card reform