DrLori

2004 was a dark year in the U.S. By April, American troops had been in Afghanistan for two and a half years, and in Iraq for just over one year. One member of the Daily Kos Community, i dunno, had had enough. Not only was President George W. Bush not attending the arrival of troops at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, but, i dunno wrote, “the public is not allowed to see the flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq … No pictures on the nightly news.

Long long ago, when we were all much younger and had better hair, Daily Kos ended the staff-written Morning Open Thread. They were Greatly Missed, leading to a Lamentation upon the Land of Kos. Volunteers stepped up, and the feature continued in fits and starts. Then, on a bright morning in June 2011, Kossacks JaxDem and eeff took it upon themselves to rectify the lack, and so began the daily publication of the Morning Open Thread (MOT), which to this day persists.

In May, I wrote about Sara R, Winglion, and the Community Quilt Project, which makes personalized quilts for Community members, bearing messages of friendship and love. Sara R also started the DK Quilt Guild, which publishes a story every Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Sara explains that “there are more quilters on Daily Kos than just myself and my sister, and I thought maybe some group projects might be possible. Regardless, it is fun to share patterns, techniques, and projects.

Individually, the founders of one of Daily Kos’ newest groups, Climate Brief, have been working for years to bring news about the growing climate crisis and possible solutions and/or mitigations to global warming, but a few things made it seem almost tailor-made to launch the group at the same time that the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its Code-Red report. Things are going to change, and we can’t stop them.

In 2006, claude, a contractor and self-described “grumpy old man” who specializes in adobe construction, decided that Daily Kos needed an expert’s corner for do-it-yourselfers. He started the Saturday Morning Home Repair Group; the first installment, eponymously titled “Saturday Morning Home Repair blogging,” offered a lesson on how to change a light bulb.

A street prophet preaches the truth and offers wisdom freely to all who pass by. All you have to do is listen. This is true of Daily Kos’ own Street Prophets Group, situated at the intersection of religion and politics, and offering succor to any passerby.

Back in the day, when most web designers were hand-coding and people still thought the internet was a passing fad, Street Prophets began.

For 10 years, Frankenoid (“Frankie” to her friends) shepherded the Saturday Morning Garden Blog (SMGB). Under her care it became, as Merry Light put it, “my lifeline sometimes, and I think it is for lots of us. I first stumbled across Frankie’s Saturday Morning Garden Blog one winter morning. I recall it was during the Obama/Clinton upheaval, and I was looking for something to read that wasn’t a pie fight.

One of the most important things that sets Daily Kos apart from other political news and opinion sites is the Community. We pull together to elect more and better Democrats, supporting campaigns with donations and outreach, teaching activism 101 and “how to” in the Nuts and Bolts of Democratic elections, and in general holding each other to high standards of accuracy and compassion when we set out to accomplish any goal.

Then, there’s the social part of the Community.

Sara R was one of the first people I “met” at Daily Kos.

About 10 years ago, I was a long-time Daily Kos lurker with a routine: a news trawl early in the morning, checking in for the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup, Cheers and Jeers, and a quick survey of interesting writing, when I stumbled across a question that I knew how to answer.

In 2011, Mark Sumner started a group devoted to phenology, or “the study of seasonal events such as first flowers, appearance of certain butterflies, etc. People have tracked these dates for decades even centuries.” The group was intended to be “a casual spot to tell what you’re seeing in the park down the road or in your own backyard.

KosAbility is a Daily Kos Group organized by and for people who live with disabilities, who love someone who has a disability, or who want to learn more about the issues they face. Part education, part support group, part open thread, and all people-centered, KosAbility has only one ground rule: Be kind.

Kindness in this context means more than superficial politeness. It means empathy and tact, as well as understanding and supportive acceptance.

In the early days of Daily Kos, one member decided that the Community needed a break from all the politics of the G.W. Bush era, and started a daily series devoted to furbutts and featherbutts, pooties and woozles, and every other critter that has worked its magic on the human heart.

You might think that a site so prominently dedicated to political activism as Daily Kos is would be an unlikely venue for book nerds, but in fact the largest group in our Community is just that: Readers and Book Lovers, a group “where readers, writers, bibliophiles, and lovers of all things literary find their favorite series and one-of-a-kind diaries.” With more than 2,000 followers, Readers and Book Lovers brings together everyone who likes to read, no matter the subject.

Back in 2006, when Daily Kos was still sorting out its Community moderation model to keep trolls at bay, Trusted Users got two troll-rates (called “donuts”) per day, and it was not enough. Community member Carnacki had an idea: A nightly post would highlight trollish comments, bringing them to the Community at large so their authors could be dealt with. “This is not to open up a troll war,” he wrote at the time.

Back in 2006, when Daily Kos was still sorting out its Community moderation model to keep trolls at bay, Trusted Users got two troll-rates (called “donuts”) per day, and it was not enough. Community member Carnacki had an idea: A nightly post would highlight trollish comments, bringing them to the Community at large so their authors could be dealt with. “This is not to open up a troll war,” he wrote at the time.

In 2011, the Daily Kos Community began to organize Groups around shared interests, and Groups have helped define the Community ever since. Almost any interest you could have, there’s a Daily Kos Group for it. Our Groups have become the backbone of our shared community, a handy way to keep up on personal interests, a ground for making friendships, a channel to direct activism.

Last week, Besame introduced us to the Town Hall Project, a volunteer program she’s joined that tracks town halls and other social interactions that are scheduled by legislators. These are often events that said legislators might not want to publicize, lest they be asked hard questions or held to account by the public. This reminded me of something I consider to have been a great liberal failure in 2008: We stopped remembering to show up.