Rather than writing another post about Markos’ ridiculous authoritarian decree to line up behind the establishment, I decided to write about the other major problem with that site. It’s a breakdown showing just how much of the front page is filled with Trump and other “dumb stuff a Republican said” posts and how little of it is about electing more and better Democrats. If Markos reads it, he should feel ashamed, but I think he’s beyond shame at this point.

Anyway, I worked very hard on this one. If you haven’t completely sworn off that place (or been banned already, lol), I’d really appreciate recs. I think it’s a piece that needs to be seen. Thanks!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/19/1501760/-The-Sorry-State-of-The-Daily-Kos-Front-Page-A-Statistical-Analysis

Whether you’re a Hillary supporter or a Bernie supporter, I think there is one thing that all long time Kossacks can agree on:

WE THINK THE WALL-TO-WALL TRUMP COVERAGE THAT HAS SWAMPED THE FRONT PAGE AND THE DEARTH OF POSTS ABOUT ELECTING MORE AND BETTER DEMOCRATS IS AN EMBARRASSMENT. THAT GOES FOR THE CONSTANT “DUMB STUFF THAT A REPUBLICAN SAID” POSTS AS WELL.

First, let me say that this is not an attack on the many talented front page writers who can and do put out interesting and thought provoking work. This is a critique of the editorial decision to make most of the front page about stupid things that come out of the mouths of Republicans. Clearly when just about everyone is on the Trump/Cruz/Rubio bandwagon they are just following directions from the top.

Second, let me say that I recognize that the “dumb Republican” posts have always existed here and there is certainly a place for some of that. Hunter, in particular, is good for a chuckle when writing those. It is, however, a major problem when everything else is completely drowned out by it.

Just how bad is it? I looked at a 33 day period from February 1st to March 4th to find out. This chart categorizes every front page post during that period.

In order for this chart to be a manageable size I had to leave off all topics that had only one or two stories on the front page. This includes topics such as education (2), the economy (2), John Kasich (2), immigration (1) and veterans (1).

I didn’t break down at the content of the regular series that provide multiple links to stories around the web such as Abbreviated Pundit Roundup, Midday Open Thread, Cheers and Jeers and Open Thread for Night Owls. If I had, this chart would look far worse since the overwhelming majority of those posts include Trump links. Even without those there were a staggering 133 Trump posts in 33 days! Is the scary rise of Trump newsworthy? Of course. Do we need four standalone posts a day about him? Hell no.

Here is a breakout of just the stories about Presidential candidates. Stories that didn’t focus on one candidate more that the others are listed as Republican Primary or Democratic Primary. Note that this does not include debate or election live threads or election results. The ridiculousness speaks for itself.

Aside from the Morning Digest, State Republicans (which I am defining as elected officials and candidates for Governor and other statewide offices, state legislatures and local governments) had 23 front page posts. State Democrats? ZERO. Let that sink in. The site that claims to be about electing more and better Democrats had ZERO stories about them at the state and local level during a 33 day stretch of an election year.

How about Congressional Democrats and Republicans? Aside from the Morning Digest, there were 23 stories about Republicans and 7 about Democrats.

Of those seven stories about Congressional Democrats, two were about getting Russ Feingold back in the Senate. Two others were about electing more Democrats, but not necessarily better ones. In this one from 2/26, Laura Clawson comes right out and says the site is abandoning the whole “better Democrats” thing. Apparently we no longer need a questionnaire to see where candidates stand on key issues. As long as there is a “D” next to their name, they’re good.

The Senate is bigger than the Senate this year. Let's win it back.

We’re scrapping our usual questionnaire and backing a wide range of Senate candidates, because the Supreme Court is just that important.

David Nir said the same thing one day earlier.

With the Supreme Court at stake, Daily Kos is going all-in to win back the Senate. Will you join us?

Daily Kos typically asks federal candidates to fill out a questionnaire before issuing endorsements, but the unparalleled importance of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court overshadows any questions we might ask.

Republicans Are Stupid and Scary is not a winning strategy that will inspire people to volunteer, give money and turn out on election day. We’ve already seen that time and again. We need to be advocating why we should vote for great progressives. And no, I’m not saying any of those candidates are bad. I’m saying that as a person living in Colorado, I have no freaking clue who Missouri candidate Jason Kander is or what he stands for. Why the hell would I give $3 to someone who could very well be another corporatist with no real interest in progressive change? It is very lazy to just say “Give this guy money because Supreme Court!” Make a case for him. Isn’t that what this site is supposedly here for? And before you call me lazy for not Googling Jason Kander, my point here is that people wouldn’t have to if the front page writers who claim to be about electing more and better Democrats would do a little leg work. They are the ones getting paid to write here.

Aside from the Morning Digest, there were ZERO stories about electing more and better Democrats in the House. ZERO.

Now about Morning Digest. David Nir, Jeff Singer and the rest obviously put a lot of work into it and I certainly appreciate their efforts, but let’s face it. Almost everything in there is “Candidate A is facing Candidate B. Candidate A has raised X dollars and has Y dollars on hand. Candidate B has raised C dollars and has D dollars on hand. Candidate A is making an $85,000 TV buy.” There is not a lot in there to help people get to know the candidates. There is nothing there to get people excited to volunteer and donate. I feel their time and effort would be much better spent in other ways. The low number of comments in those threads says I’m right about them generally being dry, inside baseball pieces that don’t generate much interest. The only one that broke triple digits in comments in this sampling is the one with the crazy headline. Time to try something new.

Now I’m no highfaultin professional progressive and I don’t have a journalism or political science degree, but it seems to me that if I was running a site like this I might have two or three in-depth interviews or profiles of progressive candidates for Congress and statewide offices each week. I might have a weekly or bi-weekly feature on up-and-coming progressives in state and local governments. I might have a regular feature on progressive mayors and mayoral candidates in top 100 cities with interviews and in-depth looks at accomplishments and goals. I might have a weekly feature on progressive ballot initiatives around the country. A few of those types of pieces each week would go 1000 times further in advancing the progressive cause than what they are currently doing with the Morning Digest. And maybe directing some of the other front pagers toward that kind of work instead of reporting on everything Donald Trump farts out of his assface would be helpful, too. And you know what? It might just generate more clicks and Facebook shares than 133 Trump posts a month while helping to get good people elected. If it was my site I would think it would be worth trying just so that I could actually feel good about the content. But hey, that’s just me. I’m someone who has quit linking to anything here because I would be embarrassed if any of my Facebook friends looked at the front page and thought I actually spent my time reading that vapid, vacuous Trump, Rubio and Cruz clickbait dreck.

Maybe Markos’s data says that Trump clickbait is great for business. I, however, have no interest in it. Maybe 20 links to other outlet’s stories about Republicans saying they’re going to obstruct any Supreme Court nomination is better for business than one well written long form epic takedown of the obstruction that might actually go viral. I just don’t see it, though. Even if it is really great for business, that doesn’t make it any more palatable for me. I want to spend my time at a site that aspires to be something better rather than chasing the lowest common denominator for clicks with wall-to-wall Trump just like the MSM.

I joined this site on February 26, 2008. I lurked for years before that. I’m an occasional commenter and very infrequent diarist (though I did make the top of the rec list once), but I’ve spent a decade visiting this site multiple times on most days. Now, I just don’t feel like there is nearly as much pulling me here. I’ll probably continue to check in from time to time to see if anything improves on the front page and because there are regulars, both paid and unpaid, who I still enjoy (Meteor Blades, FishOutOfWater, Egberto Willies, Josie Duffy, DarkSyde and more). My visits will be far fewer, though. Except for the rare front page headline on the rec list that piques my interest, I quit reading the front page many months ago. I’ve got better things to do than scroll through dozens of Trump and Cruz and Grassley and McConnell quotes to search for something of value. As Markos himself has said, it’s a big internet. There are places where people are actually discussing real progressive issues and candidates and doing real grassroots organizing. I’ll be spending the majority of my time and energy in those other places. I don’t feel like I’ve changed much in the time I’ve been coming here. I feel like Daily Kos has moved far, far away from the great content that kept me here for so long. This site has largely (though not completely) gone from thoughtful and original writing advocating for crashing the gates with true progressive policies and candidates to cheap clickbait without substance and lining up behind the pro-fracking, pro-death penalty, pro-regime change, pro-Wall Street, pro-free trade establishment.

Far larger organizations than this blog have faded into irrelevance. It’s often because they lose sight what made them successful in the first place.

Do I expect this little piece to change anything here? No. Do I expect anyone to miss my presence here? Of course not. I do, however, have the sense that there are many out there who feel the same as I do and are close to giving up on a place that used to feel like home. If I’m right, make your voices heard in the comments.