This is the inaugural post for this blog. The blog is dedicated to exposing the operations of DailyKos and the harm it inflicts on the progressive cause. The site is controlled by its founder, Markos Moulitsas (kos), and administered on a daily basis by a group of "frontpagers" who write the main articles on the site. In addition to kos and the frontpagers, there are approximately 200,000 members, although it has been projected that only about 15,000 are active contributers.
The site allegedly operates on the basis of "community moderation," i.e., users rate other users' comments. For a full explanation of how the system is supposed to operate, see the FAQ.
A member who supposedly violates the community standards may be banned from the site by kos or one of the frontpagers/administrators. The banning may be for cause or not. Fair enough - it is kos' site to do with as he pleases.
In practice, the site operates somewhat differently. Small gang(s) of members have taken it upon themselves to, let us say, vigorously enforce the community standards. They patrol the site looking for violations and discipline offending members by giving their comments a "0" rating, also referred to as a "hide-rating." The "0" is also called a donut. If a comment receives enough donuts, it is relegated to the hidden comments section of the site. Enough hidden comments may trigger what is called an "autoban," i.e., an automatic banning from the site.
In and of itself, this operation is not necessarily bad. There are legitimate concerns about "trolls," those engaging in behavior which is directly contrary to the stated goals of the site -- furthering the progressive Democratic agenda.
The reality is that these gang(s) operate, with or without the knowledge of kos and the frontpagers, in coordinated fashion attacking members who merely express dissenting opinions or opinions unpopular with the gang(s). They are reminiscent of the "Brownshirts" of the Sturmabteilung (SA), who during the Weimar Republic period in Germany routinely attacked communists, Jews, homosexuals, and Social Democrats. Because the theme color of DailyKos is orange, we call these gangs "Orangeshirts." Others call them KosKops and the Kostapo.
By whatever name though, their practices are dangerous to members who appear the Orangeshirts' radar screen. They have been known to "out" members by exposing their real life identities, forcing the banning of their opponents, and violating the stated community standards themselves while never being held accountable.
It is the purpose of this blog to hold them accountable and expose the damage they are doing to the progressive cause.
