Swing State Project

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The civility, the pointed direction NOT to discuss policy but to focus on elections--these are the things that have made this community so special to all of you. And this is, quite obviously, a big change.

But it might not be as big as you think.

For one thing, the new platform is going to create, as David said above, a kind of sheltered place. People at first are going to have to go out of their way to find you. Of course, that's good and bad: some of the content regularly posted here deserves wider play, and probably attention will come your way. And while it's true that some diaries at Daily Kos get reduced to meta wars and old-fashioned hate fests, not all of them do. In fact, the majority do not.

You see, we already have a couple of sheltered communities existing prominently within the site. A good example is called I Got the News Today (IGTNT). This community posts regularly about the military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members do research online, get pictures, fill in the lives of these people and their families.

When the community first formed, a few anti-war commenters visited and started in with some pretty rough stuff ("these men and women were killers," etc.). But the peer pressure of that larger sub-community soon drove them out (or at least taught them to be respectful). IGTNT also became a protected space that the wider community guarded as well--people who didn't regularly visit those diaries would come if summoned in an open thread. And because of the community's self-moderating tools, users were able to collectively kick in an autoban.

But that is rarely needed. Peer pressure and example can be a wonderful thing. And I hope that the standards you've used at SSP not only can be maintained within your sub-community, but can be ported into other communities you can explore at Daily Kos as well. Groups are forming focusing, for example, just on upper New York state races, and on Georgia races and on state legislatures. The cross-pollination opportunities are awesome, and we hope many of you will choose to become part of the other groups.

You don't have to, of course. But we'd welcome you if you did.

Keep in mind our whole community is moving as well, so this is all a grand experiment. We will be keeping our eyes open as to how the transition is faring, and what community tools we can give you to help you maintain your culture while still having the opportunity to have your thoughts and work spread further.

I invite all of you, every one of you, to come on over and help us with our grand experiment. If you spot things that are not working as we all settle in together, let me know. Let David know. We want to make this work, we look forward to having all the great wealth of knowledge in this community become a part of the Daily Kos community, yet still preserve your unique niche.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to shoot me an email -- susang@dailykos.com. Or talk to David and he'll discuss your concerns with me; we'll be working closely together daily.

And one last thing? About everyone at DK despising anyone to the left of Dennis Kucinich? Nah. Sometime you ought to read kos on Kucinich. Trust me, you'll enjoy it.  

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