LeftyBlogs.com: News & Announcements

I think the Kossack links are fine. They certainly haven't been an overwhelming factor in Massachusetts. The only thing that may be slightly annoying is overlapping content. If people post blogs on their state sites and cross-post it as a diary on Kos, there could be two links of the same article. However, as long as it doesn't happen too frequently, I highly doubt it'll be a huge problem.

Took the blogwire off my site. I'm sorry that you are including DKos in the feeds. I also don't shop at Walmart.

DailyKos isn't Walmart. Not even close.

My point is this. One of the original things that attracted me to leftyblogs was the opportunity to see exposure to home-grown state blogs that were not like large department-sell-everything blogs. People KNOW about KOS and can easily decide to subscribe if they want it, along with other well-known feeds. But, at least to me, the value of leftyblogs was highlighting local voices that otherwise would not be heard (much like local stores in a city that are bypassed for the Walmart).
I've seen people here crosspost on KOS and their blogs, and both (or more) posts show up on the blogwire, as redundancy.
Perhaps it is that you are getting advertising revenue from KOS which is why you're interested in keeping it on the blogwire, I don't know. And of course it's your business to decide how you want to showcase participants. Expressing again, however, that I wish there could be two ways to do it-one blogwire version that was local-content only and another for those who would like KOS mixed in.

First, we're not getting any advertising revenue from Kos - and never have. (Briefly, we helped promote their book on the blogwire - but I gave that ad away.)

Second, we're not posting links to the main Kos feed on the state blogwires. Rather, we're posting links to individual diaries that are state-tagged. Many readers have actually found it to be very useful to see diaries that DON'T get much attention over on the Kos site - highlighted here.

Of course, the problem of cross-posting is a legit one. Personally, I think Markos should ban that kind of behavior - but that's another problem for another day.

I know you're pointing to state-tagged diaries on KOS. Since KOS extensively uses tagging, seems to me that people who wish to read, on their site, the state diaries, would find them easy to find. I'm not a KOS fan, anyway, you can probably tell. So let me reiterate that I very much like leftyblogs, I think your idea is terrific and IF you were to somehow take KOS out of the mix, I'd enjoy having your blogwire on my site. For now, I'll hop over here to read.

I'm not a big fan of Kos either, but I don't see all that much difference between my personal blog on blogspot and the Kos diaries that show up on my blogwire, which are usually written by Marylanders about Maryland politics. I say keep 'em on there, the more voices in the mix, the better.

It hasn't been a problem here in RI, mainly because, as small as we are, we've only got one main progressive blog which doesn't feed to LeftyBlogs and a handful of lesser blogs, like mine, which do. The Kos diaries are, IMO, a welcome addition.

I'm not sure why we have Kos on the feed based on state tags? If I tag every post I make on bloggerspot with states I don't live in would you post them in that state? Nope. Seems like they are getting a privilege no one else here is given. I'm a member of KOS and I member here. I had to get approved to be a member here. My blog had to be checked to make sure it was a LOCAL blog before it was approved. You say you're backed up with 100 blog approvals now. And what you're saying is that now when I post on KOS and add ANY state tag it's going to feed here with no approval. Heck tell those folks waiting for approval to just sign up at KOS. Why bother with approval here. Hey it's your place so do what you please but I feel it should be thought out a little more. I could see it getting taken advantage of.

Marie, that's an interesting point and I think a valid one. We did all have to be approved to be members and it does not appear that is the same criteria that is being used for Daily Kos posts.

Marie & Lisa --

We're continuing to pay close attention to the Kos posts. You make some good points.

I will say this: The purpose of the blog approvals is not to create some kind of exclusive club. Rather, it's to make sure that posts are local, are progressive, and are political in nature.

Kos itself requires diarists to create password-protected accounts; and they're very aggressive about banning bad guys. So, it's not a wide open channel.

That said, I'm still paying close attention.

Do note that there are several others blogs where we're doing these state-based feeds - Swing State Project, Western Democrat, District Blogs...

"The purpose of the blog approvals is not to create some kind of exclusive club. Rather, it's to make sure that posts are local, are progressive, and are political in nature."

That was not my point. I can tag for any state at KOS and it will show up here. I can write about Michigan politics and tag it for Ohio and Illinois and it will show up in those sections the way it is now........or is someone reading and verifying the KOS posts? If I make a post about Michigan politics on my blogger blog will it also show up in Michigan although I am a Indiana blogger? NO. So as an approved state and local politics blogger I am being denied the same priviledges in favor of KOS. My other concern is that you may be eliminating your necessity. Like I said.........why bother to get approved here when I can blog at KOS say whatever tag it by state with no approval?

Perhaps a better way is to do a seperate state feed for KOS on the front page of lefty blogs in the sidebar. I already check KOS so it won't affect me but it may be useful information that members here. I feel that to be a solution that would be fair to members and KOS readers. It's your place so you can decide what you wish. You asked for discussion and you got responses. Ya'll have a nice thing going here just consider what I've said. Thanks for asking! :)

I haven't exhaustively examined every single state - but so far it doesn't seem as if the Kossacks are generating so much content that it's drowning everything else out - nor do they appear to be mistagging posts.

Is this just idle speculation, or is there a particular state or set of posts you've noticed going haywire?

Like I said I like KOS and am a member there. I am a big picture person. Just how my mind works. It's a business thing. Take the info or leave it.

I'm happy to see the kos posts show up here. The kos tagging system works.

The only problem I have with adding the Kos tagged posts is that on the BlogWire they seem to be forcing the local blogs' articles off the list more quickly. It used to be that one could check our state's blogger all during the day, and now it seems like their posts are being forced down and off the "wire" in just a few hours.

I'm not a fan of Kos either. I think the site is a 900 lb gorilla which takes over the room. Plus, it's often filled with much heat & little light. I've even been banned for taking Kos & Armando to task for not taking ethical disclosure issues seriously enough. But that's another story...

I'm a regular at DKos, and I know they have a bunch of volunteers who police the tags. They remove bogus tags and add appropriate ones.

Well, with Kos and the Swing State Project, blogs actually local to Nevada are hardly showing up in your plugin thing you expect us to put on our blogs to give you guys free advertising. Get rid of the big guys, they don't need our help advertising for them.

Hmmm... actually, if you're displaying 10 headlines, every blog is limited to two headlines each. At this particular instant, on your blog, I'm looking at two from VGO, two from SSP, two from Desert Beacon, two from Daily Kos, and two from Reno Discontents.

What's the problem? I think the point is that we're trying to serve the readers. If there's good content on Daily Kos that's local, why not share it? Keep in mind that most locally tagged stuff on Kos is written by local writers.

Hi,
I'm new to your site and a regular at Daily Kos. DKos generates a lot of volume, and I sympathize with Desert Beacon above who finds that too much volume knocks off important entries too quickly. I think Marie is right that it would be nice to provide a separate link to Daily Kos (and other high-volume blog) entries as a separate offering, so their volume does not interfere with your volume.

I am a fan of DailyKos. There are lots of things that happen there that impact a state even IF it doesn't focus like a laser on a particular state. Lets look at the Peru trade deal. My Senator Levin voted for the Peru trade deal. I would not have known that IF it wasn't for dailykos. Local blogs are often too politically correct because they don't want to offend their local powers that be. I can understand why, but I don't want to be read to on a blog. "Today, the Peru trade deal passed, and MI's Senator's split their vote. Moving on........." DailyKos brings an irreverency to blogs that the locals don't have, which at least shines a light on what "local" politicians are doing and attempts to speak truth to power and hold them accountable.

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