Google is not supported by banner advertisements, does not remove any content posted by any contributor, and is not the only search engine.

That Google however used the approach, I have always hoped for here at myDD, to become an objective source of due diligence (researchers such as myself can fashion the search terms they like, without 'sponsored links' getting in the way) - seems still a possibility here, given Bower's panegyric.

Google was never a few people with an agenda and a policy - it was instead, even less of a number of folks (actually, two) who got together and decided that the current banner ad-supported model of e-commerce was flawed and when they went for funding their model of supporting themselves through innocuous (as opposed to large and blatant) advertising was not well received.

They became a privately held company through Sequioa investments. They, as I, realized nearly 500% return.

My hope is that myDD will also become somehow, some of the things google never was either.

-=-

A horse will not  listen to someone who is afraid to lay down the law, and a horse will not listen to someone who punches it in the neck. But if you can run alongside every day, a horse is an animal that will bear you on its back.

A donkey is just a more difficult version.

Well,then Mr. Bowers, It appears I'm going to like it here after all. As I read this post, I kept saying to myself, "Now that's what I'm talking about."

Thank you for clarifying.

:)

are there any exceptions to rule 6 I.e. when bernie sanders agreed to caucous with the democrats but was really an independent and to boot we really love sanders unlike lieberman? just a question. Not something I disrepect or intend to break if not.

also, when advertisers try to subvert not any specific candidates or promote themselves but to subvert and idea like net-nuetrality, do we still let them advertise because they pay?

I think he made it clear.

Democrats and Progressives Only.

Not "independents"

I'm sure he will clarify if I'm wrong.

In regards to #6, how then do we handle a guy like Bernie Sanders who is NOT a Democrat (although his beliefs are in line with MANY of us)?  Is it ok to support non-Democrats, if the state party endorses the non-Democrat, as in Sanders case?  Just want to clarify as this was a recently relevant issue.

makes a noise that sounds like "Lou Dobbs for President"

Hey Chris,

Where did this come from?  Has it been brewing for a while or was their an incident?

Honestly I've always been a fan of this site more so than Dailykos because of the sheer depth of coverage that cuts out the details for only the meat of the matter. You guys are professional and don't really go into insane depth as to why something like Walter Reed was messed up... just how we can use it to get our guys elected. It's the straight dope on this end. I never really noticed that until that post awhile back where either you or Matt started to compare yourself in the light that dailykos has a community but you guys air towards the professional side of things but I remember reading this site every day without fail and skipping days every so often on kos without even really realizing that was why. In other words: Keep up the good work and I can understand.

1. l337.

=)

though an rss feed would be lovely, i can live without it =)

I admit I would have supported an independent and maybe even a Republican against William Jefferson.  Because I know in two years a different Democrat would have won that district.

It's interesting how many times I've read this exact post on so many other sites. Hell, I've even written it myself.

There's an expectation that "freedom of speech" means "freedom to demand that someone else's forum that they created with their own resources must cater to my every whim". Or that moderation is equal to censorship, and deleting posts is worse than bludgeoning a baby bunny.

as to number 1... Jerome and Markos coauthor a book so therefore...? the rules are all the same even though all the post are unique? "...But at dailykos...!"? I mean comparing the purposes of the two sites and their strengths and weaknesses is one thing but they just aren't the same thing. and if you have to say that the comparisons have gotten excessive & obsessive. and as for using kos's rules as justification. I PREFER your site.

Chris,

What's the policy on civility--i.e. treating people with whom you disagree, however strongly, with some measure of respect and decency (provided, of course, that they do the same)?

I got attacked here recently by someone who couldn't handle my take on a matter regarding Hillary's latest Iraq policy, or my trying to tell them that their extremely long and (I thought) off-topic comment was an inconsiderate and off-topic form of diary hijacking. It wasn't so much that they took issue with me--I can handle criticism--as how they did it, in typically trollish manner.

E.g. calling me names, comparing me to a part of the male anatomy, accusing me of being a stealth Hillary shill (I am not, and how typical) or even Repub, etc. Basically the usual adolescent nonsense from someone with an axe to grind who is less interested in discussion than in pontification.

I sent the author of the diary (Matt) an email alerting him of this person's behavior, and ranked each of these comments (but only these comments) with a 0.

Is any of this behavior acceptable, or am I right in considering and treating it as trollish, as per THIS site's policies and rules (I spend more time on DailyKos than here, and I have a pretty good idea of what its troll policies are, but not so much this site's). In my opinion, this should be absolutely unacceptable behavior, for all sorts of reasons. Just wanted to get your take on it.

(And yes, I do recall my little tiff with you a while back when I wrote something I shouldn't have written, for which I think I apologized, but I don't think it even began to approach this person's level of sheer offensiveness.)

Thanks.

Pursuant to point number 5.

Just admit it.

You're not about Progressives and Democrats.  You're about Progressives and CERTAIN KINDS of democrats.

If i wanted to be a dick about it, I'd say CERTAIN KINDS OF DEMOCRATS THAT MEET BLOGOSPHERE NETROOTS LITMUS TESTS, but that's up to other people to decide.

I may have been mistaken about mydd.  a certain purpose is suggested above, but it's only to point out what it's not.  Ok.

So what is it?

I know other progressive blogs believe in a war for the soul of the democratic party.

if mydd doesn't subscribe to that kind of pointless rhetoric, i'd like to know that.  often times i'll read an entry here and i'm convinced mydd does subscribe to the intraparty warfare championed on other blogs.

other times i'll notice a different tone.

one good way to make it clear that mydd doesn't subscribe to intraparty soul searching circle jerking warfare is to never lie about what a centrist is trying to do.  yes.  i know centrists lie about what a more left of center person is trying to do, but two wrongs don't make it right.

i'm convinced the blogosphere is locked in a war for consultant money.  there is no other explanation about a group of people who criticize the rear guard of elitism, but can't ask themselves the same hard questions about how elitist they are about their traffic.  about their own petty vendettas.

if that's not true of this blog, that's great.

Please, delete my account. I am not a Democrat and have no intention to become one. As i said many times - i want to remain Independent. And, yes, i DO support Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, when i see that suitable, and intend to continue this in the future. So, what for do i need an account here? I can read, what's interesting to ME, and i don't intend to write here anymore...

I asked this before, but since Breaking Blue has been brought up again -- does Breaking Blue have a feed?

Dammit Chris--I'm sure anyone who writes for a blog that gets 30,000-plus hits a day is completely inured to critical responses, but how are you with unrestrained praise? I think you and Matt are high value progressive thinkers, agitators and polemicists. The fact that you have to write a post like this on a blog with a mission like this shows the broad appeal of progressive ideas, and a rising hunger for progressive success. These are good problems to have.

What I don't like about this post is that you are placing yourself outside the mainstream. A lot of what you guys say and do needs to be expressed to a general population that seems to be ready to hear it. That's why I'm going to keep encouraging both you and Matt to take what you write here and communicate it in general population venues, such as radio essays on NPR, C-SPAN, Huffpo, etc.
Appearing in such venues is going to attract more people t0 this site who are low-information, curious, raving street people with a modem, etc., so you are going to either have to keep your profile low (no please!) or repost this message from time to time and resolve that you are going to have a little extra working banning trolls and chasing away the clueless.

PS--Jonathan and Jerome are way cool too, but you and Matt hit the high notes of progressive thought like nobody else.

Great clarification.   this is exactly what progressives need to do: be clear on our objectives, take a stand and not allow ourselves or our goals to be defined by Republicans.

God, I can't stand those wingbat blow hards.  A group of 8 of them were at the 'out of iraq' rally in Rochester yesterday passing out dvds. One person was in a SUV that had a icon engraved banner sign saying something to the words 'Demand the truth on 9/11'.

Thanks for posting the boundaries for this blog. I think it is a respected blog because it does maintain good boundaries and a clear sense of its mission and respect for participants who attend to that mission.

Excellent statement of mission and rules, Chris. It's good for everyone to be reminded of these things from time to time. Having a clear and defined concept for a blog = attracting the focused audience you seek and need.

Robert Frost said "Good fences make good neighbors" and at MyDD good rules make good posts and good discussion threads.

Congrats for starting this thread since it's much-needed and to be said in a thoughtful manner.

Two points that I want to address are a) a community of special interest, and b) advertising.

For those like myself who have existed on the Internet for these many years, Mydd is an important stop for understanding the latest in political process, nationally, and thus, my short visits on occasion.  And as to advertsing, generating revenue streams of various sorts, is not only necessary but imperative for institutional success.  Of course, I must say that I am a cad in that I am not overly supportive financially speaking, but I do have an excuse.  So think kindly of me.

I am the primary writer for the Catcus Juice Commentaries at the Chicano Veterans Organization, and I am a kindred spirit when it comes to expressing oneself as best as one can.

And in keeping with my two points above, we advocate our community of self-interest with respect to our usual perspective, the Privates, the Corporals, and the Sergeants.  And thus, our financial resources move in that direction.  Further, our political perspective is one for being self-identified as "aggressive" Moderates, and yet, we are in concert with the Progressive perspective 95% of the time on all the important issues/concerns facing us as a nation.  Perhaps, getting distracted with the remaining 5%, is not our forte either, since there is much too accomplish when it comes to moving America into a more focused effort and away from the "confused" Conservative or the "unprincipled" Conservative view that signifies this egregious behavior by the Right.

In any event, I wanted to weigh-in with my two cents, given that I am an big aficionado of Mydd, and will continue to do so.  And no, this has not been a an ad "plug" for the CVO, but just an acknowledgement that there are folks out here in the Sonoran Desert, who do sincerely appreciate all the hard work that goes into keeping the front page interesting and the availability of the diaries ever-presen, to "educate and to inform" above all else, despire our never-ending distractions.  In any case, as a source of thoughtfulness, I would easily give Mydd, "five stars" on the worst of days.

Jaango

My apologies for the above typos, since I did not proof read.  My bad!

Jaango

Chris,

If you haven't already, please post this in the site FAQ and strongly recommend that everyone read it before signing up. I wish I could have. Lesson learned.

I come to MyDD to get the kind of inside info I could not get anywhere short of a major DFA or DNC strategy session. Thank yous to you and your staff for maintaining the quality of MyDD.

Thanks Chris.  I have noted this place has a lot more aggressive contrarians who routinely spew talking points or angry purist screeds, and wondered if that was tolerated here.

I'll be happy to dole out more 0's if that is conducive.  Is there an auto-ban feature here for people troll rated sufficiently?

You can cry if you want to, cry if you want to ...

Nicely said. As mentioned up-thread, if I wanted the noisy cafeteria of a DK, I'd go there. But MyDD caters to that breed of political junkie that craves constant information and update. I never thought of the 50-state strategy as relevant, until I found this place. Who'd ever have thunk about ponying up PAC cash to help those in need in the time of elections? Certainly no one else ever said anything about it.

And the jumps to other stuff I've made from items cited here - how many times I've been asked, "WHERE do you FIND this stuff?" FEC stuff, donor lists, data and analysis about trends, patterns, history - it's like unwrapping birthday gifts.

Don't you guys change a thing. Let the bashers, trolls and naysayers start their own damned blogs.

-GFO

The proprietor makes the point that mydd is unapologetically Democratic with a capital, not a small d and the point is well taken.

As a black guy, and not the first, I do note that both mydd is unapologetically white too.  By that I mean, that this does not seem to be a place where one can discuss issues that whites think of as "black" issues, like say the nation's ubiquitous policies of racially selective mass imprisonment.  One can raise such issues, but from my limited past observation there seems to be not much interest in discussing them in this community.  Likewise the racially skewed resettlement of New Orleans, persistent health, wealth, employment and other evident racial gaps or a number of other topics are seldom if ever discussed here.  

I do hope that this is not seen as trolling or bashing or some other negative stuff --- blacks raising the subject of race without the OK of non-blacks are oft seen as "impolite", or worse -- but it does rankle in that although blacks get the worst of a lot of stuff, these are American problems and will be neither addressed nor solved until some folks OTHER than us take an interest.  So what does it take?  

And if self-identified capital "d" Democratic activists are not interested in these subjects, what does that say about the relationship between the party, and what you are used to calling its "netroots"which expects and needs nearly unanimous black support to win, and black people?  I submit that mydd and dKos are much like the Democratic party in that they imagine the range of their dialog, which pointedly excludes us, is entirely representative of the grassroots of the party.  I can assure you it is not.  Despite the thin layer of professional black politicians, the party seems to acknowledge us as infrequently as they can, and so does the dialog on mydd.

Is that a dysfunctional relationship or what?  And is there any interest in remedying it inside the Democratic party?  Can it be remedied?