Something interesting has happened. We're missing something -- something I don't know that we'll miss.
Have you missed it? It's the "non-stunt" diary with 800 or more comments.
Markos's figures from the weekend on the transition showed that user levels remain high. I noticed tonight, when I sort of absent-mindedly went to the Diaries page and poked around, that one thing is really different: the vast majority of the most-commented diaries in the past month are from DK3, not DK4.
Below the jump, you'll see a list of the top 50 most comment diaries from the past month (defined as 30 days, near as I can tell) -- which is almost perfectly bisected into DK3 (through the 12th at the latest) and DK4 (starting on the 13th.)
I the list, I've boldfaced the entries for number of comments (to make comparison easy) and rendered the DK3 diaries in italics while the DK4 diaries remain in plain font. (Titles and some diarist names have been abbreviated.) The list is pretty striking.
Here, take a look:
Mojo Friday - Karma - Edition TexDem 02/11/2011 07:30 AM 1923 91 1
I'm Tired of being Beat Up … commonmass 02/08/2011 03:09 PM 1828 311 3
Mojo Friday - Piss Pot … TexDem 02/18/2011 07:31 AM 1639 114 2
Mojo Friday – Cardamom … TexDem 02/04/2011 07:29 AM 1424100 2
Only Fools Listen to the … The Plainsman 02/05/2011 07:33 PM 1403 378 6
Reflections of White, Female … RadioGirl 01/31/2011 08:01 AM 1340 431 25
Mubarak [not] Stepping … ThisIsMyTime 02/10/2011 10:42 AM 1234 264 4
The White House Hoists … Tasini 02/07/2011 06:59 AM 1102 341 7
DK4 ROLL CALL!!! Seneca Doane 02/13/2011 03:12 AM 1091 269 12
Egyptians Still Standing … m16eib 02/10/2011 01:13 PM 1079 32 1
Ugh - President Obama … Something Dog 02/03/2011 06:41 AM 972 294 7
U.S. Siding With Egyptian … david mizner 02/05/2011 06:08 PM 942 299 2
Can Democrats please stop … DeanDemocrat 02/03/2011 01:27 AM 921 206 3
Mojo Friday - Speech … TexDem 02/25/2011 07:30 AM 907 98 1
WTF is wrong w/ Americans? wannabe herm 02/02/2011 11:56 PM 888 570 23
Mubarak Steps DOWN. Hear … ThisIsMyTime 02/11/2011 08:05 AM 861 314 12
Bill O'Reilly proves he's not … Eclectablog 02/06/2011 02:12 PM 850 579 15
Yes, I Am Angry bink 02/08/2011 12:39 PM 815 347 3
So... Any Grown-Ups Want … TooFolkGR 02/07/2011 10:07 AM 810 334 6
That's it...I've Had It... APA Guy 02/06/2011 09:57 AM 787 171 5
… diary on white privilege. Ezekial 23 20 02/26/2011 05:04 PM 776 153 8
If you can afford cigs & beer … greenpunx 01/30/2011 12:57 PM 737 7
Obama Orders DOJ NOT … TomP 02/23/2011 09:14 AM 736 335 7
The REALLY Scary Thing … Granny Doc 02/01/2011 07:09 AM 735 719 10
A Scientific Bombshell … Jill Richardson 02/24/2011 06:43 PM 730 445 31
This is what happens when … icebergslim 02/23/2011 10:22 AM 722 319 7
An Englishman in Oklahoma … twigg 02/03/2011 01:27 AM 719 520 20
Cranky Users are CRANKY! … KelleyRN2 02/13/2011 10:44 AM 669 242 9
Busted: Scott Walker fell for … LaurenMonica 02/23/2011 06:45 AM 669 686 20
I got The Call for a kidney … Kitsap River 02/17/2011 12:51 PM 618 587 12
RKBAbots: WTF? gzodik 02/15/2011 12:22 PM 614 13 1
GW Block Party---Last … Phil S 33 02/11/2011 04:33 PM 611 32 1
Texas Can't Generate … I love OCD 02/02/2011 07:01 AM 604 296 3
The HB Gary Email That … Happy Rocky 02/16/2011 07:56 PM 598 692 61
I'm Tired Of My Positions … mallyroyal 02/24/2011 06:33 AM 590 62 2
Egypt Liveblog: Sub-Diary #71 FORUS50 02/06/2011 12:28 AM 589 3 1
Hidden Ugliness to Super Bowl slinkerwink 02/01/2011 08:51 AM 576 301 4
Obama's Misunderstanding … thereisnospoon 02/07/2011 04:06 PM 576 299 10
RKBA: Egypt and OT R K B A 02/03/2011 09:27 AM 571 24 1
Black Kos, Tuesday's Chile Black Kos 02/01/2011 01:00 PM 555 152 3
Black Kos, Tuesday's Chile Black Kos 02/15/2011 01:00 PM 555 148 7
Nurse Kelley Sez: my cranky … KelleyRN2 02/15/2011 02:01 PM 542 122 1
Egypt just gave us al Qaeda's … Vyan 02/11/2011 10:20 AM 539 576 23
Imported from Detroit … Brainwrap 02/06/2011 07:41 PM 525 369 7
The Obama/Geithner dvogel001 02/01/2011 10:40 AM 524 13
Will Boehner's Speakership … Mike Stark 02/01/2011 04:59 PM 522 489 4
DDOS takes down AFP fiver 02/26/2011 06:00 PM 522 623 34
Middle East Liveblog #116 … weasel 02/21/2011 10:31 AM 517 166
Senate Agrees To Vote on … Betty Pinson 02/01/2011 03:36 PM 514 17
CoC Plans: Hire Hackers to … bink 02/10/2011 05:57 PM 508 532 23
Of the top 10 diaries, 8 preceded the transition. Of the top 20 diaries, 17 preceded the transition. And, of the three DK4 diaries in the top 20, all are what I think of as "stunt" or "gimmick" diaries: two Mojo Fridays from TexDem and my immediately post-transition roll call. Of the 17 DK3 diaries in the top 20, only two Mojo Friday's are "stunt" diaries.
Overall, 35 of the top 50 diaries over the past month are from the 14 last days of DK3; 15 are from the first 15 days of DK4. The first three "non-stunt" DK4 diaries are Ezekiel 23 30's "white privilege" diary, TomP's Obama tells DOJ to lay off DOMA diary, and Jill Richardson's "scientific bombshell" diary, respectively #21, #23, and #25. None broke 800 comments.
I remember back in the Spring 2007, getting a non-stunt diary above 800 comments -- especially one that didn't get there through flame wars (as I think at least TomP's did not) was a huge accomplishment. It's been a long time since that has been so. Now, for whatever reason, we're back there again.
Why is this happening? Here are some hypotheses:
o Maybe fewer loquacious people are here right now
o Maybe the siloization problem really is turning out to be a problem
o Maybe there's so much to see now that people spend less time checking the Rec List.
o Maybe people are on better behavior for a while so there are fewer flame wars
o Maybe it's a combination, such as that when a diary starts to flame, there are so many other places to go now that people have no trouble retreating to a silo without worrying that someone else is taking over the site and convincing people of Teh Wrong
o Or maybe it's something, or somethings, else
Whatever it is, it's interesting to keep an eye on it. A little analysis of the above diaries (which could be found easily enough through a search) might tell us whether flaming is down, for example. The notion that the most commented on diaries take up a lesser share of the site's oxygen, in any event, is pretty interesting -- at least to those of us who are interested in the site's sociology (which you may know as "meta.")