Since we seem to have a few new members, a quick reminder of the FAQ and Kos etiquette:
Diaries should be substantive. A good guideline is that if you don't have at least three solid paragraphs to write about your subject, you should probably post a comment in an open thread, or in a recent diary or front-page post that covers a topic relevant to what you wish to write about.
Also:
Duplicative diaries are prohibited. Please scan the recent diaries and front-page posts before starting to compose your own diary. This rule operates on a sliding scale. A repeat diary with minimal analysis or originality (particularly on "breaking news" items) is prohibited. Such diaries are subject to deletion without notice. But if you write on a recently-covered subject and provide original analysis or research, that is acceptable and in fact welcome.
If you receive a reasonable request from a fellow Kossack to delete your diary (i.e., your diary is duplicative as per above), please do so.
Oh, and don't post BREAKING in the title unless it really is.
Reading the entire FAQ is strongly recommended. Short one liners push substantive diaries down the list, and fellow community memebers may have spent considerable time and effort on them. Not cool.
There are open threads through the day, or you can simply post a comment that says OT (off topic). You might get spoken to, though, if it's really irrelevant.
Update [2008-9-6 15:29:38 by DemFromCT]: For those who take great umbrage at the length of this diary, please focus on the message from a site mod. My intent was not to demo the perfect diary. But if you want to dissect length, anything shorter than this might well be a comment.
For those who take great umbrage that I've insulted Granny Doc by not acknowledging her diary from Aug 30, here it is, and it's excellent.
For those who take umbrage at the front page having shorter lengths than the diaries, note that the posting functionality is different (see Open Threads as an example).
For those who have made so many excellent suggestions, thank you. Many will be incorporated into the revisions we plan for the site. We read them all.
For those of you who are diary writers, we appreciate that. We simply want the site to function as well as possible for everyone.
As we get closer to the election, we will be rolling out some new features but not an overhaul of the entire site. That will take more time.
Carry on. Thank you for commenting and recommending.