Here’s a thread to heap praise, contempt, advice, complaints, thoughts about weird stuff no normal person would suggest that just might be brilliant…
And anything else.
Have at it.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
53 Comments
Recent Comments
I feel very comfortable here and was glad to get in on the start of this adventure for you Booman.
This has a different vibe already from Kos and it should or what would be the point, right. Kos is great but I think this is going to be my mustread site every day.
And as soon as I think of something brilliant you’ll be the first to know-whenever that maybe(but don’t hold your breath).
well, I already love it… but…
Is this a Democrat partisan site in the same sense as dkos is?
you some kind of fucking Republican?
That wasnt nice. I just blew milk out my nose and all over my monitor!!
This ain’t dKos, but some of the same shit applies.
Recommendation #1. Do not drink anything on first readthrough of suspicious diaries or threads. If you find you must drink, for fear of becoming dehydrated, learn to read with peripheral vision while drinking.
Do we need a “guidelines for the forgetful” diary?
you can see the policy in the FAQ. This is indeed a Democratic site.
because tonight I’m rethinking my Democratic affiliation… I’m not sure the party doesn’t need my opposition.
I’m an independent. What I’m against is partisanship. I don’t think people should make alliance based rational judgements, but should work on principles of right and wrong. I don’t believe in party. I think parties are the corruption of the governmental state.
I’m progressive, and rational… I’ll take alliances as valuable… but partisanship?
to tell you the truth, what strikes this in me right now is this Schiavo case and the way it’s blown up now… I see two love birds in flight… I can’t imagine being a part of this enthralling mating ritual.
Pyrrho, I believe we’re of the same mindset. In the 2002 elections, I found myself voting pretty much across party lines after conducting a significant amount of research into each candidate in each race. (Well, actually, I voted for a couple Dems, a Green and an Independent – no Republicans.) My 86 year old mother – who’s highly astute with political issues – viewed me as an “ignorant idealist”. (Thanks Mom.)
I worked on the platform committee of the MN IP, (after Ventura’s departure) but I stopped participating when I found that nearly 1/3 of the IP members voted to endorse Bush during the primary caucus. That’s where I drew the line. I also drew the line with the 2004 presidential race in general, because I felt so strongly about the need to get a new president – no matter what my opinion of the endorsed Dem candidate.
Sadly, on a national level, candidates won’t be successful without party affiliation, and the funding that comes with it. In fact, taking that one step further, when I voiced my strong support of Howard Dean in early 2003, a member of the IP – who previously worked on Democratic presidential campaigns going back to 1984 – told me I shouldn’t kid myself that Dean would come out on top because the primary winner was going to be whomever the party chose.
How will your philosophies impact your decision to post on this site? (Just curious)
I need help. I am a terrible writer but find bits of what I think are good Ideas for diaries. Maybe a depository for Ideas some of us are not skilled enough to get the point across and need guidance.( a diary class?)
Here is a case in point:GeneraL Motors is in what looks like serious financial trouble and their bankrupcy would be bigger than Enron ,Worldcom, and the Iraq War Combined. here is the link and a sample.
The Death of the Dollar
By Jason Hommel
http://www.silverstockreport.com
March 18, 2005
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Hommel/printerfriendly/mar182005p.html
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Caesar was supposed to be a god. Julius Caesar was killed on the Ides of March.
Today, we don’t make men gods. Instead society has made our financial system into a false god.
On March 15th, 2005, (the Ides of March) we may have just witnessed the beginning of the death of our financial system as General Motors stock took a nosedive from $34/share down to $30.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=GM&t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
It does not seem like much (GM down just over 10% in one day), but as of March 17th, the stock is down to $28.35, and the market cap is down to $16 billion. (GM is down nearly 18% for the week.) It’s the type of volatility that we usually only see in silver stocks!
What does this mean?
GM’s stock price decline is like a dagger right into the heart of the U.S. financial system, and the dollar itself!
Why did it happen?
Apparently, someone in power did the equivalent of shouting “the emperor has no clothes” and people woke up, and are beginning to see more clearly! The media decided it was time to expose the truth that GM is nearly insolvent, and will expect to lose $1.50/share in the first quarter alone!
But the story is worse than that! GM has $300 billion in debt
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=GM
…and has a market cap, now, of $16 billion. See the problem there? The bondholders could buy the company nearly 20 times over if they used their money to buy stock instead of loan it to the company. The implication is clear–that GM is headed towards bankruptcy, and will default on the bondholders, who will then own a company worth less than $16 billion dollars!
and the link:http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/032105_world_stories.shtml#1
Input would be appreciated.
Put in a picture. I love some pictures in a diary.
Only if you promise to come and harrass me in the threads to help me determine if this is for real or just a sales pitch for silver stocks.
Be there with bells on.
and here’s the link for folkbums diary diary mentioned below.
Last week, a writer on Kos wrote a piece on how to write effective diaries. The key points related to “read”, “read”, “read” (to make yourself increasingly knowledgeable regarding any given subject.)
IIRC, the writer’s first suggestion was for diarists to strongly state the purpose of their diaries at the outset, so people know the point of what they’re about the read.
Based on the dynamics of this site, I’m sure you could get any type of support you’d like. Just say the word. Until then. . .
Write the diary!
I just got here, I can’t confess to such strong
emotions, yet.
I do love frogs and spell checks though.
sybil aka Agathena
I wish you would post an open thread daily, that is what I miss most on this site.
you should treat the open/world thread as your open thread. Once it hits 250 comments it will drop a quarter of the oldest posts and it will always have between about 185-249 comments in it.
the color scheme is soothing- the pace is pleasant- there are lots of familiar names and diarists I almost always at least read.
dKos has gotten too big-which is great for Kos but not so great for individuals who want to be heard. Many of the diaries at Kos belong in chat rooms not on a political blog. It seems to be going through a ‘confessional stage’ right now.
The diary I wrote here last night might fall into that category, but it was inspired by a sort of cleansing that I experienced coming here from dKos. And I felt like this community would be a lot less likely to hop on the comments of my diary and tear me apart for writing something non-political while the war in Iraq, the social security debacle, etc. etc. are going on.
I think that a community is a community, and though this one is based on politics, its not always the worst thing to have the occasional non-political diary to maintain (at least my own) sanity.
fun must be had, interests need to be shared. We already KNOW we all are interested in politics.
But if you are having some event in your town, like, I don’t know, say, FISH BOWLING, you should really head over to the regional threads and tell your neighbors about it.
And Diaries are judged best by judicious use of the recommend button, not by rampant bitching in the threads.
P.S. Your diary was a lot of fun to read.
oh hell, I already had forgotten emmasnacker’s rules upthread about drinking and reading here….I’m used to swallowing my coffee not spewing it…thanks a lot.
Urge to write diary becoming near unbearable.
I have a diary on the ‘Recommended’ list for the first time ever. Whoo hoo!
Just kiddin’. Or not.
But, I do love it here. It’s soothing, informative, slower paced. I recognize a lot of names I respect here. I look forward to the community’s growth and changes. Thanks, Booman.
Since you asked…
This is my second post here, I just signed up yesterday.
And what I’d love to see changed is the fascination with Dkos. I know many of us visit there too, but there are so many comments about what’s going on there and how it’s better/worse/the same as here.
The site needs its own identity (which I sense is being developed more fully) and stop obsessing over dkos.
Which I tell you only out of love, not to be bitchy.
At the moment, we’re sort of a “Kos suburb.” Give it time, we’ll establish a separate identity.
DailyKos maintains a strong political orientation, mainly because that is the main focus of Kos himself, and also due to the myDD connection.
I find a lot of Kossaks here at the frog pond, but I don’t detect such a strong emphasis on hard politics.
It is still early days. The true character of Boomantribune has yet to emerge.
And I plan to keep coming back to:
(1) Add original content
(2) Read and comment on original content
(3) Help create a space for all liberal values (art, science, politics, loving communities) to be expressed
(4) Help create a space for an internationalist perspective on the politics of liberal democracy
Thanks, booman – and all the others.
One more thing – I really do think we are better off posting only original materials (aka, not cross posted at kos) for the early phases of this site’s development. Kos has its purpose (Democratic partisanship) and it serves that purpose very well. Let’s create a new space that will add to the overall discourse of the Internet. There is room (and need) for both.
I hate that I need to know what you do
When our love passed out on the couch…
< /John Doe>
The only thing I’d say is that the front page seems a bit cluttered. Is there any way to increase the margins a little? A bit more white space would go a long way on these eyes.
Other than that, your cookie supply seems adequate.
wider. But not much. Maybe a 1/4 to an 1/8 of an inch?
I think making the titles of front page posts a bit larger may help out as well. It may make things feel a bit more segmented, rather than all the stories running together.
Yeah, that might be the ticket–a little bigger on the headlines, and perhaps some increased space between stories on the front page?
Short of that, I’m not sure what you could do. I’m certainly not thinking you should make the font any smaller…
Andy and I will probably jack up the font a notch.
Did you not get my comments several days ago making the exact same suggestions in regards to the Front page Diaries letters being to small? I’ve had no response, so I am wondering if you got them. Also, it looks like Dkos is down now 11:35am Tues (PST) Just looking for confirmation. Thanks
I’ve lot the ability to read everything on the site. So, forgive me if I missed it.
just wanted to make sure I wasn’t on your S-list.
Are you THAT Ed Gillespie?
but no, im really not at all. i just took a good opportunity to snatch up all the evil little gmail accounts I could. do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass, Larry (had to throw in more lebowski love, as I’m playing it as we speak)
I don’t know…maybe an innocent bystander has his corvette trashed with a crowbar?
who wanders into a movie theater and wonders whats going on, man.
How I pity the onlooker to these conversations right now who think I am a complete ass who talks shit for no apparent reason.
and then half of my comments from the evening. and then my diary if you so choose, to prove that I am not a complete ass.
I will, but I believe you anyway
It has a wierd parrallel-universe-dKos feel about it, what with the similar layout, fonts and all the familiar names. Like dKos was on Trading Spaces and got the Hildi treatment.
A few trivial things. The name: not loving it. The Tribune? C’mon, that’s so old media.
Were it up to me, I’d go for something like, er, I don’t know, Booman Explosion.
Because I like puns. What?
Love the frog.
But it’s about the content anyway, and so far I like what I see.
I like the community dynamics of the site, and quite frankly I like that you set up the same layout as Kos. I think I’m spoiled by Scoop, but I’ve found that when I visit most other sites they seem far less professional and far less welcoming. I like the spell check (if only it would provide the correct spelling of the inaccurate words. . .) I like that you personally contribute to the diaries, Booman – how cordial of you!
What I seem to have a problem with is losing my responses somehow during the preview process. On three occasions they’ve just disappeared. (And they were all Pulitzer level material!) And I think there might be a problem with the “Midwest” region. I say this because I tried to stir up some activity the other day, and when I posted my comment, the front page did not indicate there was a new post. Oh yeah – speaking of “new posts” I really like not having to sort through threads to find newly posted comments.
All in all, you’re off to a fine start. I salute your hard work and your hospitality!
on the midwest thread: it should not show a new comment that is made by you, but only one made by someone else. That way, if it lights up you know there is new content you haven’t seen.
If you could explain the preview problem more elaborately I might be able to figure out if it is something you are doing or something wrong with the software.
Thanks again.
It’s beginning to feel more and more comfortable here. In contrast to Kos, which is like a large auditorium where you might catch a glimpse of a familiar face among thousands,
your site offers the feeling of a more intimate room – like a well-appointed and attractive living room, with comfortable sofas and chairs and interesting pictures on the walls.
When I first came, I had to wait in the parlor, which isn’t as warm, but quite properly austere.
Is it required to display your email with each comment? I’d like mine to just stay on my page where anyone could see it. It just seems like a lot of words after my name.
I’m enjoying reading everyone’s stories.
Jane, your writing never ceases to make me smile. I particularly enjoyed the “guest towels” comment on another thread. It had me swooning for several minutes :-).
What a nice thing to say. I’m glad you smiled.
I appreciate your responsiveness. Your explanation of the new comments makes perfect sense. (And just in time to stop me from developing conspiracy theories over the silencing of Midwesterners :-). Darn, there goes that diary!
In reference to my “disappeared” comments, twice it occurred right after I hit the preview button, and once it occurred when I hit “post”. My comment box simply went blank – and in the case of the post, nothing posted. At first, I thought it may have resulted from using the preview option more than once, but then I remembered having used the preview option endlessly the other day when I was teaching myself how to use HTML.
And speaking of HTML – thank you very much for the “cheat sheet” on the comments page. I’m new to blogs and have never used HTML, so the “Allowed HTML” is a really nice feature for folks like me.
run into the disappearing problem again let me know.
We’ll have to look into it. So far, you are the only person to complain of it. So, I don’t have any leads. But if it continues we’ll do a full investigation.
Thanks.
Hey now! I resent the allegation that I “complained”. I was simply concerned that other members of this site missed out on the opportunity to read three very fine posts. (Don’t flame me! I’m kidding!)