I use Wikipedia, most of us do, and its utility and reliability is in a way akin to that of DKos… variable. And moreover it is also a quasi democratic entity and is as good or not so good as the writers/editors for each article/entry. But WTF, the outdated sparse, not very complete Wikipedia entry for DKos puts us on the same level as Breitbart and other such sites. 5th least trusted website in the US as rated by US citizens per the Simmons Research outfit… (from 6 years ago).
In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, the Daily Kos was ranked the fifth least trusted news organization by Americans in a tie with Breitbart News, with the Palmer Report, Occupy Democrats, InfoWars and The Daily Caller being lower-ranked.[18]
I seem to recall this BS back in 2018. Talk about a rigged poll! Simmons is probably not entirely accurate in what it reports since we might infer that its Dublin based owner Experian is (located there mainly to evade taxes) does not look favorably on anything to the left of Genghis Khan. With its history I am almost entirely certain that they are NOT liberal or progressive in outlook. Why would they be? Credit card companies do not like what Dems and Labour and other parties on the center-left want to do which is largely to rein in corporate looting. And Experian is in bed with those companies whom they sell their services to, after all it is their business model to give them what they want to hear up to a point. And it is therefore no huge surprise that their poll finding mirrors Trump who call just about ALL Dems “Far Left”, as does Fox and every other right-wing piece of media. The reference fodder characterizing the DKos Wikipedia page as “far left” is actually hardly more than just the dubious Simmons report from 2018.
DKos’ editorial writers are hardly far-left… though some are leftier than others… and the same for community bloggers. There is nothing in the article about Dkos being atypical for a blog site in the way its HUUUGE level of membership diaries reflects the center left of American opinion and not only that, that it has good standards for discussion and diarists and commentators who provide very useful and generally reliable source links to support what they write about. The Simmons quote implies that DKos is not perfect. That is not very useful information. Just like any publication or net site, are there less than great diaries/stories? Sure, and there are some that break the rules on DKos and that gets them taken down. Citizen’s arrests so to speak and mostly the community policing work well alongside the editorial staff looking over shoulders when needed. The “hide rate” feature ends up being more effective than an inner page retraction or correction in a newspaper days later. Or “equal time” on broadcast media decades ago.
And as for the DKos Wikipedia article, it is only as good as whomever edits it just like any material on the site. Time for an update. Editing an encyclopedia has its own arcane, idiosyncratic rules and style guidelines and need for well referenced sources. Anyone here ever do edits on Wikipedia? The editing history for this article seems pretty active but from an admittedly cursory overview, it might be mostly nitpicking minor points and I can’t tell it if has suffered edit wars over the years more than is usual. Nothing really recent in the content though there has been moderate activity over the past two years. Not much on DKos coverage of this election year, Trump’s legal proceedings or the War in Ukraine. Have a look at the edit history of the entry… It is not easy to see how it all works to start with and being able to figure out what was done when. It is all there… but whew… what a tangle.
Since the War in Ukraine began, DKos has been one of the best sources for information and opinion on that as it is for many others. And that makes it a target. The demise of Gawker from a ruinous lawsuit has been an example to follow for others who would like to silence websites. Just coincidental that RFK Jr. was sicced on the site and is also running as a spoiler in the election this year… both Putin-friendly aims… and maiming or destroying a truth-telling site and the reality that getting a Putin puppet back in the White House are at the very least accidentally overlapping goals. And it is no surprise that over the years there have been trolls here who seem like they might fit the profile of Russian internet meddlers. Not CT and no surprise since there are Russian trolls EVERYWHERE on the net, not just DKos. And they also operate on Wikpedia along with other types of trolls but there they have to navigate within the tightly policed rules. They are a little more obvious in controversial entries but there they blend in with people with VERY strong opinions engaged in the edit wars that when they get bad enough, real editors, trusted editors and even actual Wikipedia people have to step in and like DKos they may end up banning disruptive contributors.
And similarly it is hard for potential trolls to be successful here with member comments, tagging and quick bans of disruptive and hostile posters… some seem to lurk for a while, sure, but then trying to make a stink like they do on Facebook and YouTube and the rest of social media they find that it does not work on a site like this. As a leading and influential blog dedicated to more and better Democrats and doing a great job of informing its readers about the war.….DKos is more like a news distillation organ like other media but is more interactive in a larger sense and all the more effective for all that. So that makes them/us a big target, but as a website not comparable to most others that are less a community and more a top down entity… though there is plenty of “Top” here of course.
Back to the source of the far left, least trusted stuff courtesy of Simmons. In another near coincidence, DKos was founded not long before Simmons was gobbled up by Experian.
In 2004 Simmons was acquired by Experian a huge credit reporting company that has undergone a number of buyouts, mergers with Dr. Evil companies… like Bain capital… An earlier predecessor was TRW and it was bought sold split off and merged a number of times.
Experian®, a global information solutions company, today announced it has acquired Simmons Research. Simmons is a leading provider of syndicated research information on what American consumers buy, where they shop, their attitudes and lifestyles and the media channels they use. This information is collected directly from more than 30,000 individuals who complete surveys about what brands they buy, what media they use and which Internet sites they visit. Simmons is the leading information survey used by media companies, advertising agencies and marketers to target marketing offers to the most appropriate consumer through the most appropriate media vehicle.
In general, weakening, or eliminating any effective voices from the progressive side of things that are annoying to big money would appear in general to be a rational propaganda goal for big money. Money is ambivalent over things like wars, democracy freedom of speech as long as it does not interfere too much with profits. A website like DKos is a minnow alongside credit reporting corporations and the reporting agencies are mere minor attendants alongside the banking sector giants they service. But in the web of big money and nation states buying political favors and influence annoying flies like DKos get swatted from time to time. Hey, it’s just business and barely worth a few seconds of attention but even that can unleash problems for regular folks… elephants barely notice what they step on but the right sting from a big insect can bother them. Big companies and despots prefer a poorly informed public not able to as easily read, react, learn and vote in ways that are slightly bad for profits. And if Wikipedia has a BS article that puts DKos in a poor light that can be just enough to steer enough people to have a negative impression and choose not to read material on the blog… small things like that can have a statistically noticeable, cumulative effect.