Agree 100%. I think surrendering the visibility of Daily Kos would be a strategic mistake right now. There simply isn't enough time remaining in this election to build an alternative with as much reach as DK and the misleading attacks from the other side would go unchallenged. However, I see no need for people to do anything they don't want to do. I mention this because of a few recent comments. My contributions to this discussion have only been in effort to explain why some have stayed. In no way have I ever meant for my words to be taken as criticism of those who have chosen otherwise. I didn't mean to make anyone feel any sense of guilt about anything. I apologize for being unclear and also for my sloppy post yesterday that included an unmarked link to TOS. To me, it seems that enough of us have already chosen to continue there to maintain an adequate presence. Further, I actually think it might be helpful that some folks have chosen to stay away. I think the measurable drop in site traffic has maybe made Kos a little more cautious about coming down on people. My impression, for the moment, is that the drop in participation from those who have left has actually increased the leverage of those who have stayed.

Looking ahead, though, I see one thing that will remain true no matter how all of this plays out. We need to build an alternative. IMO, even the best case scenario with the other site should be viewed as unacceptable. This isn't about apologies or forgiveness. This isn't even about Markos. We just cannot allow one person to have this much control over us ever again. We wouldn't even tolerate that from Bernie Sanders and we actually like him. We need to build an alternative that runs more democratically and is not subjected to the whims of a single person. A major change in direction should have to be agreed upon by a vote or by a quorum of trusted names like DallasDoc, MO, and JnH. Maybe starting out with trusted names and then having elections? Ownership should also be spread among several people or the entire community. Maybe we could ignore MSM and play a role in giving independent bloggers more visibility the way DK used to (so much better back then). Maybe it could be a place where all progressives felt welcomed? We could interact with the Greens and socialists who were often met with hostility at DK? Just trying to get everyone's juices flowing for a future discussion. Think about what you'd want from such a site. We've got some talent on our side. Even if the DK community manages to heal all wounds and come back together, this Reddit proves that there is tremendous value in taking some projects off-site to do actual work.

Now back to the phone for me. Peace.