Mr. Schnell is NO Fan of the So-Called “Progressive” Daily Kos Website and He Ain’t Alone

by Mr. Schnell

At Daily Kos their blogs are called “diaries”. I would write a blog … oops… I mean a diary, now and again. I would even read other people’s diaries and, also, now and again, write a comment in the comment section. I was basically looking for like-minded individuals, checking out what they were writing about, looking for intelligent conversation and ideas. I would sometimes even add one of my cartoons. I thought the Daily Kos website was a place to throw out ideas, learn about others, joke some, and maybe showcase my work. I am retired, have time on my hands, and wasn’t looking for work or anything … just killing time and keeping up on current events. Maybe get a whiff of fresh air from new ideas.

The next thing I know some censor enters the picture telling me what to write, how to write, correcting my spelling, syntax and getting all pompous … not on “diaries” but about some “off-the-cuff” benign comment I made to some other benign comment.

As time went on more censors, more restrictions and more flags. I am asking myself, “What is going on?” I thought this was a more or less open forum of ideas and conversations. A bit more free, spontaneous, give-and-take. As the badgering increased and more censorship, I decided to search the web and find what others encountered at Daily Kos.

I found an interesting site:

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/dailykos.com

Overview
Daily Kos has a consumer rating of 1.91 stars from 43 reviews indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied.

I was not alone in my opinion of the Daily Kos. A number of people had written quite descriptive reviews of their trials and tribulations, and I felt I could relate to each of them. I pasted 9 comments below.

Here are those reviews (you can also go to the link above and read them at sitejabber.com if you prefer). I certainly could not have said it any better than the reviewers here.

1. richardr527
   Richard R.
   1 review 27 helpful votes
   Message
   Close-minded groupthink is not liberal
   March 22nd, 2019
   The news articles are usually fairly good, though the reporters often miss important events. Diaries are often of less quality. But the comments are often naive and biased. I had enjoyed free and open discourse at Firedog Lake for several years, but when that closed the only alternative was, sadly, DailyKos. Other commenters there frequently lack the acumen to understand my posts; and if someone makes an observation they don’t agree with, especially from an actual progressive stance, the moderators are quick to ban that person. So, the website poses as a “liberal” forum, but in reality is quite provincial, pedantic and conservative, pernicious to the progressive cause.

2. Ogeraldineh26
Starry G.
2 reviews 2 helpful votes
Outrageously Unfair and Biased Forum
May 24th, 2022
I receive DailyKos newsletter and I often sign petitions of theirs which is fine. Their online site where users comment in response to articles however is outrageously unfair and severely censors any opinion different from theirs even if your comment is free from foul language, slurs, threats, or anything remotely offensive. The administrators also refused to delete account as requested. I’ve unsubscribed to their newsletter and refuse to have anything to do with them. They are trash.

Tip for consumers:
Don’t create profile to write comments because it will be permanent and comments are unfairly censored and members banned for no valid reason.

3. govb1
Gov B.
1 review 0 helpful votes
Message
Avoid this spam generating site
January 26th, 2022
While I support much of their progressive actions, they use underhanded spamming tactics. By signing one petition, they automatically add your email to several other lists without your consent because they don’t give you a choice not to subscribe. Sneaky at best, possibly illegal. Their unsubscribe method is also underhanded: no way to unsubscribe from all their lists at once, requiring multiple actions to unsubscribe one at a time. Totally deceitful.

Tip for consumers:
Don’t sign up for any of their emails.

4. johnw3696
John W.
1 review 26 helpful votes
Message
Daily Kos is NOT progressive
February 19th, 2021
Extreme censorship and intolerance towards any opposing or independent views. Anti-democratic values. Too much group think behavior and bullying tactics promoting a reckless “cancel culture”. They do not offer any refunds on subscription membership dues and their paid staff is practically nonresponsive and unavailable.

5. simperf
Simper F.
1 review 3 helpful votes
Message
An incestuous cesspool of poseurs and navel-gazers
December 18th, 2021
Don’t waste your time at Daily Kos if you want to get anything done politically, or if you want to have constructive discussions. If you want to bicker about useless minutiae, bully others to make yourself feel better, or grandstand and gift your way to “resistance” glory, then DKos is the place for you. Worship the founder, stay away from “identity politics”, and never critique white liberalism. Do those simple things and you will be popular, nay, beloved. Step outside of the warm light of benevolent dominionism, and you will be crushed with the weight of a thousand liberal tears. If you’re serious about progressive politics, stay away from them. You’ll just wind up jaded and spiritually drained.

6. maxm340
Max M.
1 review 5 helpful votes
Message
Total F-ing A-holes
November 19th, 2021
Liberals are doomed. And I’m a liberal. I went to DK looking for liberal friends, and instead found a bunch of total jerks. Very hurt and disappointed. Honestly a huge waste of time.

This is the kind of place where a person can write a solid, well-researched, entertaining article about any subject from environmentalism to trickle-down economics… but if the author employs some generic phrase that some of the liberals there object to, that’s all they’ll focus on.

Most of the users at DK have been there for years, and I have to say that most of them are pretty decent, intelligent, and informed souls. Some are even entertaining.

But there are groups within the group there, so they tend to ignore and patronize new users. They also spend a remarkable time rehashing churlish jealousies and petty rivalries, since almost everybody there is in competition to write a “diary” that’s featured on the front page.

80% of the folks are good, but you’ll never get to know them.
15% of them are “Liberal Stinkers” who seem to live to be insulted and see racism in everything.
And about 5% of them are total jerks.

A worthless site, on the whole, all it does is generate advertising revenue for the owner, who is so detached from the scene that he can’t even see how many of the jerks are literally driving new members away.

So… your mileage may vary, but the Daily Kos is hardly the liberal oasis it pretends to be.

It’s a childish, petty, non-sensical (no block buttons) little corner of the universe filled with attention whores and virtue signalers.

Puke.

7. virginiat34
Virginia T.
1 review 34 helpful votes
Message
Censoring groupthink site – avoid!
October 16th, 2017
I have no problem with “slant” per se on a website – all sites have them, you read them or you don’t – but the problem with DailyKos isn’t slant. It’s the site’s proto-fascism in demanding absolute adherence to a particular set of ideas (and as a prof of political science I don’t use the term “fascism” lightly). DailyKos says it doesn’t remove posts, but it does worse – it gives “trusted” users complete power to flag and censor comments, and it takes just two such flags to remove your comment. This means that no deviation from what these users consider the “correct” one, even a “friendly amendment,” is allowed. As a result of this abdication of responsibility by the editors, a few narrow-minded ideologues are free to act as gatekeepers to stifle democratic discussion. I discovered this the hard way: like another person commenting here, I offered my firsts comment (polite, no unprofessional language, just calling for caution on the Russia question) and was promptly trashed and insulted by a string of childish nasty responses calling me a bot, a “kamikazi drone strike,” etc. Worse, the very first reply “flagged” my comment for deletion and it was then “hidden” along with the nasty replies so my point was effectively censored. As someone who is regularly trashed for being too “liberal” I found this astounding! All a reader has to do to remove a view s/he doesn’t like is flag it? How convenient! And my effort to reach the editors to protest came to nothing. Aside from the damage to any democratic ethos, DailyKos only reinforces stereotypes about progressive politics rather than breaking them down. I’ve found some info from its mail lists useful, which I’ll miss, but I don’t think this kind of nasty groupthink should be encouraged so I will unsubscribe and encourage others to do the same.

8. jamesm480
James M.
2 reviews 47 helpful votes
Message
Group-think only is allowed these days – Daily Kos is a con job
July 16th, 2016
Daily Kos has interesting political mini-articles and some insightful commentary after them. However, it is no longer a go to site for me because it’s become nothing but a propaganda tool for the founder’s favorite presidential candidate. It’s poorly run, with far too little proactive and responsible moderation. Any Democrats writing on the site who criticize Hillary Clinton, or express any opinions that are outside the scope of what the owner and a certain group of users believe is acceptable for a Democrat are immediately swarmed with insults, called “shills,” “rightwing,” “libertarians,” and so on, and by flagging those who don’t fit their narrow definition of what it means to be a Democrat, they get those voices banned immediately. Why would a thinking person want to frequent such a site, let alone contribute to it?

I’m a flaming liberal and I don’t consider censuring differing and/or critical voices, especially those from within, a liberal position.

Rather, I consider it authoritarian and unhealthy for any community. For that reason, I do not feel Daily Kos deserves to be called a politically liberal or progressive website.

In fact, the censuring of diverse voices of even other Democrats has become so incessant, I now have doubts as to whether the site is even what it claims to be. It appears to me that what it really is is a way to make money for the owner. Other people do all the writing at no cost to him and he makes money from the site, while at the same time promoting himself in liberal/Democratic circles so that he has access to even more influence, and thereby, more economic opportunity. Now that I’ve reached that conclusion, I feel like I’ve been had. I don’t read the site anymore because I won’t lend my support to a con artist.

9. staceyh89
stacey h.
1 review 33 helpful votes
Message
It’s A Club
August 28th, 2018
Have been reading daily kos for awhile and began noticing the posters are mostly the same and they speak to each other with the familiarity of a club. Which is fine, until you ask some questions they don’t want to hear. Have you ever read the rules of the road over there? What hogwash. So if an established poster tells you “you can die mad”… that’s fine… but push the issue, try to expand your question and you are dismissed like you’re nothing to them. They appear to break down into the bullies and the bowers… thanks but no thanks
I’m a big girl who has seen bullies before and will again… just always startling when it happens where you thought they were better than that.

Mr. Schnell won’t be going back to the Daily Kos website anytime soon. I don’t have time to waste with their pompous “provincial, snobby club” … plus there are plenty of other bloggers here on WordPress to read and converse with in a civil and friendly manner.

Have a good day.

AAAAAaaahhhh, breathing better already…