Hello all! Every day Kos is in the midst of the largest transformation we’ve taken on in additional than 20 years, and I need to hold you absolutely within the loop as we construct it. That is your neighborhood, and also you should see the way it’s coming collectively behind the scenes.
The transfer to WordPress is properly underway. In order for you the background, I’ve written about why we’re doing it, and also you’ve already met your Neighborhood Advisory Panel—which has been deeply concerned each step of the best way.
Every day Kos founder Markos Moulitsas
We’re on monitor for a March launch, and if every thing continues as deliberate, you’ll get your first hands-on look in January, when the general public beta opens. I can’t wait so that you can take it for a spin!
One of many greatest choices just lately was selecting a brand new commenting platform. WordPress’ native system simply can’t assist the amount and complexity of what you all do right here day by day. That despatched us right into a severe seek for one thing highly effective sufficient to deal with Every day Kos-scale dialog. Solely three firms have been viable candidates.
One was straightforward to dismiss: too costly, and reliant on a one-size-fits-all AI moderation engine that set our tooth on edge. That wasn’t ever going to be acceptable. No a part of this neighborhood’s moderation is getting handed off to a robotic—particularly not within the present political local weather, the place it’s apparent how simply that sort of system could possibly be abused.
That left two robust contenders, every with actual strengths and disadvantages. We pulled within the Neighborhood Advisory Panel early, gave them full entry, and even introduced the 2 finalists in to pitch on to them. It was a tricky name. The panel wasn’t unanimous. However after loads of analysis and dialogue, we selected Viafoura.
It’s essentially the most absolutely rounded possibility for what we’d like proper now, and I believe loads of you’ll love what it brings.
Feedback
Viafoura’s commenting system is quick and dependable, and already serving enormous publications like Folks and The Telegraph. It retains all of the fundamentals you count on, and provides a brand new “featured comments” space the place authors and moderators can pull standout contributions right into a devoted tab. Viafoura additionally has an AI mannequin designed to floor constructive feedback. We’ll experiment with it, however nothing replaces human judgment, and guide picks all the time take precedence.
Right here is one other take a look at this characteristic, this one from Viafoura’s personal inside pitch paperwork:
(“HQB” is what Viafoura calls its AI-selected feedback. It stands for “High Quality” one thing.)
One factor I’m hoping for—and we’ll know extra throughout implementation—is that neighborhood authors may even be capable of pin feedback in their very own tales and diaries. That’s not assured but, however you realize I’m pushing for it. And naturally, this new “featured” tab received’t substitute or intervene with our long-running neighborhood High Feedback. That sequence is sacred. We are able to identify this tab something we would like.
Viafoura additionally delivers instruments that open up new sorts of engagement we haven’t actually been capable of supply earlier than.
Q&A
We’ll be capable of host stay structured Q&As—suppose Reddit AMAs (Ask Me Anythings), when you’ve seen these. They’re basically real-time interviews the place a visitor solutions questions submitted by the neighborhood, usually producing a number of the most informative and interesting conversations on the web. With Viafoura’s model constructed instantly into the positioning, we’ll lastly be capable of run these sorts of interactive periods right here with specialists, candidates, workers, and neighborhood members.
Stay chat
Behind the scenes, Viafoura’s moderation instruments are light-years forward of what we’ve got now. They received’t be seen to you, however the distinction will completely be noticeable. The workforce will be capable of handle trolls, spammers, and bad-faith actors extra rapidly and successfully, which implies a cleaner, smoother commenting expertise for everybody.
In fact, there are compromises. The advisory panel wasn’t cut up for nothing.
The largest early impediment was that Viafoura didn’t assist embedded pictures in feedback. That was a dealbreaker for us, however they agreed to maneuver it to the highest of their improvement queue. We count on that performance to be prepared by launch, although it received’t seem in the course of the beta interval. Photographs received’t tie into our website’s media library, so that you’ll add out of your system every time, extra like conventional social media.
A tougher short-term limitation is that Viafoura doesn’t but permit embeds of any type in feedback—not pictures, not movies, not social media posts. That’s altering. As a part of our negotiations, they dedicated to tackling embeddable content material instantly after ending picture uploads. Their present timeline places this hole someplace between zero and 6 weeks after launch. Not preferrred, nevertheless it’s a short lived limitation. And importantly, this limitation applies solely to feedback. WordPress tales/diaries will assist full embeds from Day 1.
Whereas all that is taking place, we’re additionally utilizing the migration as an opportunity to scrub up our website navigation. We’re not doing a full redesign on the similar time—that’s a recipe for price overruns and chaos—however we’re stripping away 24 years of litter.
Proper now the positioning header is overloaded with hashtags, menus, icons, and a search bar that hardly features. The brand new model simplifies every thing all the way down to the necessities:
Ignore the purple Ks; they’re simply mockup artifacts. This isn’t the ultimate model, and the menu objects might shift, however the course is obvious. Log in, and the simplified look stays:
We’re additionally eradicating the massive top-of-page advert, which matches a great distance towards giving the positioning a cleaner, extra trendy really feel.
At launch, the search bar will solely index tales. As a result of the remark system is separate, remark search received’t be prepared instantly, however we’re exploring methods so as to add it after the migration.
There’s loads taking place behind the scenes, and it’s all transferring rapidly. I’m excited so that you can see the beta in January. This migration isn’t only a technical improve—it’s an opportunity to set Every day Kos up for the subsequent 20 years, with instruments that assist the neighborhood you’ve constructed and the conversations that make this place what it’s.
In case you’re on the Neighborhood Advisory Panel, thanks on your steerage. And when you’re not, know that you’re completely a part of this course of. Each choice we make right here is about creating a greater Every day Kos for all of us.
