Earlier this week, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas told what he called a “blogger inside baseball” story. While the story may be inside baseball, a passing remark in that story hints at an aspect of community that is sometimes overlooked.

If you believe that a community should serve a specific purpose, then you might think that the community would be most effective if it focuses on that purpose to the exclusion of other alternatives. After all, why should a blog like Daily Kos, which aims to get Democrats elected, be distracted by discussions of new Linux distributions or gardening?

However, Markos’ passing comment along with another diary on Daily Kos today by an organic farmer cast doubt on this view.

The “inside baseball” story that Markos told involves a popular political blog called The Field that Al Giordano created at the request of an organization called Rural Votes. After several months of work on the blog, Giordano received a message from the head of Rural Votes in June objecting to his blogging about Saul Alinsky, a legendary community organizer whom Rural Voter’s director claimed was too controversial to mention. She ended up removing not only that blog post, but all of Giordano’s months of work on the site. Al Giordano then revived The Field at a new location where it received much popular support. The director of Rural Votes also deleted any comments on her site that inquired about what had happened to Giordano or directed people to his new site.

What most bothered Markos (and many readers of The Field) was that Rural Votes had raised thousands of dollars to send Al Giordano to Denver to cover the Democratic Convention, but then refused to transfer the funds to him to use as advertised. Deleting Giordano’s blog might be obnoxious or “short-sighted,” as Markos put it, but it was within the rights of the management of Rural Votes to remove content from the organization’s site.

Markos then off-handedly asked a rhetorical question that gets at something I regard as vital:

“Should I ban Saturday Morning Garden Blogging on Daily Kos because it doesn’t directly relate to the mission of the site?”

Markos considers the purpose of Daily Kos to be electing more and better Democrats. However, the site allows some discussions on seemingly unrelated topics to thrive. Why allow a series about gardening on a political site? What purpose could it possibly serve? Wouldn’t it be a distraction?

A Daily Kos diary today entitled Saying Goodbye … And a New Beginning provides answers to such questions. The diary was written by a woman who goes by judith2007 on Daily Kos and who has a small organic farm in Texas. She also collaborates with blogger orangeclouds115 (whom I mentioned earlier on hivethrive) on a new blog called La Vida Locavore. What made her posting today noteworthy is the outpouring of support that she received on a political blog for her story about her family’s difficult transition as organic farmers being crowded out by suburban sprawl.

Judith begins:

“I’d like to invite everyone to take a journey with me over the next year and a half. It’s a farewell to our beloved farm, and the beginning of a new one. In the course of it, I hope to give y’all a glimpse into the real life of a farm and the practices of sustainable ranching. And I’ll share a few pictures of our farm, including some adorable baby lambs, along the way.”

It seems that Judith and her husband started organic farming a few years ago near Austin, Texas. As time passed, they grew more confident and successful in their stewardship of the land, until it was teeming with life. However, pressure from land developers grew and the land around them was claimed by a huge development that would grow to thousands of homes accompanied by shopping centers and malls. Ultimately, they felt they could no longer stay. They sold the land and leased it back for the time being, and now plan a move to a new farm that they will create farther away.

On this Independence Day, her words were matched by words of encouragement from numerous members of Daily Kos and enough recommendations to bring it near the top of the recommended list of that very popular site. She will not have to make her difficult journey alone. She will be able to count on many eager supporters, people who will take pride in her successes, encourage her when she falters, and share lessons along the way.

None of that has anything to do with the site’s explicit goal, if one takes a narrow view. But, in another light, the ability to go beyond that purpose and share personal stories and passionate interests is a great source of strength that gives the community depth and meaning. When it is time to raise money for a candidate or analyze a policy proposal, the community is strengthened by these bonds based on personal commitments and concerns. At times, that is not apparent amid the infighting that can sometimes seem to sweep over Daily Kos. I think, though, that when people know someone online as “someone who is teaching me about creating a cool organic farm” instead of just “someone who disagrees with me on issue X,” it makes for a far stronger community, capable of coming together again after a disagreement.

Evan

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