Now this is interesting. DailyKos's "DK4" will allow subgroups & hosted blogs!

[beachmom]

This could really open things up, much like here. I mean, we'll see but this looks very promising:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/30/788136/-Brief-DK4-update

Markos:

People want to be empowered, and open source allows that. It’s why we’ve seen so many successes in that realm. I can either try to ignore that trend, stand in its way, or embrace it. Currently, community members are limited to just a single diary a day, everyone shows up on the front page, even if just a few minutes, and they’re unable to work together without using outside tools (like Google groups, etc).

DK4 (the new version, due out in Q4) will allow people to host their blogs on Daily Kos (like blogspot), create group blogs, and there’ll be tools for internal communications and collaboration. So, no limits on writing, but at the cost of front-page access — the recent diaries list would scroll faster than a stock ticker. So we’ll have tools to find the best material and feature it on the front page (and some of that stuff in even more prominent positioning than is currently the case). Some of those tools will be software, others will be human editors.

It’s a very community-centric upgrade, which makes me excited. I long ago learned that my success doesn’t stem from my own writing, but from my acknowledgment of the power and importance of community.

I am thinking (but I could be wrong) that this would mean rewarding people who take time to put together a well researched and well written diary that is nevertheless not "sexy" enough to make the Rec List. We shall see, but there is hope that the staleness of DailyKos may soon come to an end.