Because originally (on kuro5hin) users could write both stories and diary entries. DKos configured scoop in such a way that ordinary users could only write diary entries, but they end up being the most important content. So, the name is unappropriate because the current configuration has changed with respect to the original design, for which the name was appropiate.

Personally, starting with the ET configuration, I would abolish merge diaries and stories into a single category (call it 'article' for argument's sake), and I would make the front page list the top-10 recommended articles list instead of top-10 recent stories.

There would still be a need for a separate category of content, the Open Thread, whose RSS feed and most recent instance would appear in the "hated space".

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."