The Irony Of Digg

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There has been a lot of controversy over the top Diggers hierarchy. It's a simple concept: if a lot of people have added you to their friends list, they are more likely to Digg what you submit. I never gave this much thought even though there were multiple articles complaining about it for a while, since I hardly use a friends list. In fact I have one friend (i440) because of his views on Windows and Linux. Anyways, I was browsing Digg when my AOL RSS feeder casually said "YOU'VE GOT RSS!11!11!". No but seriously Opera informed me there was a new post on the Digg blog. So I read it and was astounded at what I was reading.

This algorithm update will look at the unique digging diversity of the individuals digging the story. Users that follow a gaming pattern will have less promotion weight.

I'm sorry did he just say that top Diggers..the very ones that have been submitting tons of quality material on his website for free..were "gaming" the system? I decided to submit this to Digg a few minutes later. I then went back to looking at more Digg stories. A few minutes later I looked at the upcoming stories. Uhm what the hell? "kevinrose" submitted the same exact thing I had submitted one minute after me? Nice dupe Kevin, way to break your own rules. Just a guess but maybe he wasn't fully satisfied the description I had given it:

Over the last (almost) two years we have learned a lot about the user base and how to defend digg from spam, artificial diggs, and digg fraud. It's a battle we will continue to fight and one that we don't take lightly.

Yes that's most likely it. His description obviously described the blog post much better:

"Over the last (almost) two years we have learned a lot about the user base and how to defend digg from spam, artificial diggs, and digg fraud. It's a battle we will continue to fight and one that we don't take lightly."

That's not even all of it. His story had a whopping 53 Diggs after just 19 minutes. Mine you ask? Well it had 12. Wow what a perfect example of how the friend system is TOTALLY flawed. My quality article never reached the front page, because someone with more friends than I submitted the SAME thing after me and it gets over 4 times as many Diggs as me in almost the same amount of time. Bullshit. So I figure both of these stories will make it to the front page only to clog up and waste space on it. Boy was I wrong. Shortly before it had a chance to reach the front page it magically disappeared from the upcoming stories list. Currently it has 68 Diggs, more than enough for it to be on the front page. After I got home to check on the comments of Kevin's story I noticed something rather sad at the bottom of the page. The top Digger "p9s50W5k4GUD2c6" is leaving Digg along with "Gregd". Here is what P9 had to say:

Dear Mr. Rose: So all of a sudden, my use of the BUILT-IN functionality of Digg amounts to gaming?

I ignored Digg's ice-cold level of support during the Netscape transition. Instead I stayed with Digg - for nothing.
I ignored Jay's jack-ass condescending T-Shirt comment.
I ignored the misbegotten algorithm you all put in place shortly after that that made it MISERABLY hard for any user to get to the front page (which is a big factor in this whole issue)
I overlooked all the red ink about I/we were FOOLS to digg so hard for you - the 60 Million Dollar Man.
I overlooked the Trademark fiasco and the treatment of Digg's users
I overlooked this: http://digg.com/music/EMI_in_free_music_downloads_deal and
But I will NOT overlook your tacit equation of BUSTING MY ASS for Digg with gaming.

As a direct result of your blog this evening. I will no longer no supporting Digg going forward. I bequeath my measly number one position to whoever wants to reign.

And for all of you that do nothing but bitch about your being PREVENTED from getting your stories dugg - here's your chance! Now YOU can spend all the time, all the effort and get stabbed in the back by fellow Diggers (aptly named) and then tossed to the side by a Digg team that values toilet paper with more worth than the core users that feed this site it's content every day.

I believe you to be a good man, Kevin. Well intentioned or not: your blog satisfied malcontents equipped with baseless allegations while you effectively urinated on your top diggers (correction: top gamers). I wish you well. I will be turning over the Digg Users Support Group to someone else.

To my many friends - I will miss you.
P9

That sucks, Digg lost a valuble submitter. He spent tons of time per day looking for interesting things for Digg, only to be called a "gamer" by Kevin himself, and some fellow Diggers. GregD had this to say:

Amen P9. You've stated everything that I've felt for the past few months. I called digg out on the t-shirt post and why people were trippin' when some of the top diggers left for Netscape. We get lumped into some fucking conspiracy because we bust our asses logging into digg everyday, submitting and digging stories.

There is no digg "community" and at this rate, there never will be.

Peace out bro..

PS: I quoted you on my blog..

Whatever I see where they're coming from. I'll Digg on and I hope everyone else continues to despite Kevin's idiotic remark.

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