Hello again, my social networking friend!

After sifting through all of the comments on my recent article “Inconvenient Truths of the Digg Front Page” I realized that many digg users had already noticed the digg’s problems, and were already looking for solutions.  Though looking wouldn’t be the best way to put it, since most of the ideas thought up were ill conceived, and probably thought up on the spot.  Some of the suggestions could work, but I doubt Digg would change it’s infrastructure after being so successful, for so long.  It seems that the fear of change is still present, even in the internet generation where we should be thriving on change by now.

Some Facts:

• Despite users constantly gaming the system “so to speak”, most of the articles that make it to the front page are quite interesting.  Though there are some/many that would disagree, you have to consider the fact that Digg’ers don’t have to Digg their friends articles.  Even though some people feel a certain obligation to digg shit stories just because their friends (people who they don’t even know) shared it with them.  The fact is, you Do Not Have to Digg Your Friend’s Articles, and chances are… they won’t even notice you didn’t, so No Hard Feelings.
• Some people ridiculously want to remove shouts and friends, while this may seem like a good idea at first, it really isn’t.  If shouting wasn’t allowed, then there would be almost no articles that ended up on the homepage.  Digg would be in a state of constant Upcoming, because there was no push for any certain articles.  Then, the only articles that did get to the front page, would be the sites that had the most readers to begin with.  That means the only stuff you’d ever see would be from sites like Crack, break, xkcd bleh (always forget the order/letters), huffington, and etc…  One could narrow that list down to the sites who have digg buttons next to their posts, because people don’t want to go out of their way to digg articles.
• My stance on Duplicates:  Say, you were to submit an article that you thought was really interesting, and it ended up getting 2 diggs.  One from you, and one from some random guy who happened to look at the first page of upcoming at the right time.  Three days later, someone else diggs that same article (from a different url mind you) and it get’s to the front page.  You have absolutely no reason to believe that person ripped it from you, and if he/she did then so what?  The content you originally wanted people to see has now been seen, you’re just not credited for getting it seen.  That’s why we have users like MrBabyMan, Zaibatsu, Badwithcomputer, MakiMaki, and etc…  They understand how digg works, and how to get articles popular.
• Digg is a huge website, with an almost uncountable amount of users.  With however many articles there are being submitted each day, not using some sort of digg boosting tactic means your article won’t be seen.  It’s plain and simple, though some people argue that they’re able to get to the front page without a single friend, and without ever shouting.  I highly doubt that these words are verifiable, unless spoken of in a long ago sort of past tense.

In Direct Response Too (Some of the Comments on Digg):

• Amazing. It honestly feels like yesterday when you can submit a story and it’d be on the first page of “Upcoming” for atleast 20 minutes.-deltron It wasn’t
• I honestly think the best way to do away with it is get rid of friends and shouts, I really don’t see a point other than shameless self promotion, if you want friends go to facebook or a bar or something, I just don’t think it has much of a place on digg other than to create the atmosphere we are all complaining about. -kawaiirobo Solution: eliminate “friends” on digg. bxblox
  
  Which articles would end up on the front page then?  None, or the ones from sites with big digg buttons on their posts, and lot’s of readers.
• I dunno, it’s very early in the process to say it with certainty, but I think this recommendation engine might change all that. For a while perhaps, anyhow. I don’t think I’ve dugg a MrBabyMan article since the change. The only politcal article on the front page right now is from the Onion and it’s about Bush. Weirdness. That’s not to say that suddenly there’s great content filling up the front page, but it looks like there’s been an impact. -MrTito
  
  With everyone complaining about how Digg is going downhill, I don’t really think there is much of an argument here.  Not saying anyone is trying to argue, but I haven’t seen much of a difference made by the new “Recommended” system, nor do I think Digg is going downhill.  It’s supposed to give you/me the articles that we would deem as most interesting, yet the average digg user (I’m assuming) diggs a wide range of articles, along with most of the front page articles, so it’s impossible to know what I’m really interested it.  Or in other words, I digg interesting things, and interesting isn’t really a category, so how can they suggest it to me?
• If people only submitted articles that they honestly thought were good then there wouldn’t be thousands of articles in upcoming. It would be much easier for people to browse upcoming and chose the really good ones from the few and have an extremely quality website. Instead people submit every website they see in the hopes of getting to the frontpage or to get traffic to their site or a billion other reasons that have nothing to do with whether or not the content is actually good. In most cases the content isn’t good. -Mononuclear This comment truly Miffs me, partially because I know it to be true, and partially because I’m trying to figure out how it’s false.  When i don’t understand things, I start to feel like everyone should act exactly like I do, and that’s definitely not how it works.  So like Mononuclear goes on to say, stop digging crap that not even you find interesting, because nobody else is going to find it interesting either.  For those of you who submit articles from your own website (like me), shouldn’t you at least make sure what you’re submitting is remotely intriguing?  Try to pick only a select few stories of the utmost quality, and maybe digg would be a better place.  You don’t see people like MakiMaki submitting every (let alone any) articles from his website DoshDosh, because he knows they’re not relevant to the general interests of most digg users.
• My question is this: WHAT IS SO AWESOME ABOUT HAVING A STORY YOU SUBMIT HIT THE FRONT PAGE? More specifically, what is so awesome about it that one would, as the link suggests, “try to get over 100 diggs before 24 hours is spent” or spend time building a sizable network of “friends”? Is there a cash prize? Is it just sort of a for-the-hell-of-it game with a validating win?- thekassette Sometimes it’s for sad and lonely reasons. Hence people who want to get articles on the frontpage of digg. Makes them feel special when in reality it’s a worthless accomplishment that nobody gives a fuck about. thedogfatherx (a reply, a good one)
  
  For many people, there is a cash prize, though they are just the recluse internet marketers who you will never have heard about.  For the others, it’s the recognition you get,  popularity, and feeling of signifigance/dominance over others who are incapable of doing what you do.  Also, if you want someone to read something in order to understand the subject, and it doesn’t get to the front page, nobody will read it, and nobody will care.
• Also, this guy’s writing style is really annoying. The little “oh, look how I am self-analyzing my own writing in the middle of my article” thing got old quick. -Neo829
  
  
  PFFFT… Well I do see your point.
• Is the writer of this article a non-English speaker, or just a complete moron? Really, putting an apostrophe in “gets”? Buried due to unbelievable idiocy, which is the more likely explanation, because, well, it’s the internet (and the simpleton’s About page is still the default Wordpress template.) -fonograph Thanks for helping me to better myself
• get a job, or get married, or make the world a better place, or have some kids, or get a hobby, or go volunteer; it’s not that serious.…Nobody said it was
• Fucking digg comment box, bouncing up and down like some shit. Can’t hit the save comment button. arjie
  
  Goodnight