makemoneyfromhometips.com Blog

Tech Stories Not Dugg On Digg?

May 15, 2008 on 5:12 pm | In teasas tips | 2 Comments

At the Digg Town Hall meeting the other night, users expressed opinions on the direction of Digg. Many were concerned that the user experience is not as gratifying as it once was. Political stories involving Barack or Hillary hold down front page prime real estate. Much to the chagrin of many users. The stories that made Digg unique, tech stories seem to be ignored.

The live session was hosted online by Digg founder Kevin Rose and CEO Jay Adelson. Digg users were asked to post suggestions and questions on topics they wanted covered. The top 10 comments on the thread were addressed. Kevin and Jay allowed additional live questions that were sent to a special email address given at the start of the meeting.

The comments system, the decline of tech stories and the direction of Digg were discussed. One commenter, BigManOnCampus wondered,…”if Digg itself hasn’t been completely hijacked by activists…” Kevin responded that politics is “hot” right now, and “that there never really will be the ultimate homepage that satisfies everyone.” He added that Digg is seeking to add new features that allow additional user customization.

BigManOnCampus certainly has a point. There are a lot of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stories on the front page of Digg. It seems that if one of the candidates sneezes, it makes the front page easily.

The decline of tech stories on Digg is also a hot topic these days. Jay disagreed with user Erfus, responding that “tech content on Digg is alive and well.” His recommendation was for users like Erfus to customize their settings and go into their profiles to change the landing page.

I haven’t submitted any Tech stories to Digg yet, but in looking through the categories, tech stories are not that prevalent on Digg. Basically, Digg’s culture has changed since 2005. And change is good right?

Which brings me to the question PyroRaver had about the direction Digg has taken. PyroRaver felt that Digg has been taken over by “rude agenda driven people who have made the Digg experience less enjoyable.”

Jay agreed noting that Digg is addressing the issue of spam comments getting in and that “future changes to the algorithm” will fix this problem.

For me the rudeness comes in the form of comments. I know of at least two of my blogging frineds who have dealt with rude commenters. Just today I Dugg a story on the new Tesla sports car, and one commenter wrote, “…who gives a f**k?” Totally uncalled for. If you don’t care about what’s being submitted, then why are you reading it? No one cares that you don’t care, the story had already been made popular, this commenter was trying to get enough people to give the story a thumbs down so that it could be buried. And sure enough there four others who followed this negative commenter, however, the story survived and made the front page.

That’s my biggest problem with Digg. The quality of stories can not continue to thrive if this type of behavior is allowed. I know Jay is talking about an algorithm to fix the spam comments, but will it fix the ignorant people who have no life, no friends but the ones on the internet.

As a traffic generator, getting to the front page is an awesome experience I’ve been told. It can generate 40,000+ visits in a 2-3 day period. The key is finding out how to master Digg and getting your article to the front page.

That’s just what Ty Hurd of Ty’s Blog, Kat of Promotional Magazine, and I have been researching and working on. Breaking the Digg Code. Keep reading for updates to find out how you can break the Digg Code.

Posted by Teasa’s Tips