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interesting post on possible manipulation of digg.com

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mouser:
interesting post on possible manipulation of digg.com

http://www.siliconvalleysleuth.com/2006/03/digg_is_used_fo.html

Scoop: Digg is used for Sun stock manipulation
Something extremely weird is going on over on Digg.com. Today for the third time in a short period, a story got promoted to the front page where a blogger raises a baseless rumour about Google buying Sun. And as is explained further down, it appears that this is the result of a coordinated effort to fool Digg into promoting the story.
The blog author has no sources, zero credibility and most importantly his reasoning is completely erratic.
...
I can only guess about the motives of this group. Hopefully they are just trying to prove that Digg is easy to manipulate – in the worst case, they are speculating against Sun's stock price for financial gain.
--- End quote ---

this is an inherent problem in any group-dynamics system - being open to manipulation for marketing and publicity.

mouser:
Another article about digg stuff that seems problematic:

http://www.siliconvalleysleuth.com/2006/08/is_the_digg_eli.htm

Digg is falling victim to its own success, blogger Jason Dowdell charges.: http://www.marketingshift.com/2006/8/downfall-digg-forthcoming-here-why.cfm

"Now that the social news site is using "karma scores" to rank stories in addition to plain Digg votes, the service has given rise to a small elite of users who determine which stories make it to the front page. "
--- End quote ---

But the system has been taken too far. Is has become practically impossible for a regular user to have his submission end up on the front page, Dowdell charges. Instead of questioning his headline writing skills, he went looking for a conspiracy - and found one: Top diggers have teamed up to create a Digg monopoly

"After contacting a few of the prominent "Diggers" in the sports section (who asked to remain nameless), I asked them all the same question on how their stories always get "dugg" and I was taken aback by the answers. These "diggers" all have some sort of advanced notification system, from email list servs, message board, and even IM bots to notify their digging network.
--- End quote ---

This seems to be a predictable outcome of digg and google, where it's become like SEO (search engine optimization), where there is a huge underground and winked-at competition between the site trying to hide their algorithms vs. the in-the-know manipulators who treat it like a game to see how to manipulate the system for monetary profit; and then the rest of the world can either try to get their snout in the door by playing the game or else lose out  :huh:

housetier:
the problem is the "monopoly" of these social sites and that they are not specialized enough. general blahblah is promoted beyond all measure. almost like "social spam" :o

to me digg is not useful because it is too general; I know what I want, what I am looking for. I have my own social network in place to get any information I seek. digg is not part of it. I have spent years building my social network, I have spent only months trying to convince myself of the usefulness of digg.

I think I'll cease to use digg and instead try other "social stuff". and speaking of the matter of networking, might I draw your attention to my site  :P

fun aside, unless digg specializes (channels?) more I dont see it still being used in 12 months time.

mouser:
ps. i am always posting these anti-digg sites (and anti-google sites) because i find so much flawed and troubling about the marketplace of publicity that they operate in, and the incentives to game these systems, and the success of gaming these systems.  however i feel compelled to keep repeating, i regularly check digg, and i use google search - i think they produce great results.  i'd just like to jump off their ship if i can find a better one :)

housetier:
I agree very much. I am just waiting for the next best thing...

I mostly use google search; if I need results specifically from/in German I use seekport.de. It has sponsored links but I like the column thingie when you select several types to search for: websites, images, shops...

I just do not benefit from digg as much as I benefit from google or del.icio.us (to keep on the "social" side). I don't really have strong ties with such services, so I am easy to jump onto the next, faster traintrend :)

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