When Digg was Great
There was a time, I vaguely recall, when Digg was a must read. Nearly every item unearthed some smart, interesting bit of inside knowledge, tech news before it became mainstream, fascinating observations that you would otherwise miss. Back then, the algorithms determining what got on the front page were susceptible to what people later called "gaming," which meant that groups of people with special interest would work together to drive things to the front page.
I haven't followed this very closely, but I gather than sometime within the last year, there was an effort to democratize the process, and the algorithms were changed. Now diggs from similar IPs that mutually dugg some previous item are discounted as a possible sign of gaming. What this new system did was disempower the micro-oligarchies that had previous arisen to promote obscure stories that should be of general interest.
Now, the stories that hit the front page are truly more "democratic," and read like it. Specialization and sector-specific knowledge is discounted. You hardly ever discover things for which you are grateful. It is more like the mainstream news, like an electronic version of stuff you see at the checkout counter at the grocery store. Right now, for example, I see items like "The 15 nuttiest celebrity stalkers" and "15 Futuristic Green Housing Innovations." Yuk. The promoted stories are those that are dugg by the most diverse groups of people, which is to say that we end up being alerted to what people already know.
People tend to assume that oligarchies are anti-competitive and lead to unfairness or a less-than-desirable outcome. This is not always true, as the Digg case shows. When the system was being gamed by groups of geek oligarchies, it was much better. They competed with each other to push forward ever more interesting and smart and obscure stuff you would otherwise not see but for the super specialists driving them to the front page through various tactics. Now their work is discounted and we get "democratic" results that are generally dumbed down and mainstream and frankly uninteresting. The whole site has lost about 30 IQ points.
I note that their traffic has fallen from the top 100 to 300 since the Spring. Bring back the geek oligarchy and save Digg!
P.S. Digg this if you want to but it won't go anywhere.
Comments (9)
My disgust with Digg began when Mises.org and Ron Paul stories would get hundreds of diggs, and never see the front page.
The "gaming" of the system was far more evident in the kinds of stories that would be crushed, than by those that would be strangely promoted. And it has only gotten worse.
Democracy sucks. I like the tyranny of Mises.org, or LewRockwell, or even YouTube, where each editor/person lists those things that they are interested in. No voting.
For that matter, F/OSS works that way too. The "vote" is only whether or not to use it. What is in an application depends entirely on the team or tyrant who puts it together.
Another good reason to abolish the public schools is the reduction in mindless preaching that "democracy" is some kind of overwhelming good.
Published: October 7, 2008 10:09 AM
Jeff,
the one thing about digg is that 99% of users slam McCain & Palin (and do so like they get paid for it - ie a lot) and heap unconditional accolades upon Obama. I am no neo-con but I don't think Obama is materially better than McCain.
Published: October 7, 2008 10:16 AM
Great point Jeff. I too have noticed digg has gone downhill, and this explanation makes a lot of sense.
Published: October 7, 2008 2:13 PM
Right now, for example, I see items like "The 15 nuttiest celebratory stalkers"...
Actually that WOULD be a cool article. Did you mean to type "celebrity stalkers"? :)
Published: October 7, 2008 3:53 PM
Whoops! Fixed.
Published: October 7, 2008 4:01 PM
oh here is another one that hit the front page, one which only the David Gordon could really like: "Boxer Steals WBC Belt From Opponent Pre-Fight & Storms Off"
Published: October 7, 2008 4:05 PM
Excellent observation. I've noticed that digg has become little more than a tool for promoting Obama and publicizing mainstream articles. It was supposed to be focused around technology, but there are more technologically sophisticated articles in most mainstream magazines.
Published: October 7, 2008 4:38 PM
Reddit is the new Digg—the conversation there is much better.
Published: October 7, 2008 6:05 PM
64 diggs and nowhere to be found even close to the front page. It's because these diggs come from Mises.org readers and are therefore discounted in the algorithms. So instead we are treated to "10 Ways to Eat More Bacon"
Published: October 9, 2008 8:07 AM