Tip'd: A Repeat Of Digg?

Tip'd was went online this week. For those who are not familiar with this site, it was put together by one of the heavy hitters on Digg, msaleem. He, along with a couple of anonymous business people, started a Digglike site to focus upon business articles. This seems like a viable model and one that I hope to see work.

There are a couple of problems with Digg. The most obvious is that facist attitude they took in banning many people. Many feel they were unfairly prosecuted when they did nothing against the TOS. Also, the fact that most of the heavy hitters were left untouched when there is evidence they engaged in behavior that got others banned show preferential treatment. Many posts on this site and others reflects people's anger at this.

The second area is the liberal slant on Digg. Some feel they were banned because of comments they put up in defense of moderate or conservative ideas. One look at the front page will instantly tell you how the site leans. At any given time the front page is filled with anti McCain articles. Of course, there is not a single anti Obama one in site.

That is Digg. The point of this article is that Tip'd is offering a different beginning. Or is it? Msaleem, in an effort to get the site moving, tapped into many of his Digg friends. Will we see a repeat of Digg. I certainly hope not. But, these people cannot stop going to the sites that slant to the left. Sadly, they think it is business news.

The example that prompted this post was an attack on "Joe The Plumber". The left wing media is loving the game of uncovering dirt on this guy while discrediting him any way they can. That is what they do. However, for people to post this on Tip'd as business news is a repeat of Digg. I only hope that it does not go down the path. Unfortunately, since most are Digg retreads, this is not likely. The only hope is that the moderators stop this behavior off before it starts.

Stay tuned to see which route they take.

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Digging a Grave

Is digg dying a death ?

It seems that more and more are being banned and more and more of the submissions to this once great site are ‘repeats’ and things that were buried by the now banned members.

To be banned from digg all it takes is to open more than one link at a time, read them all and then digg them, you do not have to use a bot or a script, you do not have to do anything wrong as stated in their term except not follow like a sheep and click one story at a time and then wait an hour before you read the next, I have yet to work out how you can take 5 minutes looking at a picture, you open it, look at it, like or dislike it and move on, 1 minute tops !

I personally know of a family, 3 seperate members who were banned as they were told they were using a script or a bot as the activity on their account was ‘erratic’ They all work so they used to come onto dig at various times during the day, this it seems was classed as ‘erratic’. They also say that you have the right to appeal against a decision, again this is FALSE...... they will not enter into any discussion with a banned member, they have a stock email they send out and will not reconsider even when asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, here is a copy of the mail I received from them ...

Greetings from Digg.com,

We have found activity from your account showing the use of a bot/script/macro to Digg stories, which is explicitly against the Terms of Service (digg.com/tos) you agreed to. The account has been banned permanently, and will not be reinstated.

Because we must be vigilant in protecting against activities that compromise the Digg community, this decision is final and irreversible.

Thank you,

-Digg Support


How is this a discussion ? How is this proper and fair treatment ? As far as I can see its not, they are not prepared to listen to anyone and as such they are starting to dig a grave for themselves, how long before they bury themselves in the hole they are creating ?

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What type of Friend are you ?

I am a member of Digg, and within that membership, I have 98 friends. I thought this was a nice number until I started to submit some things to the site. Now don’t take me wrong, I don’t flood the site with crap; I don’t post 10/15 per day. I just submit one possibly two a week, things that I find interesting and which I think others might as well. So where is the problem?

The problem lies in the fact that I spend my time on digg shouting and digging my ‘ friends’ submissions and shouts they send me, I look at things that interest me on the popular and upcoming sections, I basically do what I was under the impression one does when on a social site, yet when I submit and shout things, out of the 98 friends only 46 receive my shouts as the others have requested not to receive shouts. This is fair enough, but for some reason it doesn’t stop them sending me 5/10 shouts a day asking for Diggs and shares on their submission. It seems a bit one sided to me to be honest.

So what are you meant to do? Can someone explain the rules to me? Do I ignore the shouts and requests as mine are ignored? Do I add more friends hoping that if I have 200 then possibly 100 might digg my submissions? And why do you want to add friends if you have no intention of actually being a friend and helping a submission but sharing and digging. I am not saying Digg blindly but I am asking for a bit of consideration to those on your friend list. If you have no intention of actually being a friend, then remove yourself from their list; it saves everyone time and some considerable effort,,, oohh but wait if you did that then none of your submissions and requests would be answered would they.

Which category do you fit into? Are you a friend or are you a user? Is your profile switched off to receiving shouts? Only you will be able to answer that but look at how many times you have dugg a friends submissions and answered their shouts, that will give you a good indication, me... well I am a friend .

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One, Two, Three,Four

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

Wait awhile then digg some more

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

Take a breathe, you need to wait

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

STOP !!!!

OMG you dugg a lot

You have to stop, cease and desist

Or your name goes on the list

You digg and shout as thats the way

Of the social sites today

But unless your part of the inner crew

Then digg’s big brother watches you

He times your diggs, your shouts and submissions

How dare you join the fun with no permission

You too close to the 'famed' front page

Your sending diggers into a rage

But not to worry your submissions canned

And as from now you are banned

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What is going on with Digg ?

What in the world is going on with Digg ? Has anyone else noticed the low numbers now needed to get to the front page ? Where once you needed two of three hundred minimum diggs to get to the holiest of Front Pages now it seems that 100 will do. Something is seriously wrong on this site at the moment.

I was one of the 100 that were banned, now some may have been banned for a reason and some may have deserved to b banned but I did not, I never used a script, a ‘bot’ or any other means to dig a submission, I used my fingers and my eyes and I read them, commented if I had anything to say and then dugg them, yet still I was banned and no reply was forth coming from digg, I have tried on numerous occasions to email them I have asked for the supervisor and I have written and told them my usual dig habits and even my work schedule so they could see that I dug at certain time of the day or evening because of life commitments and still they will not answer me.

I spent a lot of time gathering friends on the site, I painstakingly read their submissions and shouts and dugg them and shouted out to other friends, this is what I was mistakenly under the impression people did for each other on a social site, they socialised and if an article was sent to me that I enjoyed, then I wanted to share it with others, be it a joke, a picture or a blog item, all have their ways of improving someones day.

I will admit that I have opened another account on digg and have at the moment got 97 friends, not too many and not too few but it seems that although they are happy to send shouts out asking for a digg on a certain post or for me to shout something for them, they are unwilling to do the same for others, again this is showing on the front page numbers, so I ask the question why do they want to be friends ? This never happened before, everyone was more than happy to shout and dig for another but looking at the quality of articles now being submitted and the amount of re posts it seems the ones who were banned might actually have been amongst those who were keeping dig in the social media spot light.

A lot has been said about the famous inner circle and yes I agree that if they are ‘cheating’ the system and being given special treatment then they need to go BUT for the ones banned that were not doing anything wrong then this is grossly unfair and something needs to change in the way they determine who is doing what and how. Take a look at the front page, you will see what I am talking about, there are fewer and fewer things being dug and fewer and fewer good stories being submitted, unfortunately as it stand at the moment then reddit has the lead on digg, a big lead that is going to take months to recover from unless something is done and done soon.

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The Digg Controversy

Seems that the Digg controversy continues. There is a rift between the people who are viewed as manipulating the system by using scripts and those who want everyone banned. One of my last pieces was about the sissies who have only cybercourage. These people are as destructive to Digg as the ones who try to manipulate the system.

The bottom line is Digg truly has no idea who is using scripts. They claim to be hitting people based upon the suspicion of it. This from an organization which prides itself on being a democracy. I guess we cannot expect anything more from a bunch of flaming liberals. The accusations that Digg is in cahoots with the DNC was furthered by their interview with Nancy Pelosi. This organization is about as democratic as Red China.

Digg went through and banned a number of its top users. However, it seems most were in the middle of their top 1,000. Very few elite diggers were hit. This is cause to believe they are in bed with the Digg organization. I can see why some of the other people are whining. They feel it unfair that the top diggers use scripts (or blind diggs) when they abide by the rules. It would seem that they have a valid point in a democratic organization. Of course, if these people want fairness, they need to go to StumbleUpon. Digg is anything but that.

For all who are interested, here is a list of the Top 1,000 on Digg and what happened to them.

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StumbleUpon Stepping Up

Is Stumble trying to take advantage of the recent events at Digg? It seems they are although I would surmise the timing is purely coincidental. Stumble made some changes to the site which should enhance the attractiveness to it's users. Basically, they are expanding the capabilities of the system.

To start, they removed the 200 friend limit. For those who are really "social", this is welcomed news. I would say the people from Digg will like this move.

Also, the system will remove friends who are no longer active from your list. This is really handy since there is nothing more frustrating than realizing that your list is half empty. Digg keeps the names of the people who had accounts closed. Many who were friends with the banned were surprised to find that most of their friends were gone. Digg will leave them there eternally.

Another nice feature is that new people appear at the top of your friends list. This is a nice way to ensure that the newer people get some focus.

Finally, you can have a friend without getting their Stumbles or vice versa. From a time management standpoint, this makes life easier since it removes some clutter. Even though people are our friends, we do not always have the same interests. Now, you can choose what you like to see.

This could be another small step in the demise of Digg. When you are the big boy, there is no place to go but down. The recent activities over there might open the door. StumbleUpon seems intent on making a play for that place.

Here is the link to Stumble's official posting.

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Digg's Inner Circle

We all know who they are. Mr. Babyman. Badwithcomputer. Zaibatsu. These people live on the front page of Digg. Check out their profiles and you find they get 25%-40% of their submissions to go popular. That is a terrific percentage. It pays $10 million+ a year in baseball. I imagine it also pays rather well on Digg. Most of us heard the rumors about corporations paying for front page results. Hell, we all know that it is worth a few grand to the right company.

I wrote how Digg is run by a bunch of communists. Kevin Putin is reigning with an iron fist. He is protecting those who made him. Sadly for him (happily for everyone else), he is banking on the wrong people. An organization needs to grow and expand. While he might have three million registered users, there are a lot less who actually visit on a regular basis. I only need to look at my fan list to see all those who signed up and never returned to the site. My guess is that is over 25% of my fan base.

This week the "reds" at Digg cleaned house banning eveyone who used a script. As mentioned in this article, people had their accounts closed based upon suspicion. Digg did not take the time to determine if these people indeed did cheat the system. Obviously, some of that group deserved what they got. However, I personally know of at least two people who did not use a script of any kind. It matters little to Kevin Putin and his gang.

This makes me wonder: why were these people banned? It seems there is something more to this equation than a few scripts making lives easier. I believe the protection of the inner circle was at the core of this. There was not a single member of this elite group banned even though there was documented cases of script using based upon digg times. One post even copied the digg times of MrBabyman to show that he dugg 80+ in less that three minutes. To me, this is more evidence of cheating than provided by those who were actually banned by Digg. Yet, MrBabyman is in the inner circle. The ones banned were not.

Everyone whose account was closed had many diggs. They were the "up and comers" on Digg, having amassed 15,000 or more diggs. These were the people who were starting to get a few stories on the front page. This is a threat to Kevin's cherished inner group. Thus, he needed to protect them. How Hitleresque of him? He pulled out the cyberspace version of the gas chamber. Eliminate those you do not like.

Personally, I hope his piece of crap enterprise collapses. Many will say that is impossible since Digg is so established. Lehman Brothers was established also and look at what happened to them. Google backed away from the deal to acquire Digg. They also discount the traffic that is sent to a site since they know there is a chance it is a farce. Digg is manipulated from the top down. On there, life is not a democracy. Welcome to Russia Comrade!

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The Cyber Fairies

You see them on all the social bookmarking sites. These are the individuals who levy the harshest responses to people's comments. I am sure you experienced this. You post something on one of the sites that is of interest to you (and possibly others). Suddenly, after letting it sit for a while, you go back to see what happened with your submission. That is when it happens. In reading the comments, you find there are some who slam you really hard.

These individuals have a good case of cybercourage. It is very similar to the beer muscles you find about 1 hour before closing time at any local bar. People have a lot more courage when they have a few in them. Cybercourage is exactly the same. These fairies have the anonymity of the Internet. They can hide behind this while saying things they would utter in person. They are the bitches of the web.

Who suffers from cybercourage? Typically, it is your little geek who was always abused in high school. He or she might be at the stage in life where they are alone, having run everyone off. Or, perhaps, they are total inept socially. Regardless, they are the ones who cower in a corner if they are confronted in person. These people lurk primarily on Digg and Reddit. They can feel like they are important.

How do you find these people? They are very easy to spot on Digg for example. These are the ones with a profile that reads something like this:

Diggs 32
Comments 6,453
Submissions 31

Obviously, this is an exaggeration. Nevertheless, you get the gist of what I am referring to. It is time to slap the fairies around. The next time you encounter them, just simply respond with a "fairy" in their posts. If enough people do that, they will begin to get the message.

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Digg Is Run By Communists

I am still a card carrying member on Digg (for today anyway). After the recent events on Digg, I decided to set up this site as a means of connecting with all those who are being screwed by that communist organization. At the same time, if the other ones are being unfair, we would like to know about that.

For those who are unaware, Digg is in the process of permanently banning people for using scripts/bots. It seems that many of the top diggers utilize(d) this feature which is against Digg's TOS. The people who used this deserved to get their account closed. Bcuban wrote an article detailing his exploits a few weeks before the latest round of attacks. He readily admitted what he did (twice) in an effort to rapidly move to the "inner circle". The script enabled him to save time while digging massive amounts of articles.

So where is the beef if they are throwing cheaters off? If that is all that Digg is doing, there would be no beef. However, Digg is randomly hitting those who have a lot of diggs in a short period of time. People are having their accounts closed without any defense. This is sheer communism. Kevin Ross is the social networking version of Putin. Everyone on digg who is not in his inner circle is a Georgian waiting for the troops to roll in. This earns Kevin Ross the dogpuke award of the week.

It is possible to Digg a lot without a script. I, personally, had an account where I did 5,000 in less that 48 hours. Digg closed that account after the two days. I will tell you that I never used a script on that account-not for shouts, submissions, or friend lists. Since I was so new, I did not even know anything about scripts. I just dugg my ass off for the better part of two days. Does anyone know how much you can digg if you open up a full page of submissions in different tabs? I can tell you it is a helluva lot.

So, what did the communists at Digg do when they closed that account? They shut it down without warning. When questioned, they told me that my digging was something that resembled using a script or a bot which is against the TOS (not the exact terminology but the meaning is the same). Notice how it said that it resembled, not that they could prove that I was using a script. The bottom line is that there was no script or bot used.

We need to applaud Google's decision to withdraw from their pursuit of Digg. Kevin Putin should have taken whatever they were offering. His asset is now at the highest. The life cycle of companies on the Internet is short. Look at Yahoo's acquisition of Cuban's Broadcast.com. Who would pay $5.90 let alone $5.9 billion?

The bottom line is that Digg is going to be a constant whipping boy on this blog. If you were abused by this Stalinist regime, please email us at socialbookmarkingrants@gmail.com.

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