Ever since the launch of Version 4 of Digg, people have been up in arms about how the site has essentially turned into nothing more than a glorified RSS dump for sites. In case you’ve missed the news, the biggest problem behind the new version is that it allows sites to push their RSS feeds directly into their timeline, which can cause the overall quality of front-page posts to diminish.
Much has been written about the things that need to happen in order for Digg to keep its users happy, but it seems that some people are taking the matter into their own hands.
A site that is similar in function (though don’t tell its users we said that), Reddit, has decided to show first hand what can happen because of how the new site is designed:
Yes, those are indeed 7 headlines on the front page of Digg, all submitted by the Reddit RSS users, as noted in the comments of our post.
Previously, it was harder to game Digg because a user would have to submit a link and then the link would have to be up voted by the population. However, due to the random nature of Reddit’s readership, it’s now quite easy to sway the entire front page as all articles are submitted regardless of how good, bad or indifferent.
While in the past Digg users might have responded in kind by overtaking Reddit, the backlash against Digg is more apparent than ever given the comments to to the Reddit articles:
- When you make a user-driven site, alienating the user base is a suicide.
- Like a biblical flood, the corporate bulls**t sinks under a thick layer of user-submitted material. Even though we needed Reddit’s help, it is beautiful.
- I go away for a day because I’m unable to bear watching Digg implode any longer and I come back to see Reddit taking total ownership of the front page. This is going from bad to utterly surreal.
So what is Kevin Rose’s next step? The first wave of changes almost certainly seem to have not been enough.
That is because the author is a “Reddit friend” od Digg… I see most posts from Leo Laporte :)
I’m sorry, but no. If you’re logged out of Digg, which I was, and go to http://digg.com/news that is what you’ll see.
Obviously, they’re not submitted by Reddit’s RSS. The users’ names responsible for submitting the link (‘submitted by’). This is a user revolt.
Ah, good point, Dario. I’ll update to mention that. Thanks!
Actually, those “submitted by” comments reference the submitter on Reddit. All the Digg stories were links to those Reddit stories, and all were auto-submitted by Reddit. You don’t see the submitter on Digg v4 until you are on the comments page.
You can check this easily for yourself if there is any doubt – new Reddit stories are hitting the Top News section constantly, despite Digg’s attempts to stem the tide (cool democracy, Kevin).
In case this wasn’t clear – it is definitely a user revolt, but a revolt which has taken the form of everybody “following” the Reddit RSS feed and Digging every single thing on it. It’s an eloquent protest about the very nature of auto-submission from well-followed members.
Ha ha ha, now 13 of the posts on the front page are from reddit. Hilarious.
Lucky the fall of digg coincides with the rise of niche sites like http://stock.ly I will never ever go back to digg.
http://advertific.com/thats-big-thats-digg/ why bury should be brought back
Wow this is very interesting, I would love to know how to do this too haha. Actually I really like the new digg website, It seems that getting followers has become a really important way to get more exposure on digg. Recently, I just read an interesting article that mentioned some effective ways to get more traffic through digg and get more followers on the digg website. I think its definitely worth a read
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Get-More-Followers-On-Digg