Digging (and blogging) in Fear
This is a guest post. Author requested to remain anonymous.
When I first came to Digg in 2006, I lurked around the pages for several months. It was a tool to me, something that I could use to get the latest tech news. I eventually joined in 2007 and started posting stories, mostly from my employer’s site, which was tech related.
In July, 2007, I launched my own blog. I was never a successful Digger, but I watched and learned and started mimicking some of the people who were hitting the front page. I dugg a lot of stories in an effort to get noticed, and one day, it worked. I had a story that I submitted from Mashable hit the front page. From there, I was hooked.
I would submit every tech story I could find that was interesting. Sometimes it was from my own site, sometimes it was from my new employer’s site, but mostly it was just cool stuff. I made a lot of friends and in January, 2008, my site hit the front page. My server held up, my site got a lot of exposure, and I was on cloud 9.
Oh, how the Digg world has changed. I used the Digg Friends Easier script for a long time. Luckily, I removed it as soon as I read their blog post, so I have not been banned yet. Yet. That’s the scary part. That’s what really gets me about all this.
I’m scared, and I’m strongly considering leaving the site altogether. Other social media sites are so much more like what Digg used to be. They aren’t the Diggstapo. Digg should be much more worried about getting spammed than about removing members who were doing exactly what Digg encouraged them to do. They Dugg. How they dugg isn’t an issue that should get them banned forever. If they want to ban people, like they did Brian Cuban, then they should warn them and ban them, but to make it permanent, to broadside a lot of people who didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong – that’s the sign of a company who truly does not want to put any effort into working with their community.
Where’s the forum? Where’s the diversity? All we get are bans and rhetoric. It’s pitiful.
Yes, I’m scared to Digg a lot of stories. I’m scared to post this to my own blog (even though it’s perfect for this post) and I’m scared to attach my name to it. I like Digg and I don’t want to be banned. The fact that I (and many, many others) are scared of what Digg will do to us if we don’t walk their unclearly defined line is why Digg really needs to come out, apologize for their irrational behavior of late, blame it on the beer, and give people some peace of mind.
Digg, unban with a harsh warning those who have been banned over scripts and lift your limits on the way we can digg stories. It’s the right thing to do.
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