Is Digg Broken??? NOOO!!!

There has been a recent flurry of stories on digg about how the so-called “top 30” basically control what is being dugg to the front page. Some going even as far as to claim that the Digg developers are in “cahoots” with the top 30 to suppress the average joe user.

More or less the scenario is that the top 30 are very active on digg, they are not just casual users. They devote a ton of time doing something they enjoy submitting links and stories from the various corners of the web. The top 30 diggers digg a lot of what the rest of the top 30 submit. Why? Because they submit useful & informative stories? Not because they are trying to keep the “man” down.

It’s seems that a lot of diggers are upset over what they perceive as digg tilting towards a elitist editorial system that has plagued us techies for the previous decade. Many diggers are shouting “let’s bury the fuckers!”, “ban them!”, “the circle-jerk club strikes again”. Suggesting a backlash against the top 30 via auto-burying their stories. In all honesty is auto-burying top diggers any better than people auto-digging their friends? Honestly i think alot of people are basing this on their own inablility to get stories on the front page. The reality is that they probably dont deserve to be.

This reactionary backlash being shown on digg is just that. Over reacting. The top 30 diggers themselves right now do not have the power to keep their stories afloat alone. Who’s doing it then??? It’s Me and you! Normal digg users keep these guys in the top 30 because they constantly submit quality stories and are usually the first to do so. The friend feature is a useful tool on digg it helps sort through the controlled-chaos of FUD, spam, and lame stories. You know those you mark as your friends are like minded and submit quality stuff. A lot of people have befriended the top 30, simple math says they are more likely to be on the front page.

Kevin Rose and the digg crew should (and I believe they do) know that no democratic system is perfect there will always be flaws and people looking to game the system. They should stick to fixing bugs and stay out of the people accusing digg of being unfair, and shouldn’t consider any action against the top 30. Don't play god and let the community/system straighten itself out.

What it comes down to is this is a community problem that the community needs to deal with, if the community deems that the top 30 need to go, and start consistently burying their stories, than such is a democracy, but if people continue to digg the top 30’s stories then don’t cry foul.