Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love digg.com.

A little over two years ago I wrote an article detailing some problems I could forsee with the up-and-coming content aggregation site digg.com, and while most of these have been fixed, one glaring problem still remains: the users.

Let me disclose that I am a shacker and I do digg the stories that shacknews submits to digg. Just like every other news site, shacknews submits some of their own articles. In addition to those articles submitted by the shacknews staff, users of shacknews also submit stories to digg.

I am not the first person to suggest there is a conspiracy of digg users to promote or bury articles they like or dislike. And it is fairly obvious they are targeting stories submitted by shacknews as most shackers only digg stories to help promote articles on shacknews itself. This is not a bad thing, it is exactly what digg was designed to do. However, the users are taking control of the site to push their own personal agendas; whether they are right or wrong.

So, in recent digg parody style, I submit a “Top Ten” list, as apparently digg users like “Top Ten” lists more than actual original content.

10. Unknown metrics to bury a story.
9. Abuse of bury reporting tool.
8. Promotion of poor content.
7. Promotion of un-original or “click through” content.
6. Promotion of anything krose posts.
5. Mob buries on stories that do not fit the mold.
4. Mob promotions of submissions, duplicate or not, from those within the “mafia”.
3. Unprofessional headlines and story summaries.
2. “Banning” sites for pointing out possible flaws with digg.
and lastly…
1. Burying stories from sites with an existing user-base who appear to be “gaming” digg when simply using it as it was intended. A way to promote quality content to a widespread audience.

This story to be burried in…