Reports are circulating that a group of politically conservative members have banded together on Digg to bury stories deemed to be too liberal to their liking and get the posters banned.
The online magazine AlternNet first reported the existence of the 100-member group, which call themselves Digg Patriots, and claims they have censored thousands of stories posted by hundreds of users, usually within one to three hours of submission. Articles that allegedly earned their ire were critical of the Republican Party, the Tea Party and Fox News. By knocking these stories off the site, the group also clears the way for stories more favorable to their political views. Digg is looking into the charges, says Kevin Rose, founder (via the Guardian).
The Importance of Digg
It is difficult to overstate the importance of Digg, even if its traffic is no longer as high as its heyday. The site, Read Write Web points out, is by far the most influential social media outlet, generating around 25 million page views per month - over one third of the page views of the New York Times. "Front page stories regularly overwhelm and temporarily shut down websites in a process called the 'Digg Effect.'"
Articles' popularity on the site is based on users voting up or down stories. But it is also susceptible to external gaming - an accusation levied at Digg over the years, which the site has downplayed.
v4
The next iteration of Digg, expected soon, supposedly will free the site from such shenanigans. The changes, designed to help users connect and make deeper inroads in social networks with its new features, also takes the reigns out of the hands of the power users, writes Next Web. New changes coming to the site include a follower list - similar to Twitter's. "This is going to funnel thousands of new followers to a select number of accounts," according to Next Web. "So far, most of these are publisher accounts, with a few exceptions. In short, the websites that create the content are going to have a massive follower advantage on the people that are to promote it."
Ordinary people - and its power users - will still have a strong voice too, it continued. "A submission brought in via RSS from, say ATTSUCKSCrunch.com will only reach the people that directly follow that account, meaning that they need their followers (normal users) to get the word out. Power users are the bridge between publisher and reader, as before, but in a different location."
