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Digg manipulation service speaks: Q&A with user/submitter
The user/submitter service offers promition for stories on the Digg.com service at a fee. As we wrote last week, we have our doubts about the credibility of the service. The site at the time didn't respond to our questions, but over the weekend the (anonymous) individual(s) behind the service send a reply that we've paste below.
User/submitter charges publishers a $20 setup fee in addition to $1/per digg. Individuals who vote on the stories get paid 16.7 cents per digg (50 cents for every 3).
We tested voting for the service last week which resulted in our Digg account getting banned within hours. Users who persist and create additional accounts have been hit by IP bans, completely blocking their access to the website. User/submitter has since responded by removing direct links to the Digg.com website and advising users to add diggs to random stories to prevent detection.
But enough introdction. What follows are user/submitter's answers to some questions that we asked by email:
When did User/Submitter launch?
We aren't sure exactly.
The general idea was conceptualized many months ago, but the foundation
wasn't laid until August. The project had dispersed into several
radically different forms before we finally decided on making the
"User/Submitter" variant public. During what was supposed to be a
mostly-isolated testing phase, we were hit with a trickle of unexpected
members. Before we could lock the shop, a few Submitters had already
expressed interest. Granted, we eventually had to keep the gates open
if the project was to ever be endeavored.
Have you had any contact with Digg regarding your service?
No.
Do you expect any response from them?
We don't expect too
much of a public breath in our direction, but initiating a private
dialog would be in their best interests. (And, no, we're not cleverly
hinting at extortion or anything remotely similar.)
Who, in general, are the types of submitters signing up for the service?
You
would be surprised at the number of A-list sites (say, Alexa Top 3000)
that have used User/Submitter already (during and after the public's
general reception). You might be surprised at a certain political
group's determination to infiltrate Digg. That aside, mostly blogs –
individuals interested in SEO [search engine optimization] and increasing visitor conversion rates.
Any specific industries or topics on Digg that seem to be more interested in your service than others?
Since
Digg is a news site, the industry of news and news blogging is most
common. Unsurprisingly, considering the background of Digg, a lot of
Submitters have been pushing Tech-related stories onto Users.
Are there any concerns that User/Submitter will lower the credibility of Digg and its ranking system?
Absolutely.
But that stems from the notion of Digg lowering the credibility of
Digg. Fact is, because of Digg's overgenerous social nature, the active
participants that mold the Digg network are suffering (whether they
know it or not) from a) their lack of digging privacy and b) the weight
of the network. We're not at all claiming that Digg is a social failure
and users should give up hope, but we're placing the spotlight on some
ridiculously wide holes in their social atmosphere -- holes that need
closing. The 'loose social networking' trend is over. Digg needs to
regress some of its social networking features.
While it's possible that we could determine nearly every front page story on digg, that's not our goal; we desire limitations. That said, the goal of User/Submitter is to exploit but control the fundamental flaws in Digg's social network so that it can sustain. Maybe then, they'll fix these flaws.
technorati tags: digg, manipulation, gaming, web20, user/submitter, usersubmitter
October 12, 2006 at 07:57 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Any word on how many "diggs" it takes to be on the first page?
Posted-by: JP | 2 Mar 2007 17:36:40
RE: JP: that depends on the 'karma score' of the users digging a story. Diggs from authoritative users (for instance those with a lot of Digg submissions that rise to the front page) are considered more valuable than a Digg from a new user. But in general 35-50 Diggs will get you there.
Posted-by: sv sleuth | 2 Mar 2007 20:17:03
SV Sleuth,
A colleague and I are currently developing a competitor to User/Submitter that will blow it out of the water. Very simply, U/S does not have algorithms sophisticated enough to prevent its users from being banned, and the paid articles from being discovered.
I can give you more details if you'd like (contact me at black [dot] marketer [at] gmail [dot] com). The site will be up in about two weeks.
Also, I'd be happy to explain our view of scamming Digg from an ethical perspective.
Thanks,
Ragnar Danneskjold [pseudonym]
Posted-by: Ragnar Danneskjold | 11 Mar 2007 21:52:23
Spanish
