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In its FAQs, <a href="http://digg.com/faq">Digg </a>says that it ‘gives moderation control back to the community’, but Philip points out an example of<a href="http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-11-27-n14.html"> Digg using its own moderators</a>. The example given is from 2005, but shows a story which has been sent to the front page with only 1 ‘digg’. After a user questions this, <a href="http://digg.com/digg_news/Add_digg_stories_to_your_site">'kevinrose' replied</a> that it was submitted by a moderator and therefore doesn’t need as many diggs. There is nothing particularly wrong in using moderators – they are needed to prevent spam, racist, or other inappropriate articles – but, as <a href="http://themulife.com/?p=333">Muhammed at The Mu Life</a> points out, the lack of transparency is the problem, as Digg is widely believed to be entirely user-driven. Incidentally, Muhammad’s post on this is up on <a href="http://digg.com/tech_news/Kevin_Rose_Admitting_Digg_Has_Moderators">Digg with a big red exclamation mark above it,</a> warning readers that the ‘content in this article may be inaccurate’. It seems some of Digg’s users don’t appreciate the criticism. And this is the big problem - users continue to abuse Digg's moderation tools, flagging up stories as inaccurate seemingly on the basis that they disagree with the author, rather than on factual grounds. Can users police Digg? No, so it needs moderators. Fair enough. Has Digg stopped believing in the 'wisdom of crowds'? Some of us never did, of course. But where does this leave Digg exactly? We like it a lot, despite the blinkered views of its Mac-orientated user base: great web app, well executed, made the cover of Business Week. But <a href="http://gigaom.com/2006/10/25/the-digg-buyout-theory/">is it worth $150m</a>? Is it worth a tenth of that?

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph>In its FAQs, <Link URL="http://digg.com/faq" Window="New">Digg </Link>says that it ‘gives moderation control back to the community’, but Philip points out an example of<Link URL="http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-11-27-n14.html" Window="New"> Digg using its own moderators</Link>.</Paragraph> <Paragraph>The example given is from 2005, but shows a story which has been sent to the front page with only 1 ‘digg’. After a user questions this, <Link URL="http://digg.com/digg_news/Add_digg_stories_to_your_site" Window="New">'kevinrose' replied</Link> that it was submitted by a moderator and therefore doesn’t need as many diggs. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>There is nothing particularly wrong in using moderators – they are needed to prevent spam, racist, or other inappropriate articles – but, as <Link URL="http://themulife.com/?p=333" Window="New">Muhammed at The Mu Life</Link> points out, the lack of transparency is the problem, as Digg is widely believed to be entirely user-driven. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Incidentally, Muhammad’s post on this is up on <Link URL="http://digg.com/tech_news/Kevin_Rose_Admitting_Digg_Has_Moderators" Window="New">Digg with a big red exclamation mark above it,</Link> warning readers that the ‘content in this article may be inaccurate’. It seems some of Digg’s users don’t appreciate the criticism. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>And this is the big problem - users continue to abuse Digg's moderation tools, flagging up stories as inaccurate seemingly on the basis that they disagree with the author, rather than on factual grounds. Can users police Digg? No, so it needs moderators. Fair enough. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Has Digg stopped believing in the 'wisdom of crowds'? Some of us never did, of course. But where does this leave Digg exactly? We like it a lot, despite the blinkered views of its Mac-orientated user base: great web app, well executed, made the cover of Business Week. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>But <Link URL="http://gigaom.com/2006/10/25/the-digg-buyout-theory/" Window="New">is it worth $150m</Link>? Is it worth a tenth of that?</Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

2006-11-28T10:57:00+00:00

econsultancy_xml

<img alt="Digg uses moderators" height="57" src="http://e-consultancy.lemonfoundation.com/logos/digg-logo.gif" width="100" />Philip Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped has an interesting / outrageous article about Digg’s use of moderators – it seems that Digg has them, but is rather coy about admitting it. Contrary to the approach favoured by <a href="/blog/529-netscape-to-expand-its-paid-navigator-system">Jason Calcanis at Netscape</a>, Digg has always prided itself on being entirely user-driven, claiming that everything on the site is submitted and managed by the community. Yet this is not remotely accurate...

<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis> <Image Align="Right" AlternateText="Digg uses moderators" Source="http://e-consultancy.lemonfoundation.com/logos/digg-logo.gif" Width="100" Height="57"> </Image>Philip Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped has an interesting / outrageous article about Digg’s use of moderators – it seems that Digg has them, but is rather coy about admitting it.</Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Contrary to the approach favoured by <Link URL="/blog/529-netscape-to-expand-its-paid-navigator-system" Window="New">Jason Calcanis at Netscape</Link>, Digg has always prided itself on being entirely user-driven, claiming that everything on the site is submitted and managed by the community. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>Yet this is not remotely accurate... </Paragraph> </FormattedContent>

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For background on online PR and social media more generally, It's worth reading our (free to registered users) <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/online-pr-and-social-media-trends-briefing">Social Media Trends Briefing</a> (June 2009). Econsultancy has also published <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/social-media-and-online-pr-digital-marketing-template-files">Social Media and Online PR Template Files</a>, which you can adapt and use for your own projects. For innovation in this space, download our <a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/innovation-report">Innovation Report</a>.

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Digg uses moderators as users fail to police false

2006-11-28T12:32:00+00:00

digg-uses-moderators-as-users-fail-to-police

2009-04-28T22:38:55+01:00

2009-10-13T08:45:40+01:00

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