Ten Digg myths that make us more paranoid then the RIAA

So I have been noticing that Digg is starting to get these crazy lynch mobs going more often latley. Crazy witch hunts that make the RIAA look rational. Some blue collar worker that does cabinet finishing for a living was attacked by several people because he uses the “Blog This feature” as well as submits an insane amount of content. Unlike me, Sicc never submits stuff for his own site. So if he got attacked, I have to wonder if I am going to be attacked someday as well. So this is a list of some of the myths that drive the Digg spam paranoia.

1. If you submit your own stuff it must be spam.

Granted this is the case most often. However, I think you have to look at a few things beyond that or we end up looking as stupid as the MPAA and their lawsuit happy Gestapo. Well, do they submit stories that have already been submitted by others? Are they copying content from other sites to their blogs so they can get the traffic? When I submit interviews I have an MP3 of the interview. You can hear my voice along with the artist themselves. These are exclusive interviews. When I post stories from my news section, they are from emails sent to me from the band’s press agents most of the time. Sometimes I call one of the band members myself.

2. If the content was good enough, someone else would submit it to Digg

Not true. Maybe if it was tech related. Digg has several categories for a reason. I submit music related stories that I wasn’t seeing posted by anyone else. Most of my readers are casual internet users. They don’t spend a tenth of the amount of time on the internet that most Digg users do. They would have never known about Digg if I didn’t send them to the site. Now I have noticed a few of them really getting into it. I think this is more about geeks being threatened by non geeks enjoying Digg.

3. Digg is for tech and Geek culture only

This is about as far from the truth as it gets. Sure that is how it started, but Digg is growing. The tech news and geek stories will I am sure always be popular, but Digg is getting more variety no matter if you like it or not. The music and movie industry lost control because they held their grip too tight. I hope we don’t make the same mistake.

4. People only submit news to get to the front page.

I have never had a front page, but yet I continue. Why? Because being in the ‘upcoming’ section seems to be slowly gaining me some quality traffic. Instead of the rush of traffic I would get from being promoted, I am getting readers that actually care about the band’s I talk about on my site. If I got to the front page it would probably crash my server and only make money for DuggMirror anyways. Being on the front page might be a little fun, but I am getting better results from being at the top of the Digg music upcoming most popular section.

5. To be cool on Digg I should flood the place with submissions like crazy!

Oh dear god this needs to stop. I wish Digg had a limit on how many stories a member could submit for a section of time. Maybe one every five minutes or something. Look what it did for Sicc. This was part of why everyone jumped his ass. Granted, it also helped him get ranked higher, but it also almost got him banned. I say quality over quanity would be better.

6. If I Digg you, then you will always Digg me back.

Now this one is mostly true. However, I don’t think anyone is going to Digg stories of someone that goes totally against what they believe in. I removed a Digg friend and won’t Digg any of his stories anymore because I started noticing a theme. A great majority of his stories were racist against the Hispanic population. I also had one guy that was posting bands that I despised. So he was off my list as well. Lastly, if someone started posting stores about how great Dell is they would be Dugg down like crazy by me even if they Dugg my stories. I hate Dell with a major passion and I would never want to do anything that would encourage anyone to buy anything from that horrid company. My point is that most people will end up with Digg friends that submit stories they give a rats ass about. This includes me. Digg me, and I will Digg you back unless I think your stories are unworthy. Isn’t that pretty much what Digg is about anyways?

7. If it’s on a blog it must not be the original news source.

One of my favorite news sites is a music site called Blabbermouth. They are indeed a blog. The news done by one guy and he has many years of print journalism before doing his blog. In a very short time he has turned his blog into the number one place to go to for heavy music news. Most blogs are pretty worthless, but to discount them all is even more retarded.

8. If your stories don’t hit the front page, you should post better stories.

Better to who? What stories I care about may (or may not) be important to someone else. We all have seen some pretty lame stuff hit the front page. Heck, to be honest I don’t even look at the front of Digg anymore because it is so run by sensationalism. I stick pretty much to upcoming and what my Digg friends submit and Digg.

9. SEO blogs are huge companies and drive fancy sports cars

If that was the case, Digg would have ten times the SEO bloggers. The fact is that SEO blogs don’t make as much as they would like you to believe. They get hit and run traffic. For real money you need traffic that sticks around, comes back, saves you as a favorite. SEO sites get none of this. So unless someone is bold and obvious about it, stop with the RIAA styled lynch mobs.

10. There are some topics that will guarantee you a front page story.

So not true. I had a story about the annoying music they use in Battlestar Galactica that never came even close to the front page. I have seen a ton of stories that mention Digg in the title that get about 5 Diggs. I have seen top ten lists that fall faster then jaws at a porn convention. Did I do this to combine a bunch of tricks to get on the front page? No, because I know that people that submit their own stuff are discredited. I did this for the same reason I post anything on any website. I felt a few might enjoy it. If it hits the front page I will be very shocked. This was done for the joy of doing it. People do write because they enjoy it still, right? Can we forget the tricks and start going for quality now? Well, after this hits the front page of course.