revolt | NikGomez.com

Note: All of the ? should be black boxes, I can’t get my databases to register the symbol, just check out the digg story.

Although Digg is currenly in the midst of a small scale user revolt over the release of their new comment system, its users are still able to submit great stories with even greater titles. Take this for example: ??? to declassify cl?????ied do?????ts. No, your browser isn’t malfunctioning; that’s how it’s supposed to look. The description for the post goes as such, “THE CIA says it it has decided to declassify most of a voluminous 1973 file known as “the family jewels”, which details some of the agency’s most notorious operations.” Fairly clever, huh? The comments for this submission are equally as good!

Please refrain from discussing or engaging in any sort of interoffice ????? or ????? or finger??? or ????sting or ????? or even ???? Even though so many people in this office are begging for it. And if anybody does anything with my sister Lindsay, I’ll take off my pants, I’ll shave ????. And I’ll personally ???… -jimsterbell

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-?? -praveenmarkandu

My thoughts on the new threaded comment system is that it ????’? so ????ing much that if I ever see Kevin Rose on the street I will ???? his ????? little ????. I HOPE YOU ??? KEVIN! -MikeonTV

Yeah, Digg users might be funny, but not a single one has any class.

In case you don’t use digg.com, it’s a social news site where users can “digg” the articles/webpages/anything they like to push it to the front page of digg.com. It’s every website’s dream to hit the front page of digg because it means thousands upon thousands of page views within moments. Digg has over 1 million users now, and they have turned on the digg management faster than anything I’ve ever seen.

What sent the diggers up in arms? The removal of a story submitted that had hit the front page about the 32 digit hexadecimal code that is used to unlock the encryption on HD-DVDs. This code is similar to the “illegal prime”number that was used to crack DVDs. The number is illegal to publish and copy because it can circumvent all of the copy-protection put on HD-DVDs, which means that HD-DVDs can now be pirated. Digg removed this story immediately because its moderators said that it was a legal matter for digg, and that it could not be responsible for such content on the site.

Diggers are viewing this as a persecution of their right to free speech, and rightfully so. Another little fact that enraged diggers is that reddit and other large social news sites didn’t immediately take down the posted links to the code. It has become an issue of standing up to the MPAA and RIAA (two groups which the digg crowd would lynch, burn and the stake, and mutilate if they had the chance); this is something that digg did not do. Rather than trying to put up a fight to battle DRM, digg bent over and acted like a little baby.

Finally, it has come to surface that Diggnation, a podcast done by digg owner Kevin Rose and his friend Alex Albrect, have been sponsored by HD-DVD in the past. Conflict of interests? I think so… Continue reading “Digg’s one mistake might take it’s life” →