Dead Man Walking On Digg Row

Digg is going to turn into a ghost town soon. There has been much ado about the series of recent Digg bannings. People have been left feeling confused, angry, and down right resentful. It might sound a bit dramatic and many might think "Hey, it is just a website, get over it".

As a Digg member, I can say that it is not that simple. I started becoming very active there a few months ago. Once you really get into it, Digging can become quite addictive. The challenge of making a story popular keeps you on the site and keeps you submitting new articles. Another challenge is finding new friends that support your submits while in turn, supporting theirs. All in all, I would say it is quite an investment in time.

With each new rash of Digg bans, the members that are left there have to practically start from scratch again. Their friends that were banned left a huge hole on their friend list. After losing a few more with the next ban, digging seems more like a chore and not near as much fun. That is why I decided to take an "extended Digg break". Will I ever go back? Even I don't really know the answer to that. I have starting spending time over at Mixx. I like it there and it is growing in popularity after Digg decided it no longer valued its members.

My point to all of this is, Digg is not a user driven site. It is a site that has an agenda. If a member uses scripts (which really were an IMPROVEMENT to the site), they get banned. Many non-script users have been banned simply for using the site...... too much. Why would a social site penalize its members for using the site too much? Apparently, their digging did not match Digg's agenda.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Digg is going to become a ghost town before too long if they keep this up. The amount of blog posts about digg is growing steadily and the majority of them are not good. Is this what Digg intended when they labeled themselves a "user driven site"? Those very same users are going to drive people away.

People won't want to stop their social bookmarking and sharing either, they will just do it somewhere else. Other sites will welcome the members that Digg drove away with welcome arms. I know a lot of people on Digg that are wondering just when they will be the next to take that walk down Digg Row.

Usually, I end most of my posts with music. In this instance, I do not think I will dignify Digg's actions with a song. Stay tuned though because I promise to get back to the music!

Sometimes I like to think of my music blog more as "Life, With A Song To Go Along". Often, it is all about the music. At other times, it is about events or thoughts that are occurring in my life and I relay it through words and music. This is one of those times where I felt compelled to speak about something.

Edited to update: Wow, this one really tells it all about the scare on digg. A must read!!!