Digg: The Democracy?
I happened to be having a conversation with a friend tonight and we were discussing the article The Bury Brigade Exists, and Here’s My Proof. Ironically this article has apparently been removed from the digg front page, without being buried, and digg user, supernova17, has been banned for submitting the article. Long story, short, the article describes the means to identify who is burying stories and why. The original proof of concept can be found at http://www.lemieuxster.com/digg/expose/, but apparently digg has found the hole and plugged it.
Me, being a little tired and weary of digg’s altered course over the last 6 months or so, jokingly stated that I should write an simple RSS filter that would automatically bury stories submitted by non-friends and digg stories by friends. The concept is really simple, just grab the upcoming feed and digg/bury accordingly. I don’t advocate such an action, but surely it was possible. Let’s go check the TOS, and saved here in case there are further revisions.
Before we get to the pertinent portions, this caught my attention, and thus the title and reason for this post.
Section 3
…
Digg may remove any Content and Digg accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all.
Which I conveniently read, “Digg may remove any Content … at any time for any reason … or for no reason at all.” Hardly sounds “Democratic” to me, but I’ll let you be the judge. It’s not that I disagree with the statement, it’s intent or even digg’s ability to act in such a manner. Rather, it is the constant branding of digg as a “Democracy“. This clearly indicates that there are moderators on digg, however, this has been pointed out before. And furthermore, these moderators have at their discretion the ability to remove content from digg at their whim.
And for those wondering, apparently my RSS filter idea above is not against the TOS.
with the exception of accessing RSS feeds, you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; (ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or (iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site;
So as long as you use the RSS feeds, you are in the clear. Still, I do not have the time or inclination to implement such a script.
Until next time-
-3Monkeys
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