SlashGear Japan
Chaos, that’s the only word that can describe what’s going on over at Digg right now. Apparently, someone put up a story that contained the HD-DVD AACS Processing Key and not only was the story deleted, but the user was banned.
This has caused the biggest uproar that I’ve ever seen on a site such as Digg. It seems that many users are digging anything that contains the magic number in it, and burying everything else that comes along. This way every story for pages and pages contains the hack.
The big thing to note is that it’s not a riot about the hack, it’s a riot about censorship. The site was built on the idea that the users picked the stories, and as long as there’s no foul play to hit the front page, they’re left alone. But when Digg decides to start censoring what stories it will allow, then they are destroying everything that they stand for.
I’m sure that many users out there are wondering just how far the censoring will go. Could we see the beginning of a Digg that hand-picks the front page stories, taking away the power from the users entirely? I certainly hope not.
My question is whether or not Digg will recover from this. I can guarantee that they have lost a large number of users over this incident. It is possible that this was caused by one guy who thought he was doing his job, but even if that is the case, I’m not sure that a personal apology from Kevin Rose himself will ever make Digg the same again.
Update: Users have confirmed that they are unable to submit new stories to Digg. They appear to go through saying the usual “Success! Your story has been submitted.” However, the stories don’t show up. This doesn’t look good.
Second update: Other users are confirming that they can in fact submit stories. Could this just be a sign of the almighty Digg crumbling?
9 Responses to “Extra Extra! Mob takes over Digg – Riot ensues!”
Vincent Nguyen May 1, 2007
well it had to happen sooner or later…
+1Jackson Vane May 1, 2007
I think a lot of the users that are banned tonight made brand new accounts just to spam. The way the community reacted tonight was embarrassing. It just showed the immaturity of most of the community. They’d rather spend time spamming digg then do other stuff. They aren’t standing up for anything, just proving that they are immature imbeciles.
I wouldn’t miss the ones that did this and the ones who said they are going elsewhere.
NeutralFlashman May 1, 2007
In the beginning of a thing is its undoing. Digg lives, and dies, by its userbase.
+1Chris May 1, 2007
I’ll agree with you Jackson, it does come across as immature, and I’m sure there are those users that are doing it just purely out of fun. However, the ones that are standing behind the idea that Digg shouldn’t censor posts are doing what they have to in order to get their voice heard. It’s the closest thing that the internet can have to a picket line. Diggers are standing on the front page with their signs (stories) held high making their voice heard.
No, I’m not going to participate in the shenanigans and go Digg crazy, but I think that something needs to change in the way things happen over at Digg if they are deciding to censor stories.
+3Gary May 2, 2007
Digg is down. CRASH BOOM BAM!
Neutralnomadicalloy May 2, 2007
good bye digg.
+2Vincent Nguyen May 2, 2007
time for some major damage control…the ripple affect will be immediate when all sites linked to digg will load very slow!
Neutraltank6b May 2, 2007
Let´s Make some History
+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_www_war
Joe May 2, 2007
It is important to note that not all diggers reacted with the same teenage basement mutiny mentality:
Neutralhttp://www.paydayloanaffiliate.....sDigg.aspx