TechWag

We write about Digg a lot, the reason is because we use it a lot, there is a lot of cool stuff out there and in many ways we think that it is a good system. What is interesting is that every once in a while feedback from folks is great, and it is nice to see why people are killing things off, or burying them in Digg parlance.

The article we wrote about the Torrent Spy judge issue was posted to Digg, which is great, but in the comments section (and this is the first time that we have seen this kind of feedback, so maybe the upgrade was great) we noticed that a Digg user buried the story for being in the wrong category.

+1 digg by deadshallarise 15 hours ago
Bubblah, you are stupid to post this in the wrong category! This is not about entertainment and movies, so you should have put it in Technology, DUH! I’m going have to bury this as “wrong topic” and next time better post it in the right place.

+1 digg by Bubblah just now
deadshallarise, thanks for pointing out wrong category, it would be cool if digg could cross sign categories so that if people think it is in the wrong one, they can move it around or vote for best category rather than burying it.

Which is cool, we actually got feedback on the whole process, and not going to argue if killing off an article because it is in the wrong category is a good thing or a bad thing, what this leads to is something that we want to see from Digg. Or two ways that Digg can make things more boffo for them, and its users.

The number one cool thing that Digg could do is:

Let people rather than bury an article for being in the wrong category pick which category they think it belongs in. The folks can vote where it is going to go. By necessity, anything to do with BitTorrent can fall under multiple categories, and legal issues with BitTorrent can also go anywhere in Digg, so where should it really go in the limited Digg choice set? Let the pundits vote if there is a disagreement.

The second great thing that Digg could do is:

Opt-In e-mail for comments on posts you make, or posts you are interested in to track a conversation if anyone makes a comment. For example, I post what I think is a boffo story, and people start making comments, I’ll want to know about it, e-mail is the best way for me to pay attention to anything, means more customer interaction, more time on site, some really good conversations happening, and more page views for Digg.

That would give the pundits a lot of ways of working the articles out, and in some cases especially when they think they are misposted, have an option other than bury the article, plus you could get some really good user feedback on how people are using the system.

The best part, Digg does not have to listen to us, and its just some random thoughts long before the coffee kicks in. But could make the whole process more interesting in the longer run. Many thanks to DeadShallRise of Digg for posting the comment.

Tags: award, idea, Participation //