SEOpedia is reporting that Digg is now banning users who Digg stories too many stories too quickly without actually viewing or reading the content. This is something that has long been advocated for by the community, particularly when the community sees spam reach the Digg homepage, before they can bury it.
Myself and others have noted that they are several legitimate reasons to not click a link and read or view the content of a Digg submission. However, the explanation given for this banning by Digg makes it appear as though the user was regularly digging stories at a volume and rate at which they were clearly either too lazy to read beyond the title and description, or that they were simply gaming the system and inappropriately inflating digg counts. The latter wouldn’t be very surprising given that I have witnessed my fair share of SEO circle jerk gaming on Digg, especially considering the banned user was part of this SEO’s discussion group.
Your account was banned for the rate of Digging activity you’ve engaged in. We’ve determined that the time in which your Diggs happen, it isn’t possible to actually read the stories. Please read each and every story before you Digg or bury a story. Once you agree that you will Digg/bury more responsibly and read the stories, we will unban your account.
Digg founder Kevin Rose took the opportunity to answer questions the community had after this news hit Digg.
This is extremely rare. We have automated systems that flag abnormal digging behavior (eg. hundreds of diggs in an hour). If the user is banned due to an alarm being set off – in all cases, they are given an opportunity to be re-instated. We strive to keep digg as bot free as possible.
When asked how to get an account reinstated, Kevin replied, “Just email us.”
This automated system appears to be intended catch bots that are used to game the system, but can likewise be used to catch diggers who do the same thing manually. Digg will continue to develop algorithms to detect and prevent diggers from misusing or abusing the system, as they become a greater target crossing the chasm into mainstream culture.
Originally posted on May 25, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
I think the most interesting thing was the reaction of Digg’s users! They were furious, supportive, and of course — ready with a joke. :)
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