Tomorrow Is the End of Digg’s Top Users

As I predicted about a month and a half ago after they moved it to the bottom of the page, Digg will be removing the list of its top users from the site.

Starting tomorrow, Kevin Rose has announced that there will no longer be a top user list and instead there will be a new system in place to suggest friends with similar interests to you.

As a top Digg user myself (#23 and falling) I think I’m still kind of up in the air about how I feel about this, but I’m leaning towards thinking it’s the right move. If there are no special perks that come with being a top user, why note who we are? I suppose to give some recognition for our hard work, but recently the list has become more of an emailing list guide for spammers and a black list for some groups of users who simply bury everything we submit.

It sucks that we’re getting nothing for helping build Digg into what it has become, but one could also argue that if it wasn’t us there would have been a hundred other users in line to do the same thing. I don’t know, as I said I’m kind of up in the air about it.

Maybe we’ll see better, more diverse stories on the front page of Digg from here on out, or maybe we’ll see worse, who knows. We’ll see.

  • Anita
    MG - I totally agree with you. While I'm not a top digger by any means (5 front paged I think), I really enjoy being able to see a list of people who submit the good stuff and spend the time to make it work.


    What I'd really like is for Digg to incorporate something like StumbleUpon, where you can randomly browse sites submitted by your friends (or people with similar interests). The current configurations takes SO LONG to browse upcoming stories for good stuff.
  • MG Siegler
    Anita - I'm definitely with you on including a feature like StumpleUpon, I love that site/service.


    Digg in general (no matter what they do) just needs to make it so you can use the site faster.



    Thanks for stopping by Anita.
  • Anita
    Digg always baffles me, particularly the whole thing with top users.


    For example, the #2 user on Digg submitted one of my posts this afternoon (you may have seen it, the silly picture on Japan's air force training). But from what I've read, Digg seems to require stories submitted by top users to get like 80 diggs to make it to the front paged.



    So while the only story I ever submitted for my own site got front-paged at 20 diggs (back in Dec when I just started and didn't know it was bad to digg your own site), this one will probably go nowhere because a top digger submitted it (it's at 25 diggs now I think).



    I can understand their perspective a little, but it also seems to alienate the loyal users. I used digg almost every day until they got rid of the "People who befriended me" feature. What's the use of flagging someone as a friend if you don't know if they like you back? Sounds rather kindergarten-like to me.



    This is why I use StumbleUpon 100X more since the revised Digg was released. Now I can see top news, humor, videos, etc., while being a little social at the same time (plus, they have the neat Buzz page, which seems similar to Digg's front page).



    OK, enough ranting. Have a great night!
  • MG Siegler
    I'm not 100% sure what the algorithm is to get on the front page or if it differs for top users, though it does seem like it. One thing is for sure, whatever they did a couple months ago to the site, it's definitely harder to get on the front page.


    they still do have the 'people who befriended me' feature it's just VERY hidden on the friends page...there is a button though if you look closely. I always hated it though because you can't just see new people who befriended you like you can on Netscape, you need to go through your whole friend list, which for me is quite tedious...



    thanks for all the comments, you have a good night too Anita!
  • tommytrc
    WOW...as a digg user since 2004 and having been a top digger ever since, I think that deleting the top users area is not right. Having a score card of sorts to see where you fit has always added to the challenge. This is a sad turn of events!
  • MG Siegler
    Hey Tommy, yeah I definitely agree that this downs the challenge and takes away a tangible incentive.
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