2.13.2009

Extra Part!: The New Algorithm

In the middle of another day, the wise Master ran into a new message on Digg: "Whoa, cowboy! Itchy trigger finger? Digging so fast is lame. Try reading some stories first." He took this as a sign that it was time to take a break, and washed some dishes. However, he heard the cries of many of his friends, including nubi, about the change.

He was asked "How will we Digg in this new world?". He replied "By picking the best stories, of course." Yet, he was curious about one thing, and chose to test his theory.

He searched for some old posts, so as not to be cheating the new system by his experimentation. He chose a website that he knew to have what he was looking for: direct links to Digg a story. He found such, first at Cracked.com, then at a few other sites. He discovered that, although he was still rate limited, he could indeed Digg stories this way. By this, even the Master was enlightened.

However, he then had to decide what to do with this knowledge. He could hold it as a secret weapon, and spread it only to those he liked, but he decided that everyone needed to know. So, he told the story to nubi, knowing he would spread it to the world. However, nubi, at first, wanted to keep the knowledge for himself.

"But Master, we could get whatever we wanted to the Frontpage so much easier than others! Shouldn't we?"

"I don't Digg to be powerful, nubi. I Digg because I enjoy reading the stories, and communicating with my friends. Frankly, I like the algorithm change, and want the Digg gods to address this hole in their new algorithm."

By this, nubi was enlightened.

7 comments:

  1. Hmm--I've been hearing today about this limitation on Digg frequency, but although I'm a fairly prolific (some might say "frenetic") Digger, I haven't run into any such limit.

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  2. I must state that I have indeed hit that limit today, 45superman. That's why I thought of, and tried what I thought might be a bug in their new system. It was. It is my opinion that everyone needs to know this... hence, my post here.

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  3. I should make clear that I wasn't doubting the reports of a limit--just expressing my surprise, in light of the number of Diggs I get away with.

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  4. I ran into that irritating "cowboy" message today, for the first time. What a pain in the ass! What if I like to get my digging done first, then go back and read the stories?

    Digg is getting way too heavy handed and arrogant. It always seems as if they try to think of new ways to piss off and drive away their most loyal users.

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  5. It hasn't bothered me too much. I stay on top of my shouts, and tend to digg them as they come in. I think by doing that, I stay under the hourly limit.

    I was listening to The Drill Down, hosted by MrBabyMan tonight (Google It). He, MSaleem and a few others in the top ten are really ticket off by this.

    EDP aka Shinythings

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  6. Well said alapoet... and there goes diggs page views.
    I just logged in after 14 hours of no digging: "Whoa, cowboy! Itchy trigger finger? Digging so fast is lame. !!!
    Cleaned out my computer, logged back in and: "Whoa, cowboy! Itchy trigger finger? Digging so fast is lame.
    ... Ok, ok, I'll piss off to a SU and reddit.

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  7. The "Bury" option is the most EVIL thing known to man. If a story is that bad, then it wont get the Diggs. But to allow anybody to Bury a story because it does not fit into your political agenda is promoting censorship. Which, Digg obviously condones.

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