Part Five: The Digg Nature

After a few successful frontpage stories, nubi was getting bold. He believed that he could get just about anything to the frontpage. As such, he submitted his own blog, and found it to fall flat. Dejected, he turned to the Master for advice.

"Master, although I can get stories from GenericBigSite to the front page, I can't seem to get my own blog anywhere. Why is this?"

"Your blog does not currently have The Digg Nature."

"The Digg Nature? What is that?"

"The Digg Nature is what sets apart a good story from a bad one, an Ascending story from a Fallen one."

"So what has the Digg Nature, Master?"

"Entertainment is the key to the Digg Nature. Also, left-wing politics, Apple stories, and sometimes talking about Digg."

"Left-wing politics? But aren't you..."

"Libertarian, yes. Yet even I admit that most Libertarian-ideals posts do not have the Digg Nature."

"So, entertainment. What sort of things work for that?"

"First of all, good comedy. Otherwise, the sorts of things enjoyed by geeks, but also by the mainstream."

"Why is that?"

"No one knows for sure. My theory is that Digg users are either geeks, or, more likely, like to think of themselves as geekier than they are. They accept the geek badge as a badge of pride, even if they're less geeky than other geeks."

Nubi pondered this a moment. "So, I should design a post with a top 10 list of geeky but mainstream things, post it to my blog, THEN submit it?"

"No. Things designed for Digg rarely have the Digg nature."

"But you said..."

The Master cut him short. "Digg users tend to be good at detecting posts intended to popularize the user. Even I can't get away with that, unless the story is good enough to transcend this."

"So, how would I get my blog to Digg's frontpage?"

"Write a good enough blog where someone else submits it."

At this, nubi was enlightened.