About The Digg Controversy

If you have been following technology news for the past few weeks, you've probably come across dozens upon dozens of blogs chattering about the Digg controversy caused by ForeverGeek.

If you haven't, allow me to bring you up to speed. ForeverGeek placed a post on its Web site, claiming that Digg was not the user-driven democratic Web site it claimed to be. A few days later, Digg founder Kevin Rose released a response to these accusations, and even discussed the controvery on This Week In Tech.

I feel that ForeverGeek's posting, originally intended to hurt the Digg Web site, actually helped garner Digg more Internet traffic. It's what I call the "Eminem Effect": someone does something to stir up a controversy, it becomes a controversy, people check out what the first person is doing to cause the controversy and in turn becomes more famous due to it.

The best way ForeverGeek could've handled this situation was to merely ignore it and allow Digg users to figure this out for themselves (if this is indeed what's going on). Does ForeverGeek feel that Digg users are too dumb to spot a pattern?

Why would ForeverGeek blame this on Digg? Did it not ever occur to the users of ForeverGeek that Digg users could be the reason for all this controversy? The use of bots in chat rooms and on Web sites makes it possible. Be sure to check all possiblities before making judgments.

In conclusion, all I can say is that Digg users should adhere more to the terms of service as defined on Digg's Web site. Is getting your submission to the front page more important than placing hundreds of people you don't even know in jeopardy of legal action? Would you like it if they did it to you? I don't think you would.

For more information on Digg, check out their official Web site at Digg.com.

For more information about ForeverGeek, check out their official Web site at ForeverGeek.com.