The calm after the storm?

March 23, 2007

Ok, well, that was a little expected I must admit.
After getting wiped from Digg I didn’t expect too much activity. Well, I was wrong.

Before I continue any further with this blog, I’d like to outline my, well, so called political and social views on the world.

My last posting Why Is Digg Being Censored admittedly stirred up a bit more than expected, but focussed on the political stance of Little Green Footballs (LGF). My contact with LGF until then had been relatively limited; closer to zero would be a more accurate description, as I would occasionally see the name float past on Digg.com, however I failed to take any notice.
My last posting did not focus on why a LGF article had not been popularised by Digg.
But why an article with 200+ Diggs had not been popularised. I hope people see the difference. My aim was to shine a spotlight on Digg, to hopefully correct a few problems that I thought may have existed in the Digg/Bury ratio which determined whether or not a story was popularised.

I must add, the Digg link to this article was a steady climber, on 23 Diggs after 90 minutes or so until it got buried.

My perceptions have thus somewhat changed since flicking through the various comments and debates that have infiltrated the prior post.

In retrospect I don’t regret posting the article, however I am adament of what some people may have perceived me having done. LGF has struck as a, I use this sparingly, fairly biased site. Many articles seem to be focussed on negatives and barbaric sides of Muslim culture – which personally sickens me.
LGF tends to portray itself as an alternative news site, picking up stories that the mainstream doesn’t cover – but then the exact story I posted about did make the front page – only CNN covered it. It typifies normal everyday Muslims in a disgusting way which brings me on to my first point.

Where do I stand?

Well, as a teenager I spent 6 years of my life growing up in the Middle East in Kuwait and Egypt, two very contrasting Muslim nations (regardless of Egypts Coptic population). However one thing does stand out, not one person I met in those 6 years fit the bill portrayed by LGF. The people we see and hear about on the news that blow themselves up for some so called religious cause may claim to be Muslim, but I promise you very much they are not – just fundamentalists who have read between the lines.
LGF is no better than a tabloid – the standard of writing is subpar, biased and unevaluative in any shape way or form. Therefore I have tended to stand fairly central to debates about left and right wings and what not – however, I would like to reinterate, a couple of things.

My last post was about Digg, not whether LGF is being ‘picked on’
Little Green Footballs make newspapers such as the Sun and Star appear in a class of their own.
However, my views about religion in general are reserved – I happily respect anyones beliefs – I’ve never once tried to convince anyone otherwise so to speak, yet I do believe religion is the source of much conflict.

Night


Why is Digg Being Censored?

March 21, 2007

It’s 12:33AM

The usual late night Digg check before heading off to sleep, just to see if anything catches my attention…

http://digg.com/world_news/Brave_Mujahideen_Warriors_Use_Children_in_Car_Bomb_2

Why is an article with 179 Diggs:
A: NOT been promoted to the Popular section
B: No longer listed in the Upcoming section

I always received the impression that we had the power to choose what became front-page material.
Yes, admitedly the article finally did reach the front page momentarily later, but the principle remains, what happened Digg?

Here it is sitting on 179 Diggs after only 2 hours

Sitting in Upcoming section

Notice how it’s status has not been “Made Popular” despite the number of Diggs in short period.

Moments later in the Upcoming section:

Upcoming? Not any more

Gone!

Digg was meant to give us the people control, 179 Diggs in 2 hours is more than enough evidence of it – so what happened guys?

UPDATE:

Just tracked another article like the one I was previously refering to:
I dont entirely agree with the articles content, however 202 Diggs and 12 Hours later, still nothing for this article.