How to Piss off A Digg User

Here’s a lesson in how to piss off your users. Apparently, Digg has removed stories involving a hack to HD-DVDs. From the digg blog:

"This has all come up in the past 24 hours, mostly connected to the HD-DVD hack that has been circulating online, having been posted to Digg as well as numerous other popular news and information websites. We’ve been notified by the owners of this intellectual property that they believe the posting of the encryption key infringes their intellectual property rights. In order to respect these rights and to comply with the law, we have removed postings of the key that have been brought to our attention."

Unfortunately, the blog doesn’t allow comments, so digg users have chosen to scream "fuck you" the only way they can, throwing it in their face over, and over and over again. Now the entire front page has been taken up only by stories revealing the hack. And that’s just a small selection. My entire digg feed is filled with these stories. Not sure what the right move for digg is here, but it sure is interesting to watch…

*Update* Deleting of stories has stopped, and Kevin Rose of Digg has responded:

"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."

Well, there you go...

Comments

[Mack Collier]

Reminds me on something the Threadless guys said once 'Our community could crush us if they wanted to'.

[CK]

Good stuff, pal. I'm pointing people to you (and using a T-Rex analogy ;-). Appreciate the screengrabs and I love where Digg has come to on this.

Just another glorious day of Web 2.0 empowerment. I digg that.

[Cam Beck]

Let's look at the flip side of that for a second... What will the community's response be if Digg DOES go down fighting? To what extent will the community take up Digg's fight?

[Mack Collier]

Cam my bet is they'd just love to the next aggregation/voting site. It's definitely the 'mob mentality' at work here.

[CK]

GREAT insight by Cam. I have a feeling that the community will wholly support and fight for Digg with the same intensity that they used to teach Digg a lesson. Fascinating story. I only wish I were a fly in the wall over at Digg yesterday and today.

[Lewis Green]

Paul

To Cam's comment: My thoughts exactly . Although it can be great fun to watch when it is happening to someone else, we seldom achieve excellence when anarchy rules. If nothing else, Digg's situation has fired a warning shot across the bow of every business considering blogging: beware.

[David Reich]

I don't know the whole deal on this, so I might be off. But Cam raises a very good point. If Digg is trying to protect itself, will "the community" help Digg if it goes down? CK says "the community" would support them. I just don't know.

[David Reich]

I don't know the whole deal on this, so I might be off. But Cam raises a very good point. If Digg is trying to protect itself, will "the community" help Digg if it goes down? CK says "the community" would support them. I just don't know.

[Lori Magno]

The Digg(ers) are a pretty random but tight bunch, I'm leaning toward full mobilization on behalf of Digg if anything comes of the hack nonsense. I feel this way because Digg came around, and I don't think that will be forgotten if a battle arises soon. Digg can certainly do a shout out to rally the troops.

[Paul McEnany]

Mack- I think that's an apt comparison right now. Sites that describe themselves as democratized have a responsibility to actually be that.

CK- Thank you for the pointer! I think you said it much better than me...

Cam- I suspect the fight would be hard fought, if the users don't feel like they've been wronged. They worked hard to create that community, too. Digg wouldn't exist without thousands of people putting in millions of hours for nothing more than a little recognition. The owners of digg are millionaires based on that work.

If they feel wronged, I really don't mind them turning their back. They have every right to, because digg is just as much theirs, and they never received a cent for it.

And, they will fight back. Look at the furor towards Viacom after suing YouTube. Or on the flipside, the community graciousness towards threadless after the accidental deletion of the community's hard work.

My point may be a little muddled here, but basically, if the community revolts and leaves a company to die, it's the company's fault, not the community, every time. Bar none.

Lewis- Yes, beware. Beware of creating a community, because then you have to nurture those relationships, and it's hard work. And there usually will be rock in a hard place situations. But, if you ALWAYS leave open a line of communication, what happened yesterday won't happen. Again, this was Digg's fault for not giving the community another outlet to express their anger.

David- Same deal here. If the community rejects Digg, it is digg's fault, no matter what. If they mishandle the community, they deserve to be deserted. All they had to do was give those users an outlet.

Also, these diggers have been given a chance to leave, and have even been offered money to do so. But the majority have stuck by the company. I think that says a ton...

Lori- I agree, if Digg treats their community correctly and graciously, there will be an all-hands on deck mentality when times are tough. They've had their opportunity to leave, and most have stuck around. That's worth something, I think.

[CK]

"My point may be a little muddled here, but basically, if the community revolts and leaves a company to die, it's the company's fault, not the community, every time. Bar none."

Very well said. You know, your views here could be a GREAT article for tMAJ.

[Cam Beck]

Paul - I agree Digg should have given those users an outlet. I don't think, however, the transgression was serious enough to warrant the users abandon Digg. Digg is dealing with a serious issue that probably deserves its own thread, and that is the litigious nature of our society that allows lawsuits against companies that are not at fault for anything. Lawsuits are expensive for defendants, even if they win their case. That's why so many companies seek to settle before it ever has to go before a jury.

Like I said, the issue deserves its own attention.

Ultimately, if the community revolts and leaves Digg to die, I think the community will have acted too hastily. The practical reality may be that competition was already in place to supplant Digg, and shame on them for their missteps, but I don't necessarily believe it would be as a result of the mob acting judiciously.

[Roger von Oech]

Which is more painful:

Watching Tony Romo bobble the snap of a field goal attempt to drop the Cowboys out of the playoffs,

-or-

Watching the #1 seed Mavs get totally blown out by the #8 seed Golden State Warriors?

[captain flummox]

I haven't read the original controversy, but it seems to me there has to be a way to protect intellectual property or eventually nothing of value will make its way into the internet wonderland.

[Paul McEnany]

Cam- I see what you're saying, but Digg is a special case. Just about every dollar Kevin has in his pocket is there because of the free work these other people did. They deserve to be heard. If Digg is unwilling to listen, then shame on them, you know?

Roger- Harsh, man, harsh. :)

Fred- I think it's all on the internet wonderland regardless, so now it's just up to those companies to figure out what to do from here. Those iprop owners will be even more screwed if they just try to ignore the net altogether. And they'll be doubly screwed if they just try to run around suing everybody.

[Cam Beck]

Paul - Did users not have personal blogs (or the ability to establish them) through which they could vent? It's easy for us to demand the world when we aren't the ones who must withstand the risk of granting it.

I'm not saying what they did was the exact right thing to do - I would have handled it differently; I'm just saying that I can see their side of it.

I don't think we'll see a wholesale abandonment of Digg as a result of this, but I don't envy them the chance they're taking by allowing the hack to be posted on their site.

[Paul McEnany]

Cam- I see what you mean, but that particular community wasn't formed on other blogs, but right there. That's where they hang out, so it makes more sense for them to want to vent there, I think.

But, your right, I don't envy that position at all, either.