Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Don't Give the People What They Want

Letting readers decide what are the top stories of the day is the backbone of social media. But Tony Wright points out, people continue to game Digg and the other sites with great success to promote their own stories.

This is a sad but true story on two fronts: that the masses can't be trusted, and that technology has limitations. While most folks who use Digg et al are noble in intention, a small cadre of conspirators get stories into the top spots. Technology for preventing ballot box stuffing is also insufficient, and probably always will be.

You can argue all day on whether or not Digg is complicit in allowing this to happen, but the real story is that editors are still necessary in the process. Digging stories to get the editors attention for consideration will suffice, as long as the editors are unbiased in their evaluations.

I agree that giving people a voice in the process is an important shift in creating an open forum, but allowing abuses should not be tolerated.

Posted By John Gartner at 11:24 AM
Permanent Link: Don't Give the People What They Want | Comments (0)

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:
WebSite:
Comment:
Remember Me
Subscribe