Jay and Kevin may have started listening

[JD Rucker]

They heard about the "emergency episode" of The Drill Down tonight and came to answer questions. Answered several questions, tried to enlighten, and promised changes. Were they offering real change or placating? Only time will tell.

Read about some of it at this Rose and Adelson blog post or listen to it when it airs on The Drill Down.

[Rami Taibah]

Actually JD, I think it was just more of damage control, they didn't really answer any of the concerns:

http://hehe2.net/social-media/digg-the-lulled-revolution/

[dotlizard]

I'm inclined to agree with Rami, and I have some further concerns. the more i think about it, the more i wonder what the point is of a social news site, if socializing is penalized. as a Digg user that is not so much concerned with submitting or FP'ing, the reasons I have a browser tab open to Digg most of the time, is that I rather enjoy following the diggers (many of them "top" diggers), because i like what they link to. if Digg is going to discourage having any friends at all and reward "social networking pariahs", people with no friends and no history, then i'm not sure it's going to be as informative or as enjoyable as it was.

i'm glad they acknowledged us. but i'm not sure i'm on board with their vision for the future of Digg.

[Digidave]

But let's wait and see. I still think if they open up a mode of communication - the biggest complaint (and the umbrella factor that leads to other complaints) might be addressed.

So until then - keep ... echem.... digging.

[Digidave]

I think we have to take some of what they said on faith: That there is no auto-bury, that the algo-change will work out and that banned members deserve to be banned.

If we give them that -- they AT LEAST have to open up a new mode of communication. Otherwise, I think we will have to find a new social news site -- and perhaps it will be the revoltnation's mission to find and evaluate all the different social news sites there are.

[Rami Taibah]

Well, its only a matter of time until the algo shows its true worth. As for the auto-bury, I am still skeptical, but I will let it slide for some time....

[Gerard Barberi]

I like your suggestion for the future of this group. I would also like to add that I hope this group can become a haven for us (old and new active social media contributors, and those yet to come). I'm not looking for us to take over the sites, but they run off OUR labor. Under a Lockean philosophy, we would be able to claim at least some ownership of these sites. I'm not asking for money, but we deserve a say, to be listened to. If collective bargaining (I apologize for using that term, I can't think of another) is the only way we can accomplish this, then we should remain united, organized, (and peaceful). We put our labor and self into these sites; they're valuable to us.

[Gerard Barberi]

They didn't really answer much during the Drill Down. What did interest me is that they seem willing to open up the lines of communication with the community. And, that (regarding some of the new features I overheard them talk about) they seem to be trying to get Digg users to participate more fully in the democratic process of promoting stories. IMO, though, they really should have worked on getting more users to digg in the queue before changing the algorithm. Obviously, the algo is easier to change than the behavior of the majority of Digg's users. Still, should have done it first. Then, the algo's new weight on diversity wouldn't be hitting some users so hard.

[JD Rucker]

I agree with all of you -- other than the part where Dave says to take the lack of autobury on faith. It does exist, there is plenty of evidene, but we're still compiling. Jay responded by saying "Why would we do that" - not "Autobury or any variation that may seem like autobury does not exist and submissions that fall off of the upcoming are done so completely by the democratic voting of the digg community".

Still, that's an entire other point.

I am not one who would back down from a fight, but I believe that if we don't give them the chance to do what they say they are going to do, then we are at fault.

I hope that things are getting better, and I think there is a chance that they will, but I also believe the Jay and Kevin are Public Relations Pacificaion Masters, and we may have witnessed a beautiful example on The Drill Down.

[Gerard Barberi]

Regarding why Jay and Kevin may have started to listen.
Are they trying to pacify us? Of course. They need us still. Our submits may not be hitting the front page, but no one else is taking care of the queue.
If you look at the accounts of people hitting the FP now (which by the way demonstrates that this algorithm change is way more than a "tweak"), you'll see the lack of a history on them. I noticed a few comment trolls having submits hit the FP as well. Most of the accounts show some digging on the FP, but not much in the queue. So, while our submissions may no longer be required, our digging and caring for the queue is. No one else is going to do it and I'm sure Digg is well aware of that.