The Whole Flocking Story

2099-12-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

We, the Diggers, are our own gatekeepers; the responsibility to bring each other the day's stories is shared equally amongst us.

However, there are some that don't feel this way. These "shepherd" Diggers have a flock of "sheep" Diggers behind them that digg that “flock” to the shepherd's stories, regardless of quality, importance or general appeal. If the flock is large and active enough, the shepherd can get their story pushed to the front page without any diggs from other users. This “flocking” has been going on for a while now, though many Diggers may not have noticed.

One of the reasons that flocking hasn’t been faced with any tough opposition is that the terms of use don’t specifically prohibit it. In Digg's terms of use, section 5, labeled “user conduct,” it states:

"you agree not to use the Services… 9. with the intention of artificially inflating or altering the 'digg count', blog count, comments, or any other Digg service, including by way of creating separate user accounts for the purpose of artificially altering Digg's services."

Unfortunately, that’s about as close as it gets. It seems the only reason that flocking can still occur without specific violation of the terms of use is the ambiguity of Digg's usage of the word "artificial." Still, I think it's very clear what's going here.

It's time to expose the flock.

Please note that by posting this list, I am not telling you how to conduct yourself on Digg. If you choose to digg or bury a story, it is your choice and your choice alone. This list that I will create on a separate post exists simply to let Diggers know which of their fellow users are believed to artificially inflate the popularity of their flock's submitted content. What you decide to do with this list is entirely up to you.

While I will never ask you to bury flocked stories, one thing I would recommend for you to do is keep your eyes peeled. If you believe someone may be engaging in sheep-like or shepherd-like activities, or any sort of flocking around, feel free to post on the comment section of "Accusations." Your post should include the user name of the accused, as well as some solid evidence. Please don't abuse this or turn it in to a McCarthyist witch hunt, for it will get annoying and I would rather this site not be full of angry comments by falsely accused (though brief rants by the rightly accused are welcome and will provide us with some good laughs).

If you read this and think you may be a shepherd or sheep, and you wish to speak up, please do so.

If you feel strongly about this and would like to help me out with managing this blog, let me know!

Accusations

2099-12-31T23:57:00.000-06:00

Please post your accusations in this post's comment section. Remember, no witch hunts!

The Flockers

1999-12-31T23:58:00.008-06:00

This is the official list of Diggers who have been accused of flocking, and have met the requisite criteria to be labeled by me, willk281, as "flockers."

If you feel that one of these Diggers has been falsely accused, or you are on this list and don't know why, feel free to express yourself in the form of a comment. Click on the names to see their Digg profiles.

MrBabyMan
MakiMaki
Tal Siach
jaybol
msaleem
supernova17
KevinFederline
bamafun
webaddict
reflex768
MTessa
diggleague
badwithcomputer
Zaibatsu

Exposing The Flock

The Whole Flocking Story

Accusations

The Flockers