I buried it
social media March 18th. 2008, 7:29am
Yeah, I buried it.
I buried a Digg submission from one of my social media contacts, a person who’s generally been pretty decent to me.
Why on earth would I do that?
I did it because I felt the subject matter of the submission was offensive.
I have mixed feelings about having buried the story, but I believed that the story within the submission was a horrible deed that didn’t need to be spread across the Web.
It was a gut reaction and, while I’m not sorry that I buried the story on its own lack of merits, I’m still a bit troubled.
You see, I didn’t even read the story. I took one look at the headline and made a snap judgement. Just like many of us do when we see news headlines or post titles in our feed readers. This may have been a worthwhile story that the world should have seen, but my “blink” (as in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell) reaction was to remove the story because it was offensive to me.
I’m not naming the Digg user, nor the story in question, because this blog post may well create assumptions or hard feelings that might not be warranted. This person does a tremendous amount of work in social media and is highly regarded. I’m just questioning the judgment that went into one submission.
At the same time, it makes me look at the various submissions that I’ve made within social media, or supported through a vote of support. How much of that work really makes the world a better place? Are we really doing the world a service when we write an enticing headline, description, or review that doesn’t accurately reflect the material in question? Does the desire to build credibility and authority outweigh all other guidelines and principles? I’m no better than most at this kind of behavior.
I always hated it when comic books featured a scene on their covers that never, ever appeared in the stories within.
It still happens quite often today.
I don’t think this one incident is worth getting upset about, but it’s certainly put me in a reflective mood.
Anonymous Social Media User, no offense was intended: I made a judgment call on your submission and acted according to that. I just think that some stories might not be worth broadcasting to the world.
Maybe I need to take more care in what I submit, too.
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March 18th, 2008 at 8:04 am
I bury stories that are obvious duplicates, pornographic spams, or that I deem are just a vacuous drain on the digg society. It’s our job to make sure the digg is the kind of place where people come to find high-quality stories, and lolcats has no place on the front page of digg. That’s what Fark is for.
I don’t think I’d bury a ‘mainstream’ story just because I thought assumed might contain material offensive to me based on the title/description, without giving it a glance through first.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:48 am
@Decepticrat - in retrospect, I probably should have read the story first but I was repulsed by the title, which undoubtedly was a pretty good reflection of the story’s content. I’m going to try to avoid kneejerk reactions like that in the future, but this story touched a nerve.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Well, I went and found the original story and I read it. Some human beings can be pretty sick f#(ks, but I guess we see evidence of that every day.
My disgust is ultimately with the perpetrator of the crime in question, not the news media or the social media. Maybe it’s better to publicize crimes if only to spread awareness. Or is it. I dunno.
In my own case, I’m going to be a little more thoughtful in what I submit and support.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Ouch. I’m a little afraid of you now. But only a little.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am
@Mimzie - no need, really. It’s not like I can wave my hand and make New York disappear.
March 18th, 2008 at 11:41 am
someone should bury digg. sorry, but that’s the general feeling i have about that site. really do not like it. what type of site does not even allow you to cancel your account? ok ok facebook does that too, but this rant is about deeg.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
This is a really interesting case that brings to light some very important issues about personal responsibility, ethics, and social media. The trouble is, in many ways, the web can be a very “friendly” place - I think it’s interesting how most defined relationships on the web (thinking MySpace, etc.) are semantically framed in “friend” speak. So many social networks are designed to let people help people, or content, or ideas. So much that there tends to be an attitude of, if you don’t like this, ignore it, but don’t rail against it. In sites like Digg anyway. But how can the systems work properly if some people aren’t willing to use the tools the way they’re designed? Then again, how can we make sure people are using them properly and not abusing them for their own means?
It brings to mind the interesting move by eBay to take away sellers’ ability to leave buyer feedback.
So do we now have an artificial trust in some systems, assuming they work just because of how they’re built, even if users don’t use the systems right?
You’ve got me thinking about all that now, too!
March 18th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
@Jansie: Digg sure isn’t for everyone. However, it does seem to be one of those measures of authority and influence (although not a mandatory experience for your social media resume, to be sure.)
March 18th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
@Tiffany - welcome! The more that I think about your comment, the more I think it warrants a post (which is good because I’ve got nothing for tomorrow yet!) Your comments reflect my thoughts from the past few days, although you’ve advanced them further than I had.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:29 am
i think if something is important, even if disgusting, vote it up. plenty times i’ve come across articles that i thought i’d post and vote down, just cos i don’t agree with whatever is said, but then i realise, if i vote this down, it won’t get the exposure it needs.
take for example the recent racket about domain sites manipulating people into purchasing domains from them in questionable ways (dotsauce.com did a good article on it). now, i HATE the dishonesty they are practicing, but voting down the article could mean the article doesn’t get the exposure it needed.
ok ok this issue is finished. let’s talk about something else. yes, two sugars in my coffee, and yes, milk too please. thanks mark.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I’m with Jansie - if a member of your team stumbles something you should also do so or at the very least then remove them from your contact list. If they are not the type of team player then get them off the team. The only problem with that is the ’social compact’ that we all have in the groups that we are in. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you really are on the outside with Digg, SU and other sites and the groups that move things.
If you don’t vote for something from within your group do you think your own social media group will support your own efforts? I think not. So either get that person out of the group or support them.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
@Michael - point of clarification: the other Digg user and myself are not members of a “team”, not in the sense that you are describing. In this example, I had a problem with the content they submitted in one example. My reaction was instinctive from reading the headline of the submission.
Also: some groups may (and do) have the “social compact” that you speak of (vote for mine and I’ll vote for yours) while others don’t. The Digg user and I are not part of that kind of group, although we generally do support each other’s submissions. This is a one on one situation; this is not an article about violation of group norms.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:23 pm
[...] his guilt-ridden apology for burying a Digg submission, he makes a very good point: “Does the desire to build credibility and authority outweigh all [...]