Times of India, one of the most popular newspaper in India carries an article on Digg. So, beware, there might an Indian troll on Digg looming around the corner ready to pounce anytime.
The Indians are very patient, they can do repetitive and mundane task very effectively, they are quick to catch up with simple, quick to finish jobs. Seeing the growth of *PO (read, KPO, ITO, BPO and all the other POs) in India, the above statement is evident that the majority of the Indian Technical Swarm is good with such works including the new growth of self proclaimed SEO experts, Web Masters and of course the much praised Technical Engineer Workforce working in Call Centers and BPOs.
Times of India is perhaps one of the most popular Daily Newspaper in India. It carries a page on technology related article everyday just before the sports section. This section is where I don’t miss and I shirk everyday with the feeling “can’t they be a bit advanced than this”. All the news, technical articles are about 3 to 4 days old at most and sometimes a week or a month old. Let me take that with a pinch of salt assuming that it is well suited for the other regular people who don’t need to and want to live on the bleeding edge of technical happenings. So, it is OK.
Now, let’s get to the topic - Digg and Indians. Today, Times of India did a Digg introductory article - Get Digg-y with the news. Now, that the Indians have read and knows about Digg, they’re going to take a gradual browse, then digg, then submit. All that will be in huge quantity, in chunks and in loads lot. I’m not that good with prediction but let me tell you a similar story and how it might affect Digg by the Indian troll.
Sometime ago, well years ago, I started using Orkut (I think just before it was taken over by Google) when I was invited by a Brazilian Flash Coder Friend. I even formed a Community somewhere in April, 2004 which eventually become famous even though it was a niche group targeted to a small community of users. While inviting few friends, some replied, “Another Social Networking Site? Spare me.” However, those same friends are now overly active on Orkut of which I proclaimed at that time that it might just be of of the most used site as Google is taking over it and Google might just take care of it. Now, In India, it won’t be surprising all internet surfers, Instant Messaging chatters have an Orkut account and they use if as frequently as emails and chats.
This Orkut like usage might not really be replicated on Digg. Nonetheless, I don’t want to rule out the fact that it might be swamped by the huge population of Indian users digging stories like crazy. I respect and adhere to the usage ethics of Digg but you can’t expect everybody else to do the same. So, beware.
Currently at the time of writing this article, Indians on Digg was countable numbers on one’s fingers but now, many are going to jump in and hit it, and hit it real hard. Top Indian Diggers are even fewer. Let’s hope the new entrants don’t tarnish the name of the other good, ethical Indian Diggers.
Here are some excerpts from the Newspaper article
The video of Saddam Hussein execution surfaced on the internet minutes after the incident. News about Apple’s “iPhone (iPhone)”:http://digg.com/search?s=iPhone&submit=Search§ion=news&type=title&area=promoted&age=30&sort=new was up online much before it was officially announced by the company. And even before the product’s launch was fixed, it was commented upon by users on a site, Digg.com, where activity is continuous. Here you can post videos, stories and news in various categories like sports, entertainment or technology. You can even comment on posts already on the site.
Tracking Popularity : Digg.com is a user-ranked news site. Once you register, you can submit your own stories or post a link to a story — it will appear in the “Upcoming Stories” section, where other users can give it a thumbs up and “digg” it or “bury” it if they do not find it interesting. Depending on the diggs a story received, its rating increases or decreases.
If your story receives a large number of diggs, it automatically qualifies for the “popular stories” section and is promoted to the home page in its category. But if your story fails to receive enough diggs within a stipulated time frame (12 - 24 hours), it will be removed. You can keep track of your stories via your profile. (_I think that time frame thingy is a bit wrong, sometimes a story might hit the front page even after 24 hours of submission. And stories are not removed, they stay there and still get diggs by people who like the story. However, they may never see the light of the front page._)
An eye on reliability : The site’s simple yet intuitive interface makes posting and navigation very easy. Another nifty feature is Digg Spy which stacks up posts in real-time. So, if you find a story interesting you can click on it and it will open in a new tab (Firefox) or a new window (Internet Explorer). Digg tools offer features that allows you to add Digg to your website or blog page. So if a visitor to your blog likes your story, she can directly click on the Digg button on your blog page.
But there is a caveat too. Some users try to cheat to increase their ranking. For example, by getting a group of friends vote for each other. Some websites even use digg to promoted stories of their own site. Digg.com however, offers ways to curb inaccurate or spam posts. If you find a post irrelevant, you can make it as “inaccurate”. Similarly, if you find a website spamming on Digg, you can mark the post as spam and it will be taken off the site.
Note - I’ve added hyperlinks to the article excerpts.
Comments 17
Brajeshwar, man. I don’t know what to say. Bad title, that’s all.
Posted 18 Jan 2007 at 9:28 pm ¶Hmmm, I was trying to be on topic for that is what it is going to happen. However, I am up for change if that is the better alternative. Feel free to open up your thoughts.
Posted 18 Jan 2007 at 9:45 pm ¶Check out my comment on The Mu Life.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 12:05 pm ¶Let the abuse continue.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 3:18 pm ¶You are perhaps the most lamest Indian around. I am an American , residing in India on business. Almost every techie i know does use Digg here in India. They dont want an “indroduction” from Times of india.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 4:20 pm ¶The most lamest thing about your post is that, its people like you who give bad impression about your nation.
When i came here, India was synonymous to cheap labor[atleast thats how its marketed back home]. But now i know the amount of creativity these awesome engineers hide.
This is one of the world’s most creative labor market. Your post is an embarrassment to the creative talent in this sweet naton.
This post does not make sense at all. I think Nicks comments were bit harsh but not absoluetely untrue …
This is a total disinformation campaign … if you understand what it means!
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 5:49 pm ¶What a BS argument!! Totally pointless, totally illogical, totally racist. How could this even be an argument?
Firstly, I don’t understand how Indians getting into the Digg industry is a problem at all? “Doing mundane tasks” is prolly ur job too, coz the blog is prolly forcefully written to pass time as it’s completely illogical and fails to put a point across, except for ur racial abuse and ur slander.
Secondly, reading ur article, myself and maybe many others can vouch that ur diggs would be lamer than many Indian diggs => u shud prolly stop digging. Have a logical reason for defending it, coz ur a obviously a completely dumb and illogical person who’s title, article content and conclusion are completely incoherent.
Thirdly, I would advise u to work for some local newspaper where ur editor wud at least let you know how awful ur articles usually are. Someone should, you know!! Before ur torture continues on others who just will be outraged on reading ur BS.
Fourthly, u are a bigger bullshit than the shit of a bull.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:06 pm ¶Well, first, Orkut has been used by lot of my friends.. who are non-techies for last 18 months, much before it was in the news. Second, it was in the news as non-techies were using it a lot more… Have you ever seen an article on slashdot in the news papers?
Similarly, Digg is in the news as lots of non-techies are already familiar with it and have been using it…
I think you are under-estimating how internet is involved in people’s lives in India
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:10 pm ¶Mr. Brajeshwar! You seem to be an Indian (at least your name and location says so) and I do not understand what make you think that only you are honest enough to respect some Web site’s code of ethics. Don’t forget that the techie world that you are talking about spreads fast in the Western World because they are less than 20% our size. Indians believe in understanding, thinking if it is useful, and then accepting the technology.
Have you ever been to Japan? You will see hear more machines talking than humans…WE INDIANS dont want to make it a place like that. They cant even eat a lollipop and use a machine fot it! Ha ha ha…
Third, I agree with Arpit that orkut is used by a lot of people who are non-techies and they have actually used it very cleanly. A lot of communities set up in Orkut that have offensive content (and thats offensive to me because I come from a place where culture is important!) has been set up by all those “highly-advanced, techie” friends of yours.
Fourth, if Indians will not do the *PO work that you are talking about, the Western economy will suffer a negative economic growth because companies cannot afford to pay such high salaries there.
So, please be considerate to a HUGE lot before you generalize a statement for any particular race/geography.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:28 pm ¶Alright, if you hear stories of Digg or similar social site being manipulated like the Google Adsense outsourced clicks; don’t tell me I didn’t predicted this.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:31 pm ¶Its not about predicting it!
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:36 pm ¶Obviously that happens with all the sites, what you are suggesting here is coz its in the Indian newspapers, and coz Indians are good in mundane tasks (dont know where that came from?????) it will be manipulated…
I wrote an article which I know is in the social fabric of the social networking world of today and because I felt that it might happen anytime (in this case to Digg). There is no reason for me to abuse or downgrade Indians, if I do, I am spitting at myself or above me that fall straight back on my face. Why are you people thinking that I am against my friends and families? That’s the cheesy part!
Anyway, I am loving the feedbacks people have on this thin slice of realistic realm.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:42 pm ¶Wat da fuck!…we just dont work for that cheap…u better shut ya mouth and remove this article.
i’ll pay u 100$ per month.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 6:50 pm ¶very lame article needs lot of rediting. The author may not intentionally demean us but the content does point at the bad direction.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 8:20 pm ¶tu kya nostradamus ka bhai hai …. mc ….. maybe thats how u earn ur google ad sense revenue………even if you try to fold ur dick to get in ur ass u will earn more money……as u can post ur pic. while doing this and poeple will hit ur story about how to fold ur dick to get in ur ass…….
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 8:31 pm ¶Jimmy, I still haven’t inserted Google Adsense on this Blog. I know where to put the right thing at the right place. It sounds like somebody needs some consulting. Please consult an authentic and right type of physician. I hope that helps.
Posted 20 Jan 2007 at 12:09 am ¶I don’t understand what is all this fuss about Brajesh being bold enough to reveal a dark side of his own people. Instead of saying “Indians are very patient…”, if he says “many Indians are…”, then he will be right. Yes, there are lots of extremely creative Indians but when you take as the percentage of the total population, where does it stand? I don’t know. I have seen experienced software developers who code very fast and finish a project on time. But the maintenance quality and code elegancy is of questionable nature. There is no creativity in software design and code structuring.
Posted 20 Jan 2007 at 6:11 am ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 2
[...] Brajeshwar points towards an interesting problem that could beset Digg soon and one that would be very hard to distinguish from all legitimate activity on the site and even harder to eliminate in the long-run. [...]
[...] 3. Brajeshwar on ‘Digg - be prepared to be hit from the Indian Troll‘ [...]
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