Update: DIGG did the right thing and turned a bunch of spammers off. The spammers are upset--total non-issue. Rock on TeamDigg... and don't let the bastards get you down!

Gosh I love/hate the blogosphere... Mena was right, you're all a bunch of #$%@#$% and we should all just be @#$%@$#% nice to each other! :-)

Today's candidate for hate: Digg!!!

It's funny... the reward for being successful in the blogosphere is now pure hate (check Scoble, Gawker, Engadget, MySpace, etc). The Internet industry used to be competitive, but because the freak contingent didn't have blogs you could basically ignore them.

Today, as a startup, the freak contingent (aka haters) can take over your life if you let them. They bait you all day long, they look for your weak spots and attack them, and the facts are--of course--secondary to the splashy headline. Anything social runs the risk of being taken over by the bastards... look at Wikipedia. It's becoming a field day for flammers, haters, stalkers, and freaks. The whole thing is on the verge of coming apart. It's total chaos.

To be honest... I kind of like.

These freaks are the best focus group you could ever have, and frankly people are learning who the freaks are who the cool people are. I don't know all the details of this case, but we all know DIGG does have some issues. Anyone doing something innovative is going to have problems.

The "wisdom of crowds" quickly becomes "the madness of the mob" in this world. DIGG is learning the hard lessons around these issue and they're are going to be just fine. However, they are going to be *first* (along with Delicious) to many of the mistakes... the person who makes the mistakes first tends to win. Finding the right solution is often a process of elimination--and you eliminate based on your mistakes.

Someone is writing a story about comment spam... they asked me some questions, and as I normally do here are the answers to their questions:

> - Could you tell me more about the experience of dealing with a spam
> deluge, forcing you to shut down comments. When did this happen, how
> often did this happen?

It's happen like twice in our two year history. Floods of spams come in, we shut down for a couple of hours and block the IPs/emails, flush out the trash, and the bastards go away.

It's not a big deal.

> - Also, does spam affect the business of blogging in actual $$$. You
> mentioned that you have developed technology to combat spam, that
> doesn't come free. Can you share anything in terms of economical,
> financial impact?

Zero financial impact. Comment spam is a non issue for us since we, unlike MoveableType, built Blogsmith (our blog software platform) with advanced comment spam protection.

As I mentioned, the only spam that can really get through our defenses are the ones that are hand rolled by a person, and we catch most of those.

> - Would you compare this blog spam and trackback spam to the world of
> e-mail, where spam fighting has become normal and also a normal expense?

It's not a major expense.

You're making it into this major problem. If you have the right software and you put in simple rules it's not a major issue. The problem is the software makers, combined with blog owners, have not done a horrible good with their software. If you put in simple controls the problem goes away. Folks just don't install the tools to block comment spam.

I can't say I blame him... blogging is a grind and it takes over your life. In some cases it even becomes your life.

Burn out is, of course, an issue too. Dave blogs everything, and I'm sure as a result of that a significant portion of his communication occurs via his blog. This can get very alienating over time. Fred and I spend more time blogging together than we do hanging out. We got to hang out at eTech, and it's much better to hang in person.

On top of all this is the undeniable fact that blogging is at it's best when there is conflict. Debating on blogs is just so effective in terms of moving ideas forward and drawing people into the discussion. Of course, you can easily get caught into this trap of only blogging when you feel strongly about something--it's polarizing for sure. Heck, I have to remind myself to throw in five non-aggressive posts for every passionate one I do.

I encourage folks to use the "say it to my face" rule when they post, or place a comment. You simply ask yourself "would I say this to the person in public and to their face?" If you can't answer that question instantly with a yes you should hold off on hitting the publish button.

The best moment in the history blogging was Mena Trott, from SixApart, giving a passionate speech calling for civility in blogging. During the talk she goes postal on someone on the backchannel, calling them an a-hole to their face and saying "what the f$%k!?!?!" Ahhh.... the irony. Mena really sweet of course, but she proved the point that blogging is about mixing it up not civility. A recap here.