Bolg - The Chris Blanc Weblog

One of the biggest reasons why Digg became successful was that it provided individuals with the opportunity to govern the site. By way of democracy, users choose which articles were submitted to the site, what made it to the front page, which new features should be implemented, ect. What a novel concept this was in the beginning. Fast forward to today and what do we have?

Digg is now controlled by the majority of users who just so happen to be Apple fanboys, who just happen to be Linux fanboys, who just happen to be political nut cases. Occasionally, you will see an article reach the front page that doesn’t fit in these three categories, but for the most part, these three categories run the roost. At one time, it was ok to submit Digg articles that were housed on blogs. Nope, you can’t do that anymore because the majority of Digg users frown on blogs and consider all blogs to be internet trash. ^{^}

When I first started out, I thought everyone over 30 was retarded and that editors were the scourge of the world. They limited my artistic freedom, stopped my flights of linguistic fancy, made me think about boring things like the audience, the topic, and so on. I’ve changed a lot, but it wasn’t because editors taught me. It’s because I became my own editor.

Writing does not exist without a preposition. You are writing to someone, or writing for someone, even if you’re writing about someone, and that someone might be yourself, as in the case of fiction. Your audience is your target. Without them, you have a diary. With them, you have a dialogue between author and audience. I want that dialogue because when I write, it’s to share something I’ve discovered. (Even on this dorky blog!)

Editors are a good thing, but it’s not universal. Good editors are a good thing. Bad editors are …you guessed it, a bad thing. Digg needs editors as much as it needs that lovely anarchic groundswell of pure chaos that brings it some of its best stories.

But chaos does best with a master. You wouldn’t want to live in pure chaos, or you couldn’t function. If chaos took over your body, you’d die. It might be that chaos is best praised in Lovecraftian tales, or as part of the creative process that later gets bent to a system of order and clarity. At least, I’ve had the best results that way.