1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Digg spamming on a grand scale

Discussion in 'Social Networks' started by mad4, Jul 3, 2006.

  1. #1
    For years we have all been trying to manipulate various search engines to make money. With the launch of web 2.0 and social networking a lot of sites are getting huge amounts of free promotion simply because other web users like the sites and their content and tag/digg them.

    In view of the high value that a front page digg or delicious listing has (maybe $500 - $1000 just considering the backlinks) its surprising that nobody has started to spam these sites on a large scale.

    Somebody could set up a network of a couple of hundred people who are already users of these sites and send out an group email every few days with a few sites to digg/tag. As long as the content of the sites was good then it would be very hard to spot. You could charge $500 for the service and pay your diggers $1 per digg and keep the profits.

    I'm not thinking of doing this as I don't have the time and its not really my sort of thing but it would be interesting to hear thoughts on why nobody has done this yet?
     
    mad4, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  2. Tearabite

    Tearabite Prominent Member

    Messages:
    4,629
    Likes Received:
    429
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    300
    #2
    DIGGers are pretty good at weeding-out the spam.
     
    Tearabite, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  3. mad4

    mad4 Peon

    Messages:
    6,986
    Likes Received:
    493
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    I agree but if you submit a good article and 300 of your fellow digg spammers digg it then how could digg weed that out? Obviously if you submit rubbish then it will get thrown out pretty quick.
     
    mad4, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  4. Tekntoant

    Tekntoant Peon

    Messages:
    294
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    Spam is a socially constructed object, so if a site is labeled as spam and social bookmaking sites rely on their communities to vote them to the top, they are eventually weeded out like Tearabite stated above.

    Theoretically all you would need is a small army of zombie computers with the ability to target an article then dig it, correct? A Trojan joined to a popular MP3 on a P2P network would be sufficient. I am sure there are people looking for a way to cash in on spamming these types of sites, if not already. Hell, look in some of the threads here that say “Dig my site”. Just tainting a good site IMHO.
     
    Tekntoant, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  5. etali

    etali Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,215
    Likes Received:
    43
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    #5
    I've seen a lot of 'Digg swapping' going on these days. I suspect if people did start doing it on the scale you describe then users that are seen to be using lots of 'fake' accounts (meaning accounts that only digg articles related to a certain site, or whatever) would be spotted and stopped.

    I do occasionally submit my own stuff to digg, but I've not traded diggs, if I make the front page, then sweet, if not thats fine.

    Faking digg just seems wrong, IMO.
     
    etali, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  6. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

    Messages:
    9,205
    Likes Received:
    647
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    310
    #6
    ahkip, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  7. sayyes

    sayyes Peon

    Messages:
    264
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    sayyes, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  8. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

    Messages:
    9,205
    Likes Received:
    647
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    310
    #8
    ahkip, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  9. Tekntoant

    Tekntoant Peon

    Messages:
    294
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    Tekntoant, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  10. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

    Messages:
    9,205
    Likes Received:
    647
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    310
    #10
    does it? but...does it help anything?
     
    ahkip, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  11. Tekntoant

    Tekntoant Peon

    Messages:
    294
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    I would assume that the number being show represents a value correlating to the ranking of the article but can’t say for sure. Still interesting
     
    Tekntoant, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  12. ahkip

    ahkip Prominent Member

    Messages:
    9,205
    Likes Received:
    647
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    310
    #12
    um..i think that number has nothing to do with the article but the ranking of the user since you are digging user's comment.

    And i still doesn't get how it works....i am mad stupid:mad:
     
    ahkip, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  13. Site Owner

    Site Owner Peon

    Messages:
    69
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    perhaps it was just not meant to be understood :p
     
    Site Owner, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  14. Blitz

    Blitz Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,208
    Likes Received:
    48
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    155
    #14
    I thought about something like that.
    First I thought about proxies, but that's probably a max of a few hundred IPs at any one time, and could get tricky. Then I thought a user database in which users login, and their browser automatically takes them to the stories which need digging, in return they get digg 'points'.

    The problems:
    * There's not enough new stories to create a healthy amount of diggs
    * Would be easy for Digg admins to join and remove the stories

    Solutions:
    * Create a stable/user-driven economy of diggs (ie. the more digg 'points' floating around, the less diggs you can buy with them)
    * Code it so user simply login to their account and the IDs of the stories aren't shown to them, their browser window does everything else.

    It's doable, but profitable? No. Which is the reason it hasn't been done. (to my knowledge)
     
    Blitz, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  15. munt

    munt Peon

    Messages:
    1,353
    Likes Received:
    53
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #15
    digg users will kill spam before the spammer presses submit :p
     
    munt, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  16. digitalpoint

    digitalpoint Overlord of no one Staff

    Messages:
    38,334
    Likes Received:
    2,613
    Best Answers:
    462
    Trophy Points:
    710
    Digital Goods:
    29
    #16
    I know this might seem *crazy*, but has anyone ever thought about making stuff that is diggable by itself without needing to try and spam digg? :)
     
    digitalpoint, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  17. mad4

    mad4 Peon

    Messages:
    6,986
    Likes Received:
    493
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #17
    Thats obviously the 'holy grail' of marketing but I just find it surprising that with the amount of time people spend trying to spam/influence google nobody appears to have launched an all out spam assault on one of the web 2.0 sites.

    I suppose we could just set T0PS30 to work on getting everybody dugg.:D
     
    mad4, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  18. Blitz

    Blitz Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,208
    Likes Received:
    48
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    155
    #18
    Easier said than done :) but why spend money trying to influence people with advertising instead of spending the money on the product which people will talk about instead? Depends where you draw the line.

    I don't see the worth in outcomes from digg spamming though, you get masses of 'non adsense clicking' traffic, the only way it could be worth it is if you sell a product aimed at the digging demographic, or to advertise a service.
     
    Blitz, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  19. Roman

    Roman Buffalo Tamer™

    Messages:
    6,217
    Likes Received:
    592
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    310
    #19

    Why would anyone in their right mind wan't to spend hours writing something diggable when they can spend dozens of hours developing a way to cheat?
     
    Roman, Jul 3, 2006 IP
  20. brizzad

    brizzad Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    214
    Likes Received:
    10
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    110
    #20

    Hey! What a great idea! Let's take one of the last few spam free/clean websites around and .. well.. fill it with spam! Why do you idiots even come public with retarded ideas like this :rolleyes:
     
    brizzad, Jul 3, 2006 IP