Top 10 features Digg doesn’t have
In the couple of months I’ve been using Digg, I’ve really got used to the service and I love it. However, there’s always room for improvement…
Here are 10 features that I feel would make the Digg experience better:
1. Advanced search
Digg’s search has the AND operator by default, recognizes phrases, you can search last 7, 30 or 365 days, and that’s pretty much it. Where are the advanced options: boolean operators (+, -, OR…) or precise time frame search (for example, search only stories between two dates? Also, if you want to search a particular category, you must click that category (two clicks if it’s a subcategory) and then you can search it - it would be much better if you had a central search page with all that options in one place.
2. Organizing your Diggs
Many people use Digg primarily as a bookmarking service. It makes sense: the community diggs the best stories so they come on top, you digg them to remember them. However, there’s currently no way to organize the stories you dugg, commented on, or submitted - just a long list of stories which gets pretty unusable if you’re a digg veteran and have hundreds of dugg stories. For starters, it would be nice if you could at least sort them by their category.
3. Better user interaction
As far as user interaction goes on Digg, you can add someone to friends, or reply to his/her comment. No way to leave someone a public or private message. You don’t even get a note when someone makes you his/her friend - I just discovered I have some new friends and I had no idea about it. One argument against this is that personal messaging might make some users to pester other users to digg their stories. However, it’s still a thing to consider - and it has been done on some other services similar to Digg.
4. Spy on a category
This is probably more interesting to veteran diggers who use the Spy option a lot, but still it would a very useful option if you could have the Digg Spy only for a certain category. For example, I only closely follow Technology stories, I would like to be able to spy only on them.
5. More categories
How many times, while submitting a story, were you unable to find the right category? That’s because there just ain’t enough of them. An Internet category comes to mind; also, some sort of fun/comedy category would be nice (The current Comedy category is only for videos). I’m sure some more improvements could be done in this department, and I don’t think new categories are hard to implement.
6. The dupe police
Digg has some basic duplicate protection, meaning that you cannot submit a story whose exact URL was already submitted. However, what is basically a same story usually appears on tens of different sources, which leads to a number of dupes. And this lead to “the dupe police”, a much maligned group of users who (not always unjustifedly) swarm the comments and protest: Dupe, DUPE!. Well, Digg itself could do more to protect from dupes. Perhaps an algorithm that compares a story with other similar stories and gives out a percentage number next to the title. Example: This is a story (43% dupe - see other similar stories). Similar stories could also be listed below the story that might be a duplicate, so the users have the choice to see them also and decide which one is the best.
7. Digger map
This is definitely not an essential feature, but it would certainly be fun - a visual, geographical map of Diggers. It would work simple; when someone diggs a story, you can see a dot at his geographical location on the map. Related to this, it would be possible to use this data for various statistical data, so you’d know not only how many diggers dugg a certain story, but also which stories are most dugg in a certain country/continent, etc. (and we all know geeks like me love statistics).
8. Buried stories
In every user profile, you can see which stories were dugg, submitted, or commented on by a user. However, you can’t see which stories the user buried. This could help evaluating the credibility of a user - if someone just goes around and buries story like a madman without any reason, he/she’s not going to be very popular.
9. Firefox extension
Yes, I know there already are a few Digg-related Firefox extensions out there, most notably Digg This!. However, it would be nice to have a Digg spy extension in your browser, so you could always have an eye on upcoming stories.
10. Themes/skins
Personally, I like the way Digg looks. But themes/skins are always a nice addition, even if it’s only a slight change of color. The simplicity of Digg’s design practically begs for visual customization.
This is my list, what is yours? I’d like to read ideas from other users, so feel free to comment on this.
December 24th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Top 10 features Digg doesn’t have…
Here are 10 features that I feel would make the Digg experience better….
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:57 am
[…] Some of our readers may remember my post about the 10 features that Digg doesn’t have. But those were based mostly on my experiences with Digg from a user’s standpoint. Now that this site grows in traffic, I begin to see other weird flaws in the way my stories end up on Digg and the way Digg handles spam. […]
January 19th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
All great ideas. I start at Digg in February and I’ve been talking with Brian Link quite a bit about some of my own ideas. From the sounds of it Digg is fully aware that search needs an upgrade. I’ve made a note of this page as I really liked the idea of geographical digging activity. It goes along with an idea I proposed to Brian where we could monitor the texts of stories for geographical areas (ie. “Iraq”) and display geographical “hot spots” based on news submissions.
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:29 am
@Joe: although Digg needs many upgrades, they’ve been on the ball with the really important stuff. I love the way Digg is handled, I think it’s all under control and that new features will be added when priorities are sorted out.
February 4th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Why Doesn’t Digg Use Tags?…
While I’ve only been using digg for a few months now, I’ve already become quite addicted to it. It’s the best way I’ve found to get breaking news and information from around the web quickly and easily. I’m very impressed…
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
[…] FranticIndustries from the very beginning know that I’ve asked for better categorization in one of the first posts on this site, about one year ago. Ah well, better late than […]
June 26th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
A very helpful Blog you have here with lots of great information. Thanks
July 14th, 2009 at 1:45 am
âûâîç ìóñîðà
…
òðàíñïîðòíûå óñëóãè…
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:27 am
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again - taking you feeds also, Thanks.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:53 am
That?s Too nice, when it comes in india hope it can make a Rocking place for youngster.. hope that come true.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
A SUPPORTED BY THE DEVELOPER TOOLS? It was interesting. You seem very knowledgeable in ypour field.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I don?t usually reply to posts but I will in this case.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?
November 10th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?
November 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Fettucini alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults
November 27th, 2009 at 9:23 am
thanks !! very helpful post!
December 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Come on dude, these facts* and proof* i mean who is posting* lol
December 10th, 2009 at 12:09 am
To start earning money with your blog, initially use Google Adsense but gradually as your traffic increases, keep adding more and more money making programs to your site.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:19 am
I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.:)
December 14th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Only want to say your article is as tonishing. The clarity in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this field. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with succeeding post. Thanks a million and please keep up the good work.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Good Blog Post…
Have a look at this Post on this Blog…
December 20th, 2009 at 5:26 am
second hand pianos…
Thanks heaps for this!… if anyone else has anything, it would be much appreciated. Great website HOT Pianoforte Links http://www.en.Grand-Pianos.org Enjoy!…
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:47 am
Good thought just about this post! I think, it’s really worth to buy essays to get the great success!
January 8th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.
January 15th, 2010 at 12:33 am
You are a very smart person!
January 15th, 2010 at 12:57 am
Your blog is so informative ? keep up the good work!!!!
January 18th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hey I came across your webpage by accident on google while searching for something completely irrelevant but I am truly happy that I did, You have just captured yourself another subscriber.
January 20th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I still don?t feel the affects on the web? real life - 100% affected
January 20th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Promote something of ?value? and you can even turn a promotion into ?content?
I have heard the 90/10 rule works best, but the point is, whether its 80/20 or 90/10 or 75/25 doesn?t matter as much as how VALUABLE is the CONTENT you are delivering 
If you follow 99/1 and your 99% content is irrelavant, untimely, and just plain valueless to your readership, you really don?t have a 99/1 ratio 
January 27th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Great posting. I thank you for posting it. Keep up the great work.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .. Amazing ?
February 13th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100%, but it?s just my opinion, which could be wrong?.
March 1st, 2010 at 6:21 pm
I think your blog need a new wordpress template. Downalod it from http://templates.wordpressguru.in, The site has nice and unique wordpress templates.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
A place I found had a great deal great info on herbal teas and was really helpful. Its hard to find a good place with good information
March 14th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
This was awesome