SpikeTheVote is a way for people to game the Digg voting system. It’s very clever.
We collectively vote each other’s stories to the front page.
I act as the middle man, verifying votes and keeping everyone in line. If someone stops digging, they won’t earn enough points to get their own stories dugg.Spike the Vote works on a point system. Each day I give you a mission with several stories to Digg. 20% of your mission involves digging stories submitted by users in this community, while 80% of of your mission is completely random. This is to eliminate footprints and keep things anonymous.
You earn 1 point for each story Dugg. Once you earn enough points, you can trade them in for Diggs on your own stories.
I agree with Fabian that this isn’t inherantly evil, but it’s obviously not something that Digg or it’s users want.
This is the same root problem that comes up again and again on the internet. If all it takes to get a “vote” is to fill out a registration form or create a link, then any “election” can be gamed. The same goes for product reviews and search results.
What’s the solution?
The feature is in it’s infancy, but the Lijit List aims to solve exactly this problem. It combines a Digg-like voting system with a social network. Votes from people closer to you are given more weight than votes from strangers.
This should also avoid the very Digg-ish problem of nerd-centricity. The core users of Digg are nerds (like me), and the content reflects that. But the Lijit solution means that your list is customized to you and your network. If lots of your friends are into knitting, then you can expect to see a lot of stories about knitting. (I do not expect to ever see a story about knitting on Digg!)
Like I said, this feature is just getting going. We need more volume in the system to really get it tuned, so why not join the beta test? Be sure to let me know how it works for you.