How to Digg Without Getting Your Digg Account Banned

Lately, there have been a number of people at Associated Content who have had their Digg accounts banned. Most of these people were not given any reason at all. Therefore, they don't really know what they have done wrong. This article was created to offer some answers and to explain how to use Digg properly while avoiding actions that can get you banned. I hope you find it helpful.

What is Digg?

According to the Digg website, "Digg is a user driven social content website. Ok, so what the heck does that mean? Well, everything on Digg is submitted by our community (that would be you). After you submit content, other people read your submission and Digg what they like best. If your story rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of visitors to see." Social bookmark communities are places where the public can upload their favorite links and stories and share them with others. In order to make the most of these sites, you must not only add stories, but also participate in the community.

What can you do at Digg?

Again, according to the Digg website, a Digg user can "digg (help promote), bury (help remove spam), and comment on stories... you can even Digg and bury comments you like or dislike. Digg also allows you to track your friends' activity throughout the site - want to share a video or news story with a friend? Digg it!" Digg can be a valuable news resource and a great place to hook up with like-minded people, if used properly.

What guidelines should you follow when submitting a story to Digg?

"Quality Content: Is your story on topic? Make sure your story is appropriate for the topic you're submitting it to."

When you submit a story to Digg, you have to check a Digg Topic radio button so Digg can sort your story under the proper heading. If your article does not fit under any of those topics, then you probably shouldn't be submitting that story at Digg. If you have been submitting stories under the wrong Topic, you could be asking to be banned.

"Link Directly to the Source: Save people time by linking directly to the original news story."

This guideline seems to apply mostly to blogs, in my opinion. Instead of linking to a blog post that links to another source, link to the main source instead. Many people hope to promote their blogs, but you should only promote original stories and not just a snippet that links back to another story. I believe this abuse of this could also result in getting your account banned.

"Search First: Avoid duplication by searching to ensure nobody has submitted the same story."

Check the Digg site to make sure someone else hasn't already submitted the same story you want to submit. Digg helps with this by producing several similar stories to the one you are trying to Digg. Double-check your story and make sure it isn't a duplicate. If it is a duplicate, stop trying to submit it and go add your Digg to the originally dug story.

"Be Descriptive: You're the story's editor, so explain what it is and why it's cool".

Don't submit stories without some kind of description. Take a moment and include one or more sentences that summarize the story and tell the Digg community why you think the story merits a Digg.

How do you Digg?

There are a few ways to Digg a story for Digg.com.

Some websites already have Digg buttons incorporated into their pages. After you read a story, you can click on the Digg It link at the bottom. Be sure to follow the guidelines in the previous section of this article when Digging a story.

Some toolbars for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer contain Digg buttons. One example is the Yahoo! Toolbar. The Yahoo! Toolbar doesn't have an original Digg button, but you can add your own very easily. Just click on the add/edit buttons part of the toolbar and then add the URL, http://digg.com/submit, to the form that opens up. Choose an icon to represent your new button and finish. You'll have a small button on your Yahoo! Toolbar to click anytime you find a story you want to Digg.

If you do not have any of these available to you, you can also add something called a Digg Bookmarklet to your toolbar. I've found a few by doing a search on Google. As long as you have the Links section of your Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer toolbar active, you will be able to drag the Bookmarklet link right off the page and right on to your toolbar. You can find a really great Digg Bookmarklet here. Remember, just click once on the link there and drag it to your web browser's Link bar. Now, whenever you come across a story you want to Digg, just click on that Digg Bookmarklet. It will automatically bring up the Digg page and you can go from there.

Add-ons, or extensions, are also available for Mozilla Firefox. Do a Google search or visit the Mozilla Firefox page to search for add-ons that allow you to have a Digg button or something similar, and sometimes better. I know of one Firefox add-on that shows you whether the story has been Dugg, before you Digg it. This can be very helpful. This button also allows you to Digg the article.

Last of all, you can go right to the Digg website and click on the" Submit a New Story" link at the top, right-hand corner of the page. This will bring up a page that shows you the guidelines I've listed earlier in this article and an area to add the URL to form. Click the Continue button. The next page will show you whether your story has already been submitted. If it has, just click on the Digg It button right under the number of Diggs for the story. You can add a comment if you like as well. If the story hasn't been added, you will need to add a description and make sure there aren't duplicates of the story. Submit the story and then comment on it if you would like.

What can I Digg?

This is the part that most people at Associated Content are having a problem with, what to Digg. Associated Content has a large selection of social bookmark community buttons on each article that is published there. It is very easy to click and Digg any story you write or like on AC. The problem with this practice is that Digg has somehow started to consider Associated Content stories as Spam. This is, obviously, not a good thing. In fact, many Content Producers from Associated Content have been banned from Digg; possibly for submitting too many Associated Content articles. I don't consider this a fair way to treat AC Content Producers but that is how it seems to be. Keeping this in mind, we must find a way to work around the prejudice against Associated Content and try to find a way to fit in better with the Digg community. We must do this if we hope to keep our Digg accounts active.

Therefore, you must learn to Digg articles other than Associated Content articles. This doesn't mean that you have to stop Digging Associated Content articles; it just means that you need to Digg a little smarter. From now on, whenever you want to Digg an Associated Content article, do so. After you have done so, search the web for another story you like, from any other source, and Digg it too. For every Associated Content article you Digg, try to Digg one or more stories from a different source. This *should* stop people from getting their Digg accounts banned. This should also help Content Producers become more accepted members of the Digg community.

Conclusion

A few other tips to avoid Digg seeing you as a spammer are: take the time to write a great description for each article you submit and become more active on the Digg site. Make friends on Digg by adding people who seem to like the same articles as you, to your friend's list. Comment on articles submitted by others on Digg, rather than just your own. Become a true member of the community and the bannings should stop. In addition, you might find you are enjoying this whole social bookmark community thing... a lot more.

Good luck!