In digg nation and the games people play

So, digg has been gamed for ages, but now is the game over? No sooner has Technorati started to digg itself (wtf?), than digg starts climbing out the hole.

As of now they have removed the list of top story pim - er - promoters, maybe because it is becoming clear that some nefarious types are even prepared to pay money to get holed up on the front page as digg gets dugg by more people

So...let the games end?

We have blogged before about 2007 being the year that Trust will become very important in social media, and it is clear that sites like digg have to be seen to be Doing Something.

Will this stop the gaming? No, that is near impossible, but it does reduce the highly skewed payoffs for a small number of people, and that is better game theory. Will it be enough though?

Some people think not - here and here.....

GigaOm has a quick survey on what you think the outcome of this change will be over here , asking:

Will dropping the top digger list impact Digg?

- Not likely, as it helps the system get better
- The incentive (and bragging rights) of being a top digger is gone
- After initial hoopla, the Digg users will get used to the new rules

What do you think?

Postscript......it seems like the list has been put up again here