Read/Write Web writes about a new service called User/Submitter, which pays people to vote for articles on digg. People who want their article or site dugg can pay $20 plus $1 for each desired digg.

At the heart of this is the big gaming elephant in the social news room. Anyone who uses del.icio.us, digg, Wikipedia or any other site that relies on voting has seen the gamers and trolls that lurk behind the curtains. Indeed, we have even seen it here at BuzzShout. In order for such sites to be successful, the barrier to entry for voting should be low enough so that anyone can easily participate. However, this is at odds with the ideal of removing the junk, since it means people and sites like User/Submitter can disrupt the quality chain.

Currently, they are paying $0.50 for every five stories dugg, which is quite low. However, my fear isn’t that people would do this manually. The User/Submitter revenue model may encourage someone to automate the digging process in order to earn the cash. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has already done this.

Is this a dark portent of the future? Will sites like del.icio.us and digg be controlled by the highest bidder? Even though I still hold to the philosophy that people are generally good, I hope User/Submitter isn’t the start of a new trend.

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Categories - Commentary, Trends, Social News, Digg |