Comments on: Digging in the Mud

By: koew

koew — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:32:33 +0000

Personally I was annoyed by the Diggbar because I felt it stole decent linkage – because users didn’t close the Diggbar. Another reason is that I don’t use Facebook, so I haven’t experienced the FB-bar (or whatever it’s called). And StumbleUpon…well all they really have is their bar, right?

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:59:49 +0000

I think people are always up in arms about anything to do with Digg because it is so popular and people are always trying to be the most powerful “DIGG’ers.” Thanks for bringing this point to light: if you don’t like framing, take it out on all sites that frame! Thanks for sharing.

By: Digg e la nuova Diggbar « Howtoweb.it

Digg e la nuova Diggbar « Howtoweb.it — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:40:41 +0000

[...] qualche giorno fa da Digg. Su questo proposito anche Eric Meyer manifesta il suo disappunto con un articolo, sottolineando come la problematica più grave fosse rappresentata dall’utilizzo dei frame e [...]

By: Tim Wright

Tim Wright — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:45:31 +0000

This is unrelated, but you have a horizontal scroll bar I can’t seem to shake. Using Firefox 3.0.8

By: Andreas

Andreas — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:18:17 +0000

example of how framebars slows down the web: http://tr.im/iP8L

By: Example of framebar evilness « god morgon!

Example of framebar evilness « god morgon! — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:04:15 +0000

[...] 2009 April 14 by andreas Wowsers! Will the diggbar debates ever end? Eric Meyer asks on his blog today why are people so upset about diggbar in particular and not other framebars like google image [...]

By: Matt Robin

Matt Robin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:46:03 +0000

Ha! Your reaction was similar to mine (about why the specific rage at the Diggbar and not the other javascript bars already widely in use). My first thought was that the ‘Facebookbar’ was doing almost exactly the same thing…but I hadn’t seen anyone kicking and screaming about it! These portal-bar items are definitely a bad idea for many reasons – busting out from ALL of them (gracefully) would be a good move.

By: Tim Arnold

Tim Arnold — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:39:30 +0000

I think the difference in reactions come from the fact that clicking external links is almost all one does on Digg (particularly if you don’t comment). I only noticed the Facebook toolbar a day or two after the Diggbar, not because it was somehow less irritating, but because I so rarely click links in Facebook. How long has the Facebook toolbar been around? Also, I only log in if I want to dig something, or comment (which is not ver often). For just browsing and reading I am usually not logged in which means that my preferences are not read, and the toolbar is there. So now I have to log in all the time which wouldn’t be a problem if Digg would remember me better than it does, but it seems like I have to re-login all the time.

By: Priit Pirita

Priit Pirita — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:07:03 +0000

If I’m not totally mistaken, then breaking out of google’s cache frame is truly annoying. Maddening. So, yes totally universal javascript is bad :-)

By: Neal Lindsay

Neal Lindsay — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:33:05 +0000

Here are the reasons I think are causing the extreme reaction versus FaceBook and StumbleUpon (in order of decreasing “validity” as an argument as I see it):

* Digg’s perceived high Google-juice
* Digg’s front-and-center use of framing (FaceBook’s use is far from central to their service, and StumbleUpon’s might be seen as just a crippled little brother of their browser add-on)
* Digg’s explicit promotion of the feature as a URL-shortening service (Quote from Digg: “Make short Digg links and add a DiggBar on any page on the web using this handy bookmarklet.”)
* The current popularity of url-shortening services right now in combination with above.
* Digg’s high number of not-logged-in users that will get the “bar” automatically (do not-logged-in facebook users even exist?)
* Digg’s launching of the feature into a fully Twitter-aware web
* the pile-on effect

There are some existing URL-shorteners that do similar things (ow.ly comes to mind). They are also not good, but are much less high-profile than Digg. I avoid clicking on them, personally.

As for making a Diggbar that does not suck – I don’t see a way to do it that does not involve browser add-ons. However, if they made the Diggbar an opt-in setting I’m sure people would be mostly satisfied.

By: Joel Mahaffey

Joel Mahaffey — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:23:14 +0000

Well said. I particularly enjoyed the last paragraph — I would love to see that happen.

By: Mark Branly

Mark Branly — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:27:58 +0000

Technically, there is no difference. Digg was the simply straw that broke the camel's back. Or more accurately, the rest of these bars were straws and DiggBar was the log that broke the camel's back. Fun with frame-stacking.

By: Thomas Scholz

Thomas Scholz — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:07:27 +0000

Don”t forget Google Translate and similar services, where the framing is actually useful for visitors.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:03:16 +0000

“After all, people who use those services like the bars”

I think that’s a bad assumption to make. I <3 Digg, but I can’t stand the new bar. That bar makes me roll my scroll wheel a few extra times on every article I read from Digg. Aggregated across all the Digg articles I read every day, that adds up to a 0.00000001% increase in my chance of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Ok, maybe the bar’s not so bad, and maybe I’m just bitter because I’m a web developer and I value on-screen real estate very highly. But still, the point remains that the people who *make* Digg like their bar; the same can not (necessarily) be said for the people who *use* Digg.

By: Bramus!

Bramus! — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:15:18 +0000

As far as I have noticed: a shortened URL on Facebook will redirect to the correct URL if you’re not logged into Facebook, or aren’t friends with the user who posted the link. ==> Google and the other usual suspects end up at the correct URL eventually (they just get redirected), ergo no uproar.

Another aspect I’m not getting: it’s perfectly possible for a user to disable the diggbar, without any hackery: next to the Diggbar’s Close button a little arrow shows up when hovering over the Diggbar. Two clicks later (the first one being on the arrow) and you’ve turned off the Diggbar, permanently.