I initially signed up for an account back in July of 2006, but rarely logged-in, as Digg.com had everything I wanted in terms of community, content, and plain old "coolness."
With the decline of Digg's former top users, what has seemed like a changing demographic on the site, and out of curiosity, I have been inclined to give Netscape more of a shot and serious consideration. I'm impressed by many of the site's features, and of course it's great to catch-up with old netfriends and bookmark with them, but today I had my first bad experience with the site. :-(
It started when I submitted this link. My story description indicated that this was an RSS based Mash-up that I created (blending the FP stories from Digg, Delicious, and Techmeme), was something of an experiment, and was really only intended to provoke conversation about the use of syndicated content and mash-ups, etc as the next phase in content delivery in Web 2.0. ( It was also posted in Art & Design since it was just a "proof-of-concept" thing on my part)
The submission garnered some quick votes, only one single "sink" (the digg equivilant of a bury, only it's transparent when it happens @ Netscape) and made it to the Netscape's "front page!" I was pleasantly surprised by this since it was my *first* netscape front page submission. That satisfaction quickly dissipated though when upon checking back at the site, I found the story to be gone.
Not "Sunk", Not Flagged, Just Gone. Vanished. Disappeared. Removed from their system and my history altogether!
I'd like to point out that Netscape is big on sending "notifications" about stuff. You get an email from them when a someone befriends you, or when there is activity on your stories. You evidently don't get an email however, when someone takes down your stories though (??)
Additionally, Netscape has paid bookmarkers called Navigators, who submit content also, but are kind of like community leaders. There are also Anchors who are like super navigators. Both Anchors and Navigators are Netscape employees and there are always some "on shift"
When I found that my story had simply vanished, I thought surely, I'd just email the Anchor or some of the Navigators and at least find out why it was taken down. My intentions certainly weren't nefarious (i.e. spammy) in submitting my own site, as it were -- it really was just a "concept thing." The fact that I had only one "sink" led me to believe that this was understood. Evidentially not.
What is most frustrating to me, is that I constantly hear (even from my friends) that Digg.com isn't "transparent enough" or is broken, etc. I am still giving Netscape the benefit of the doubt, but there's nothing transparent at all about removing user stories with no notice, no reply, and no indication of why (!)
I emailed the Anchor +10 hours ago as of the time of this post, and have still yet to get a response or answer. There is no explanation at story URL either. One of the Navigators, did respond to me and she said she was forwarding my mail to someone else, to look into, so we'll see....
Not a great first "front page" experience, Netscape. It's a good thing you keep great company with the smart user base you have. At this point, I'm still withholding judgment, but would really like to know why it was taken down, or if this is merely a technical thing, or what?
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