36 Comments
- acmorton, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Yes, I've missed this feature for a very long time...
- Dycacian, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I love this thing. Once it updates the first time, it is fast as hell :D Much faster than the current Digg search. The technology behind it is cool too. I would love to see the panel at SXSW. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/147
- sandieman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Google Gears is cool.
- NeMeSiS187, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Yes, I don't quite understand why they took this feature out of digg to begin with. It's not social bookmarking if you can't find your social bookmarks. It led me to pretty much only digg the stories I really thought were worthwhile instead of anything that's remotely cool. Anyone care to explain why it was removed?
- estacado, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I guess they are still moving servers after 9 months.
- Urgo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4OMG I love you!! I've been so upset with digg for the last 9 months since it took so long to find anything I've dugg. I just downloaded and begun the indexing. I can't wait to see this in action! Thank you sooo much!
- Krusz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4FYI: http://digg.com/tech_news/Digg_Broken_for_250_days_and_counting_after_a_promised_fix_DIGG_THIS
- Innagadadavida, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Can anyone remind me why it was removed in the first place?
- invader, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I am afraid that you might have your "elitist hat" pulled down over your head so far that it is covering your eyes.
The majority of web application users use one -- maybe two -- computers. This means local, persistent storage is an effective solution for performance issues. Even though server hardware is getting faster and cheaper, and the bandwidth ceiling is raising, software developers will continue to push the limitations of modern hardware. That fact has always been true throughout the history of technology.
I am not primarily a JS developer, mainly because my experiences with it 5+ years ago were probably similar to Terr01's. However, it would be flat out ignorant to rule it out as an effective platform today, due to the excellent cross-platform support available with any modern JS library.
With this Gears search tool, it's not so much about Javascript & "AJAX" as it is about local database storage and asynchronous scripting (not as in asynchronous requests (AJAX), but the script itself is run in a separate thread from the UI, making the JS MUCH less clunky and more responsive).
Despite your apparent bias against anything "Web 2.0" or "AJAX" this is extremely valuable technology. Most user-centric web services (e.g. Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Flickr, etc) can benefit greatly from pushing select pieces of functionality off their servers and onto clients that are now becoming equipped for the task. By only providing the data to the client ONCE (this tool downloads the user's history once, then performs all searches without connecting AT ALL to Digg's servers), entire sets of features can be added without increasing the load on the servers. I specified user-centric services because in most cases it only makes sense to download data for a specified user and/or the user's 'friends'. - glasnt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Crap that's fast! Very nice for trying to find past loved articles. Snaps for Brian!
- Urgo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Here is some info to answer your Q:
http://digg.com/software/Another_Feature_Disappears_From_Digg_Profile_Searching
by kevinrose on 12/19/2006
Yes, it's coming back - sorry about that. We are moving to faster search servers (and software). Once that is complete profile search will be back online.
Sorry for the inconvenience. - gwinerreniwg, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Love the feature, and its an interesting proof of concept. I'm all for shifting workload to client side, but the fact that the app is basically a "thick client" with a local state that must be maintained specific to a machine kinda defeats the purpose of a web application, no? Not sure I digg this architecture.
- acmephoto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I heard that feature like this was one of Digg's "number one priorities" Maybe this Shaler guy should sell some consulting time to digg.com?!
- zoom1928, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Your session has expired, please refresh the page before commenting.
- Terr01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm going to put on my elitist hat for a minute and make with the unsupported theorizations.
What's driving all this "rich clients via javascript" crap? It irks me just like marketing drones with "Web 2.0" constantly on their lips when discussing building anything. (e.g. Searching your own diggs? Not itself web 2.0.) Javascript is much better than it was in the past, but it's still a pretty annoying language to develop anything serious or in-depth for, both from language deficiencies and issues between browsers.
A major movement over the last few years has been moving towards more bandwith more frequently. Storing stuff locally is becoming less and less important, so why are we seeing more emphasis on rich clients, and using JS (of all things) to do it?
Is it hordes of web designers, itching to claim a mantle as real(-er) programmers? - jackyyll, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Probably because of the massive load it was causing on the server :/
- AmazingAndrex, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I agreed, compiled languages are superior IMO.
- Urgo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It took about an hour and a half to install & index (~3000 diggs) & crashed firefox several times, but after it finished it works great! Thank you again!
One suggestion though:
A search for Comcast does not return results for "Comcast's" and a search for "Comcast's" doesn't return any results.
Referencing this story:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_iptables_Will_Fix_Comcast_s_BitTorrent_Connection_Killing - TH3W1R3D, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Great little piece of software. Good job
- haski, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yes, this is way to go but first we need native support in webbrowsers before this approach becomes mainstream.
- invader, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The search definitely has a little ways to go. I was using the full-text search capabilities Google integrated into their FTS2 extension. Not sure if it was something I did, or if the support just isn't there. I had to use some workarounds to get it to actually *work*
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I didn't knew that Digg use to have this feature. That's a feature that I've been needing since I'm digging stories.
- seanieb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2How come no one is digging this story?
- OverlordXenu, on 03/02/2008, -0/+1This doesn't seem to work for me.
- Godlike, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1www.duggornot.com
- cyberoidx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Thanks for the information.
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/5_Reasons_Why_I_Won_t_Digg_Your_Lame_Story
You expect to revive a 13 day old story? - knol, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1shaler jump
- MikeonTV, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2So how is this different than putting your feed into google reader then using the new search feature? pwn
- AmazingAndrex, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Agreed. This is the one thing I wish more people would ask for more in addition to comments and a picture section.
- singlebyte, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Awesome!! Nice pluggin. (or whatever you call it). Now Digg can start working on other features! :)
- isewise, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1This doesn't allow you to search your own diggs, but it works great
http://digg.firoogle.com/ - johnny222, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1And we all know how fast hell is, too.
- LethaLImpuLse, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1Steve Jobs
- acmorton, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2Yes, I've missed this feature for a looooonnnnngggggg time.
- ctingom, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2But can it blend? Nice work Brian.


What is Digg?
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official