digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About
See the original image at pbs.org

Does Digg Have a Liberal Bias? Share Your Thoughts.

pbs.org — Though Digg offers dozens of sub-categories under which to submit stories, political items have often dominated the highly trafficked front page in recent months. But with that sharpened political focus has come accusations of bias, leaving some of the site’s more conservative users frustrated. Does Digg have a liberal bias and is there a solution?

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 5, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

1163 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • MidnightRIder77, on 09/05/2008, -26/+853Does this even need to be asked?
  • MrBabyMan, on 09/05/2008, -38/+705Let's be clear here. The site itself has no bias. The stories on Digg are promoted by the active community, and it's safe to say that the majority of the active community on Digg, yes, for better or worse, has a liberal bias.
  • vladsmiljanic, on 09/05/2008, -23/+233Your kidding right....the other day 9 of the top ten digg articles were bashing Palin...

    We Digg You Decide
  • Ymeg, on 09/05/2008, -55/+244Yes, it's to the point of being sickening.

    It would not be such a problem if the rational arguments and summations were not buried for the sole fact of being against what the they think. They have created an mental barrier; if the don't agree, then the questions raised will not be answered. Anything that questions their belief system is immediately ignored.

    Some old philosopher--whose name I cannot remember--said something to the extent of, "It takes a intellectual to humor the thought without subscribing to it"
  • eeemart, on 09/05/2008, -28/+172this site is what we all make it to be.
  • OneLess, on 09/05/2008, -398/+538Digg has a liberal bias because most people stupid or senile enough to be conservatives don't use the Internets.
  • rz8472, on 09/05/2008, -5/+101I'm a liberal and yes, digg has a liberal bias. Well actually more liberal and libertarian with conservatives being in the far minority.

    It depends on what issue; for example, I've noticed that most digg users tend to favor universal healthcare (a liberal proposal) but also increased deregulation of guns (a libertarian proposal)

    But imo, carping about digg and other social sites having a liberal bias is like saying that talk radio (which is 90% right-wing) has a conservative bias. They have the radio and FOX News, and apparently we have the internet blogs and MSNBC. To each their own, I guess.
  • level1computer, on 09/05/2008, -8/+90Does the democratic party have a liberal bias?
  • kaod, on 09/05/2008, -11/+88does a bear ***** in the woods? share your thoughts.
  • Spudster, on 09/05/2008, -2/+70I agree. I'm a barack supporter and yet I have been dugg down many times for challenging much of the smear that goes on here. Being a liberal does not give you an excuse to smear and manipulate the facts against conservatives. It was wrong when Karl Rove used dispicable tactics to smear the left and it is just as wrong if we use the same tactics against them. Let's hold ourselves to a higher standard.

    Anyone remember the crap about Palin not having her own child? To me that represented to me the height of irrationality and liberal sheep driven mentality on Digg. Anything so ridiculous about a democrat would have been buried immediately.
  • thepuma77, on 09/05/2008, -6/+69Does the liberal bias have a liberal bias.
  • helix400, on 09/05/2008, -9/+67This is my first comment on Digg in the last two years.

    I'm Republican, and stopped commenting years ago. There used to be many of us Republicans on Fark. We tried contributing. But we got tired of watching every single comment we made get buried, and every single conservative story get buried. So we gave up. All of us. We were bullied out. Some of you newbies might think I'm making this up or exaggerating. No. Go back over 2 years and see for yourself. We simply stopped trying and gave up.

    My breaking point was when I made a MythBusters style test, as absurd as possible, just to see how bad things are. I made liberal sounding post that was completely self-contradictory. I did it just to see what would happen. In the middle of my post, I even put "By the way, I don't believe any of this. I'm just seeing who really reads these comments."

    My post had the most diggs of the thread. Confirming what I suspected. Politics are knee-jerk around here. It's tyranny of the majority. The honest truth is that the minority opinion will always be suppressed as long as there is a digg-down option. When it comes to politics, Digg is fundamentally broken in every way.
  • Spudster, on 09/05/2008, -8/+62Leaning liberal myself personally, I don't mind the liberal bias. I mind more the liberal blogspam from sites like the DailyKos and the Huffington Post that fill Digg with trashy smears and attacks of conservative politicians.
  • farTart, on 09/05/2008, -41/+93I think Stephen Colbert summed it up best at the Whitehouse Press Corp Dinner when he said, "And as we know, reality has a well known liberal bias". I mean, seriously, outside of the US *both* of your main parties would be described as right wing. Basically, any sane media outlet will have a "left wing media bias" because that's where reality lives when compared to the US Realpolitik
  • WirelessGriffin, on 09/05/2008, -36/+88Wow, really? Way to categorize an entire group of people by the extremists, you are just so much better than them.
  • simonowens, on 09/05/2008, -5/+56Hey Mr. BabyMan, that was the consensus of the people I interviewed for the article. Even the conservatives I interviewed said so.
  • anizzle, on 09/05/2008, -12/+60THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -16/+62The community, not Digg itself, has a liberal bias.
    But that may say something about the relation between political beliefs and those tech-savvy enough to get here.
  • asleepy0, on 09/05/2008, -125/+167Reality has a liberal bias.
  • whiskeymb, on 09/05/2008, -53/+94Sure. I'm in the Colbert mind-set that facts are liberal bias in general.
  • sfgamergirl, on 09/05/2008, -44/+84The people vote and comment on articles that they find interesting. These days anyone who is honest or inquisitive is considered a "crazy liberal." If we wanted neo-con news bites and images of Barack Obama in a madras (spelling?) we'd watch corporate network and cable news, like the rest of the nation. Let us enjoy a FREE Internet and a little thing called free speech while we can.
  • Travisleet, on 09/05/2008, -9/+47Digg top stories at time of this comment:

    http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=diggbiasw ...

    You be the judge.
  • Charlotte_Web, on 09/05/2008, -4/+40Here's some evidence. Sarah Palin has made a big splash in the media lately, and overnight has become wildly popular with conservatives. So, first of all, just in the last week, how many anti-Sarah Palin articles made it to the front page? 30? 40?

    How many pro-Sarah Palin articles made it to the front page? None that I saw.


    Here's another bit of evidence that I noticed recently. CBS reported yesterday that a new poll shows the candidates in dead heat, each with 42% support.

    Now, go to Digg's page set up for the candidates:

    http://digg.com/elections/

    Notice the number of friends Obama has (25,500) and notice the number of friends McCain has (2,800).

    Need I say more?
  • ceredron, on 09/05/2008, -4/+40There is a bias to the content, but there is no inherent bias in the website. It's like asking if the internet is liberal, really... you can't answer that.
  • dreamweaver1984, on 09/05/2008, -4/+38i agree they should just remove politics,, but calling conservatives morons is not helping your cause,, this is the problem were so busy hating on each other.. also note im a conservative, and i do know how to work these computational things, and so do many conservatives get ur head out of ur ass
  • Dragular, on 09/05/2008, -2/+33Eh. My only complaint about the entire thing is nothing regarding the bias, more to do with the fact that something can get flagged as inaccurate by the majority and STILL be in the Top list. "Sarah Palin's baby actually Clone of McCain Raised to Hate Jews" or something.

    I mean hell this has never been conservative happyland, look at the '04 election. If you went solely based upon the Digg articles, you would think John Kerry won by a landslide.
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -14/+44Well, considering a lot of the Palin articles have been flagged as 'inaccurate' I suppose there is at least a hostile conservative user base XD
  • Archer007, on 09/05/2008, -0/+30Is recursion recursive?
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -102/+132When Republicans start to believe in science, the technology community might think about supporting some of their policies.
  • dshPls, on 09/05/2008, -2/+31"Digg has a no-***** bias."

    Oh please, Digg is great but often times sensationalized because of the voting system.
  • nedzeve, on 09/05/2008, -7/+36Well, for about 9 months between late 2007, and half of 2008, DIGG bashed Hillary Clinton any chance it could.

    DIGG probably has a male bias. My guess would be teenage male.

  • utnow, on 09/05/2008, -15/+43When Democrats start to use deodorant and stop naming their children "Flower" the civilized world will start to think about supporting some of their policies.

    See... that's what it looks like when you refer to an entire group of people as a single annoying stereotype.
  • GawtMilk, on 09/05/2008, -7/+35I am a libertarian, but I see that both candidates are pretty damn good. Usually, in an election year, it's like, "*****, I hope candidate X doesn't get the presidency, that'd REALLY ***** things up". This year, whether McCain or Obama, things well probably be better in America. Neither candidate is perfect - Obama supports FISA, for example, and McCain has a laundry list of "bad" legislation that you've probably read off the front page.

    What really pisses me off is the HUGE measures that people go to on this website to drown out other peoples views. I have had people ask me via email to actually digg down a specific COMMENT in an article. That's just ridiculous.

    Digg has a massive liberal bias. For proof, look at how many anti-Obama stories have reached "Most Popular in 7 Days". To the best of my knowledge, it is zero. This is really perpetuated by the "vote up / vote down" system. In my opinion, it would be better if it was only "vote up". You would rank the validity or humor of the statement whether it had a hundred people agreeing with it - not whether a hundred people disagreed with it.

    Now, checking my comment history, you'll see I only really post in defense of McCain - usually. This is not because I deem him to be the superior candidate, but because I feel that by playing devils advocate I at least PRESENT some varying viewpoints - regardless of the fact that my comments are all swiftly dugg down.

    For example, from day one I was commenting about the inaccuracies of the "Palin's kid is not her kid" stories. I was CONSTANTLY dugg down. No one realized that a couple of grainy pictures of the mother an underweight, early-pregnancy baby were not enough proof to lead to a conclusion. Regardless of that, I was buried every time. When the news finally came out that it was all just speculation, there was a feeble "we're sorry" from DailyKos - and they deleted the old stories I guess as it showed they aren't a legitimate news source.
  • mailthev, on 09/05/2008, -4/+32I like digg, but some of the stuff said here pisses me off, so anyone with an opposing political view is now senile or stupid - and that comment gets so many diggs up, surely "liberals" are the ones that are accepting of people having different views right or have I completely misunderstood "liberalism"? I think I prefer libertarianism much more to liberalism, go ahead digg me down
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -7/+35I am a non-religious Republican. I am atheist and believe in evolution.
  • djgreedo, on 09/05/2008, -14/+41"They have the radio and FOX News, and apparently we have the internet blogs and MSNBC."

    You're forgetting that, by the American standard, the rest of the world is pretty much liberal, too.
    We seriously have a difficult time believing that Fox News (it's available outside the US) is not an elaborate prank designed to make Americans look totally retarded...I mean, their motto is 'Fair and Balanced' yet they are more biased than most political parties...I'm getting off topic.
  • thePTS, on 09/05/2008, -35/+62Obama is considered "conservative" in most countries in the world, so I guess that makes digg.com a conservative site.
  • stickyman, on 09/05/2008, -13/+39You do realise that Digg is an international site, don't you? It isn't just American. It has nothing to do with Dem and Rep, or liberal "Bias" whatever that is.

    There are virtually no American style Christian/right wing/neocon types in the rest of the western world.

    If you want to call that a liberal "Bias" go ahead.
  • niccha, on 09/05/2008, -46/+72 Exact-o-mundo... and the smart ones who do are constantly defending themselves... I believe their main point of defense is that the media and angry left are out to get them... those elitist, unpatriotic, god-hating bastards who want to kill unborn children and convert those children lucky enough to escape abortion into gay muslims.
  • GrodyChamp, on 09/05/2008, -21/+46It's not Digg itself. It's huffpo putting a Digg button on all of it's articles, and Huffpo digging itself for ad revenue.

    although, you do see a ***** of Huffpo stuff on the front page with 100 Diggs or less....

  • woozlewuzzle, on 09/05/2008, -5/+29@Zarchon

    As you get older you are more likely to have developed some degree of wealth through your own efforts. Suddenly you realize that you have something you wish to conserve and not give a share to people who aren't putting in the effort to achieve their own wealth. Giving handouts to the lazy no longer seems like a very good idea. Thus the migration from very liberal towards conservatism. Obviously, conservatism is getting a bad rap as it has gone beyond its original definition and approaches an extremist view (I blame the religious right, but that's just my opinion).
  • myAmygdala, on 09/05/2008, -33/+57John McCain doesn't even know how to use a computer.
  • maninalift, on 09/05/2008, -2/+25Don't bury him. Absolutely correct. Well for Europe anyway. We watch with rye amusement your political rallies. The way you are able, without irony, to chant support for a leader and a country. I think fascism and communism did for that here and I don't think that it was really a strong part of the psyche of Europe before then.

    I love my country. There is some practical sense, and certainly some instinctive desire, in placing the needs of ones own "tribe" first be it family or country or whatever, but to make a virtue of patriotism, indeed almost the highest virtue, is frankly absurd. Remember the parable of the good Samaritan; who is your neighbour? Biblical reference sure to get me dugg down - perhaps there is a bias after all ;=)
  • matrixbandit, on 09/05/2008, -2/+25People used to say the same thing about the KKK and other supremacist groups. Even John McCain himself will sooner or later learn to use a computer.

    Here's the thing tho. Digg is by and large populated by a younger audience, ie the 18 to 30 or so range, and time and time again it has been proven that each generation pushes out more and more liberal than the generation that preceded them. So is there a "liberal bias" ? Sure, because it's being served up on digg by and to the people who want it, the 18 to 30 year olds. Is that a problem that needs to be "solved", as the blurb up top assumes? No. If you must insist that all this liberalism on digg IS a problem, then the solution I guess, since this is a social news site, would be to replace the user base with a more conservative crowd.
  • benperth, on 09/05/2008, -1/+24I don't think polar bears would.
  • suxmonkey, on 09/05/2008, -53/+76More like a libertarian bias
  • Tiak, on 09/05/2008, -3/+25In the spirit of this little minithread, I'll attempt to summarize the digg-platform:
    -Pro marijuana legalization (libertarian)
    -Pro gun rights (libertarian)
    -Pro net neutrality (liberal)
    -Somewhat anti-tax (everyone, but probably mostly libertarian.)
    -Pro Science/Heavily anti-creationism (atheist?... They are quite a few of them here.)
    -Somewhat split on the support of Israel, leaning a bit towards cutting off all commitments to them. (Nobody? Diggers of differing views are particularly vocal here, so this was harder to call, but we definitely have positions on the issue...)
    -Anti-war (liberal/libetarian)
    -Pro-gay rights (liberal/libertarian)
    -Pro Balanced federal government (Everyone, everywhere, claims to be in favor of this issue, I only included it because I was brainstorming and to not include it would disrupt theprocess)
    -Pro-Linux (Seriously, supporting switching government computers to linux would win votes here...)
    -Leaning pro-choice (Not that solid because conservative elements are more vocal here, but liberal)
    -Anti-bilderburg/CFR/New World Order (conservative. ("anti" assessment is in relation to the general population, we waver on this from time to time.))
    -Pro-nifty-green-gadgets (green?)
    -Anti-NewCorp (liberal)
    -Pro mindless support of our favored candidates (partisan of all flavors)
    -Pro pirate/intellectual property reform (Piratpartiet?)

    Did I miss anything?
  • Spudster, on 09/05/2008, -7/+29I can't help but laugh at seeing MrBabyMan himself claim that articles are generated from the community.
  • bamw69, on 09/05/2008, -3/+25Are you serious? How 'savvy' do you need to be to post on the internet? I know 5 year olds who are perfectly capable, it's not that hard to click a mouse and push some keys.
    Real intelligence comes from being able to see both sides of the agenda and being able to make an intelligent deduction from your own views and opinions, not by buying into everything you read on the internet to be truth.
    The Sara Palin story about her baby being her daughters is a good case in point.
    Some people are book smart yet magazine ignorant!
  • OpenRevolt, on 09/05/2008, -29/+50Bush is not a conservative and neither is McCain.

    Ron Paul is a real conservative and interestingly enough he was the only candidate against the war for real.

    McCain and Bush are closet liberals and Obama and Gore are openly liberal.

    That's pretty much the only difference -- the people who control the world and cause all wars do it for so called "liberal causes".

    Why do you think Rokefeller is a democrat -- that's about as big business as you can get in the WORLD.

    Real conservatives don't start wars because its a waste of money and effort to try to 'change' people.

    Every time you hear someone in government wanting to go to war its because of some high and mightly ***** to 'save people'.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 1208 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.