Death of Digg and Emergence of Mixx

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How weird for Digg, one day you are king of the hill next thing you know a new guy is standing by ready to dispatch you to the underworld.  Digg has been floundering for a while with a stagnation of their community but with a recent exodus of top diggers to Mixx seems like their time is near.  The thing that Digg has forgotten is that your community is king and when they ban accounts, bury articles, and allow uncontrolable spam to flourish they are hurting their community.  It could be that many Diggers are just growing up and are getting tired of comment tantrums also.  When you having intelligent conversation it makes sense to show the 8th graders to the door but in Digg not only are the 8th graders in the room but they are running the conversations many times.  (sorry 8th graders)

All of Digg’s flaws are very apparent, and that is what makes Mixx look like a shining gem of Web 2.0.  Mixx is gaining in popularity for what its not as opposed to what it is.  On the surface its another Digg clone, but deeper down is a very savvy community and social tools that are designed to encourage the little guy into Mixx.  Already I am making friends co-browsing for great content to move it up the ladder to the main page.  Instead of discouraging social communication, they encourage it.  Minutes ago I received another email this time from Tunisan Mann:

Hi, sorry to bother in your MiXXingness but I found This on MiXX.
Can anyone help me with the theory this guy is presenting here. I know it’s the "Théorie des jeux" (probably "prisoner’s dilemma"  in english) but I don’t catch his point ! thanks for anyone commenting on that. ;-)

    YouTube - How It All Ends
    http://www.mixx.com/videos/15238/youtube-how-it-all-ends

Yes I got an email, I might have even forgotten about Mixx had it not been for these emails of other users sharing content with me because they liked my content.  I was amazed to see emails from Mixx not spamming me but sending me really cool content. So Mixx is not allowing itself to be forgoten about.  Browsing their main page, no linkbait can be seen.  On Digg right on the page “Sex is Safer in Nevada Brothels than Porn Sets“.  Should I rest my case? 

On the web publisher side of things I started to take notice when I started getting traffic to older articles from Mixx.  I felt like suddenly my archives went into syndication and old articles were once again getting traction and fans.  Intrigued I followed the traffic back to Mixx and was warmly received into their community.  It was a strange feeling to actually get a warm response from a online community after seeing the social experiment play out very differently on Digg.  So is this the death of Digg? Its hard to say but I can tell you one thing, I’ve been spending my time on Mixx and hardly miss Digg.  Its like going from Windows to Mac. There’s less noise and crap and you can just get the content you need in a much cleaner atmosphere.

Check it out
my screename is ccarey76 if you wish to be my friend.

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under Digg, Mixx, Web 2.0 | 8 Comments 

Easily Take Ownership of your Vista files

XPero over at WinMatrix designed piece of software called “Take Control” for Microsoft Vista users. You will need to take ownership of a file if you need to delete or modify a system file. Take Ownership lets breaks down probably 6 screens of settings into once application that lets you select and “take ownership”. It really doesn’t get any easier than this. Previously you had to jump through tons of hoops to get do this, see howtogeeks convoluted instructions here. If you are not a Windows Vista user or a Mac user you may be shrugging why do I need this? Obvious reasons are a nasty piece of spyware that attaches to a system file and now you cannot repair or delete the file, (you will need to take ownership) or you are modifying a piece of the operating system (tweaking) a piece of the operating system. This is also handy if you have an old XP partition or HD laying around and now when you try to access the files Vista wants you take ownership.

Check it out

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under Windows | 4 Comments 

Great Wallpaper for Vista or XP

Looking for some tasteful wallpaper for your XP or Vista machine?  Wallpapers for Windows has a nice selection of backgrounds that aren’t hard on the eyes and are free from the annoying pimp your own wallpaper logos.  Nothing but clean non garish backgrounds here. with a nice Web 2.0ish interface to find them.

Check it out

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

Clean out your Firefox or IE Cache with one click

If you are web developer or even a regular user chances are you have had to clean your browsers cache out. The Clear Cache button for Firefox adds a button to your toolbar that lets you clean out your Cache with the click of a button.  When I first installed it there were a couple errors and then I found the button in the toolbar customization menu, afterwards it worked as advertised and has turned out to be super handy for those times I make a change on this site and need to clear the cache. 

On the Internet Explorer side you can use a utility called Cachepal that I found via FreewareGenius.  CachePal cleans out internet browsing history, temporary internet files, and cookies in just one click without the trip to the Internet.

Check out Clear Cache Button
Check out CachePal via Freewaregenius

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under General | 3 Comments 

Comment today, it might be worth $20

Well we’ve been looking for a way to get more comments out of our readers (lurkers) and maybe get them to take more of a active part in this great site. We get tons of traffic but it seems getting people off the fence to comment is something a little harder than just getting people to visit. So without any further ado we are starting a contest. Basically we are going to pay out $20 (via paypal) to the best comment our readers make. The contest ends at 5:30PM Friday EST. Comments will be judged by yours truly.

The comment can be on any article on Noheat as long as its made between the time that this post has been made and 5:30PM EST. Please be sure that you put in the correct email address because if you don’t I’ll have to send your $20 to someone else. One more note, Noheat.com has a page rank of 5 and top commenters will get their website’s link in the Top commentators section meaning you’ll get one hell of a linkback. Also if you want your link on Noheat all you need to do it go to 15blogs.com and enter it there, it will show up in the sidebar automatically. Keep in mind if you put up your link it will only be there until it is moved off by another 15 links.

So have some fun and comment away, I will be running this contest at random times so check back in chances are it could be worth $20 to you.

November 30, 2007 | Filed Under General | 25 Comments 

Easily create Background Gradients

Ever have to make a big gradient for the background of your website? You know the kind that is a pixel or two wide and long enough to go the length of the page. Gradient Image Maker does this very quickly, just select your colors and gradient type and away you go. Gradient Image Maker creates either a png or a jpeg for download to your site. Gradients are smooth and clear as you would expect them to be.

Check it out

November 29, 2007 | Filed Under Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment 

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