Digg is a website that allows its users to recommend and vote for interesting items found on the internet. Items that get enough votes are then presented to a large number of people via the front page. It is an impressive site. Granted, it does not take a lot for a computer program to impress me. One aspect of the site that is decidedly unimpressive, however, is the way in which it compares a user's submission to those already on the site. When a user submits something to Digg, this user is presented with a list of items that might represent the same thing. This prevents the same items from being submitted multiple times... if the later user finds something they think already covers what they are trying to present.

My most recent submission was the photograph of the filament source from the undergraduate plasma lab at UCLA. While I have written about this photo previously, the Digg submission is only for the image. I gave this submission the title, "Fancy Lightbulb Makes Plasma for Students" because the white hot filaments are basically light bulbs. During the submission process Digg asked me whether the following stories were duplicates of this one (the most absurd are in bold):

• GE Announces Breakthrough : Low-Cost Organic LED Production
• Debbi Chambers Shares and Evening with Ray from the Secret |
• British Olympic agencies oppose Chambers bid in Beijing
• A thermodynamic equilibrium of nitrogen plasma
• Report: EA goes hostile for Take-Two
• IT Business Leadership Summit 2008
• A real lightsaber coming to a store near you!
• Someone at Google hates Jews
• NCAA's method to underdog madness
• Ghosts of the Iraq War Haunt Congress in Senate Chamber
• House to have secret session for surveillance debate
• Pioneer stops production of plasma panels
• GE Demonstrates World's First Flexible OLED's
• OLED Breakthrough
• Wall Art

All of these "possible duplicates" were posted within two days of my item. The algorithm for finding duplicates must assume that most double posting results from multiple people trying to be the first to submit something right after it is available. Anything that has a reference to light or plasma seems sensible, although Digg's image comparison software (provided by idee) should be able to tell that none of these are even remotely similar to the filament picture.

One reason this can be problematic is that if the duplication system keeps showing people completely different items, then people are going to start ignoring it and the number of duplicate submissions might actually rise. There is plenty of room for improvement in this area.

Also acceptable: Vakoom no gud!

By the way, my image is not generating much interest at all. Next time I submit a physics image to Digg I will be sure it's a LOLcat.

Original cat image found on I Can Has Cheezburger.

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