Bonum Certa Men Certa

How Microsoft/Proprietary Software Bullies Ruined Digg for GNU/Linux

Digg screenshot



Summary: Digg is shown to be abused by "cabals" of users with agenda, which Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (SJVN) claims are also responsible for burying GNU/Linux news in the Web site

OVER THE PAST couple of days we've posted links (in the daily "Links" posts) about a Conservative cabal being exposed after manipulating Digg -- a Web site that passes through many eyeballs and does not preach to any one 'choir' in particular, assuming a given story is promoted to the front page based on popularity. I have been on Digg since the beginning of 2006 and at one time I was ranked 17th in that site (for submitting only news which advocated GNU/Linux).



Earlier today the Linux-oriented journalist Sean Kerner told me: "i gave up on digg about 18 mos ago myself - i'm a big fan of Reddit now

“It's a "slog" (Microsoft term) against GNU/Linux, trying to remove it from public awareness.”Another Linux-oriented journalist, SJVN, claims that Microsoft is manipulating the GNU/Linux section in Digg. I talked to him about it in order to make this post accurate [1, 2]. I asked him if he too was harassed on the site as a regular story submitter who staunchly favours GNU/Linux. "No I haven't seen much overt hostility towards me on Digg," he said, "just comments on stories I'd written." The reason I asked this question is that I had some sort of bot activity used against my account there (documented here in Update #4).

SJVN previously alleged that Microsoft was fighting against GNU/Linux stories in Digg and now that a Conservative cabal got exposed, SJVN has more beefy evidence. It is not unusual for Microsoft to send agents to forums which advocate Microsoft's competition. Consider the Barkto incident for example. Over the years we have collected a lot of verified evidence of Microsoft bullying in social networking sites (e.g. anonymous Microsoft employees threatening writers in CNET and threats against Slashdot regulars who happen to like software freedom). We actually learned from former Slashdot staff (who asked not to be named) that the site was being gamed by PR agencies and people who suppress GNU/Linux, for example. When it comes to Reddit and Digg, a lot of anecdotal evidence exists, but 'smoking guns' are fewer. Basically, based on other blunders, we do know that Microsoft uses infiltrators/thugs to drown out the signal, intimidate people, ruin the targeted forum and once done, move on to the next target and ruin that too (Groklaw explained this better). For instance, the same people who ruined the Linux advocacy newsgroup in USENET moved on to social networking sites (with the same nicknames sometimes) and tried to ruin those too, specifically for GNU/Linux proponents. Going further back we have examples of Microsoft rigging polls, which is the equivalent of mod-spamming/mod abuse. Nothing is more serious than bullying of the regulars (and sometimes their families) who promote GNU/Linux. Bullying them is sometimes done by libeling them (defamation) and systematically thumb-downing them. Microsoft's peripheral AstroTurfing groups are a reality and here is a memorable example from 2008 (LawMedia).

Those who used to hang out in Digg for GNU/Linux news probably know that the site was abandoned by GNU/Linux proponents. I left it in 2008 because the sabotage distinctly happened at one stage, probably starting around late 2007 when I was stalked, modded down systematically by four accounts within few hours, slandered, and even had my identity stolen several times by abusive accounts which all got terminated by Digg at the end. What is this whole bullying frenzy intended to achieve? It's a "slog" (Microsoft term) against GNU/Linux, trying to remove it from public awareness. That's the type of thing which Microsoft's internal documents too help reveal that Microsoft aspires to achieve. To quote:

"Ideally, use of the competing technology becomes associated with mental deficiency, as in, "he believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and OS/2." Just keep rubbing it in, via the press, analysts, newsgroups, whatever. Make the complete failure of the competition's technology part of the mythology of the computer industry. We want to place selection pressure on those companies and individuals that show a genetic weakness for competitors' technologies, to make the industry increasingly resistant to such unhealthy strains, over time."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]



Anyway, for those who want to know what SJVN has to say about the demise of Digg (for GNU/Linux at least), read this:

In early 2009, new popular Linux stories would pop up every day or two on Digg. By mid-2010, Linux stories on Digg became popular only once every week or so. Why? Has everyone who once interested in Linux suddenly vanished? Have people stopped writing about Linux? I don't think so.

The only explanation I can come up with is that Linux stories are getting down-voted on a regular basis on Digg these days. Who's doing this? In whose best interest is it to make it appear that there's little interest in Linux? Might it be a company named Microsoft?

Microsoft's FUD war against Linux never ended. Microsoft's long-discredited patent claims against Linux still appear from time to time. Most recently, they've shown up in attacks against Android.

I doubt that Microsoft is doing this directly. But Microsoft has fans who are happy to attack Linux every chance they get.


Einfeldt has told SJVN: "I wonder how many of those Microsoft "fans" [are] employees of MSFT's PR agencies?"

Yes, Microsoft always summons its agitators through one of its PR agencies. This way, when the bullies get exposed Microsoft will just point the finger at the "bad, naughty PR agencies" and pretend this has nothing to do with Microsoft (which funds those agencies to do exactly that). Those who get exposed can honestly say that they don't work for Microsoft (not directly anyway). It's a loophole.

"It could be argued that Microsoft’s unethical Technology Evangelism (TE) practices are “old news”—i.e., that Microsoft stopped using these questionable TE practices long ago. This is very unlikely to be the case, for at least three reasons."

--James Plamondon, former Microsoft shill (aka 'Technology Evangelist')

Recent Techrights' Posts

More on "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
"pepe the frogs"
Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
Many Lawyers (for Microsoft) and 1,316 Pages to Pick on a Litigant in Person Who Exposed Serious Microsoft Abuses
Answers must be given
Layoffs and Shutdowns at IBM, Not Just Microsoft
Same as Microsoft
With Workers Back From a Holiday Weekend, Microsoft Layoffs Carry on, More Waves to Come
Now it's Monday and people are bad to work, even some journalists
You Need Not Wave a Rainbow Flag This Month to Basically Oppose Arseholes Looking to Disrupt and Divide the Community
Don't fall for it
What Miguel de Icaza and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
Similar aims, different methods
 
Links 08/07/2025: "Cyberattack Deals Blow to Russian Firmware" and "Cash Remains King"
Links for the day
FSF40 T-shirt message
by Alex Oliva
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Creativity, Gotify with NUT Server, and Sudo Bugs
Links for the day
Links 08/07/2025: Sabotage of Networking Infrastructure, Microsoft XBox Game Pass Deemed “Unsustainable”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Ancillary Justice and Small Web July
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 07, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 07, 2025
The FSF's (Free Software Foundation, Inc.) 2025 Summer Fundraiser Already Past Halfway Line
This is where GNU/Linux actually started
Mozilla Had No Good Reason to Outsource Firefox Development to Microsoft
What does Mozilla plan to do when GitHub shuts down?
Mozilla Firefox Did Not Die, It Got Killed
To me it'll always look like Mozilla got killed by its sponsors, especially Google, which had a conflict of interest as a sponsor
Dan Neidle, Whom Brett Wilson LLP SLAPPed (on Behalf of Corrupt Rich Tax Evaders), Still Fighting the Good Fight
Neidle fights for the poor people
Wayland Should Start by Dumping Its Very Ugly Logo
Wayland wins the "ugliest logo" award every year
Stop Focusing on Hair Colours, Focus on Corporate Agenda
If someone commits a crime, it does not matter if his or her hair was mostly white or there was no hair or a wig or whatever
Links 07/07/2025: Science, Conflicts, and a Fictional K-pop Group
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: Being a Luddite and Announcement of Gotify
Links for the day
Links 07/07/2025: XBox Effectively 'Dead', DMCA Subpoena Versus Registrar
Links for the day
The 'Corporate Neckbeard' is Not the "Good Guy"
Works for IBM
The Nasty Smear (and Stereotype) of "Neckbeard" or "Greybeard" is Ageism
This is the sort of stuff they might try to volley at critics of Wayland
Why Many of Us Use X Server and Will Continue to Use It For Many Years to Come
Don't make this about politics
Microsoft's Nat Friedman Became Unemployed the Same Time the SLAPPs Against Techrights Started Coming From His Friends (Weeks After We Had Exposed Scandals About Him and the Serial Strangler, His Best Friend, Who Got Arrested a Few Days Later)
Nat Friedman is not "Investor, entrepreneur"
Brett Wilson LLP Uses Threats to Demand Changes to Pages or Removal of Pages Without Even Revealing Which Staff Member Does That (Sometimes People From Another Firm!)
This has been in the public for years
Dan Neidle Said "It Really Then Became a Job of Tormenting" Lawyers Like Brett Wilson LLP (Who Threatened Him for Exposing Crimes, Just Like They Threatened My Wife a Few Months Later)
he and his wife decided to take on the evil people and their evil lawyers
Large Language Models (LLMs) Externalise Their Cost to the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
"The forty-sixth Free Software Bulletin is now available online!"
Weeding Out Extremism in Our Community
To me it seems like Microsoft Lunduke is rapidly becoming like a "hate preacher" who operates online, breeding an extremist ideology or trying to soften its image
Censorship Versus Fact-Checking and Quality Control
It's not censorship but a matter of quality control
Reinforcing the Allegations Some More, Bryan Lunduke Digs His Own Grave
In his latest episodes he merely repeats his own lies, which I debunked using evidence right from his own mouth
Global Warming and Free Software as a Force of Mitigation
we'll need to think about Software Freedom, not just brands like "Linux"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 06, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 06, 2025
Gemini Links 07/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and TUI Rant
Links for the day
[Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
"Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
Links for the day
Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.