Digging Ideas from “ThinkProgress” (Updated: Mystery Solved…?)

Updated: Thanks to the good investigation skills of FHK reader and Digger FritzKatz, we may have a work-around on the comment problem. It seems the comments are functioning properly in Firefox.

For those unfamiliar with Firefox, you can download the Firefox browser (free) at here. You will still be able to switch back and forth at will between Firefox and Internet Explorer, and your favorites in Internet Explorer will be retained.

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Yesterday, an article was posted on Digg.com, called ThinkProgress’s Sneaky Comment Deletion Trick in which a a ThinkProgress reader demonstrated how his comments had been filtered by ThinkProgress. In discussion forums, this technique is a type of “bozo” filter, in which the admin allows the user, but no one else, to see that user’s comments.

Ironically at about the same time this article was posted on Digg, FHK started receiving messages from Digg friends that they were having trouble leaving comments on Digg. When these Digg users tried to submit comments, they simply went into “gray” status, and never posted. There is a notation on Digg that it might take 60 seconds for comments to be saved, but these comments just simply never posted. E-mails to Digg Admin have thus far been unanswered.

The Digg users who have contacted FHK are all political conservatives. To see if this was happening to all Digg users, FHK checked the comment of one particularly proud liberal on Digg, who boasts in his profile:

I was once sane and calm, but the selfish right wing scumbags on digg drive me nuts. I’ve given up on rational responses and just give back the sh[...] they spew.

This Digg user is apparently not having difficulty posting comments, because as of the time of this posting, he had posted 31 comments in the last 24 hours.

We would like to find out more about this anomoly. Is it just happening to political conservatives on Digg, or is it happening to many users, regardless of political persuasion? Is it sporadic, as would indicate technical difficulties, or is the inability to post comments a constant, indicating certain users have been filtered/censored? Since Digg.com is currently unavailable for comment, we’d like to hear from Digg users.