Refresh Monday: This post was originally published on Nov 29, 2007. It was revised on April 28, 2009.
Remember my post 10 Reasons Not to Use Digg? Everything I said is still true or rather more than ever. While I tried hard to find an alternative at Netscape.com (now Propeller) which failed repeatedly and I was banned at Reddit even before I really started to contribute I thought finally I found one: Mixx.
Mixx seemed to be the new better Digg, a social news site we all have waited for.
Roughly 1.5 years ago I provided 12 reasons to join Mixx and thus also to abandon Digg. Many of them also applied to Reddit or Propeller. Are they still valid?
Can I still recommend Mixx? No, I can’t.
Yesterday I was temporarily blocked from Mixx after complaining, both via comments and report feature, about a racist KKK supporter and his repeatedly unacceptable behavior. This guy has been voting down all my submissions for weeks now and lately started using openly foul language in the comments. While I got blocked he was one of “Mixx top users” of the day. This sends out a clear message that bullying and open support of racism is OK on the Mixx platform.
This is just the latest of a long history of annoyances that made me revisit the reasons why I joined and recommended Mixx in the first place. Sadly 8 out 12 are not valid anymore. Read why. The old reason is put in [brackets].
- The community is dominated by a few users and their friend networks, they’re mostly fine but it’s boring as they submit mostly well known news stories from main stream sources [New, fresh, nascent community where your contribution counts]
- Like mentioned above, I got banned for complaining about a racist person who attacked me using vulgar language [Politeness in disagreeing, basically any flaming is banned at Mixx so the ugly Diggers we're used to by now and who also flame on StumbleUpon won't attack you here]
- Mixx turned more and more conventional social news site. The personalized news part of it has been abandoned step by step and never really updated and fixed. Now the “front page” and “popular” section are most important. While it’s OK to have a place where everbody convenes it’s sad that it was done at the expense of the original Mixx idea. [Personalization instead of one size fits all, the front page metaphor of the newspaper does not work for the Net, at Mixx you get your personalized news first, not just the lowest common denominator, thus also niche news get exposure]
- Images are below the fold now and contain mostly wacky hot celebrity splogs anyways. The video section is so well hidden that most videos remain unnoticed. It’s no big deal as they are rarely quality ones. [Mixed media with images and videos right up front like on social news mashups allow you a quick overview]
- Most active top mixxers are in one way or another “social media consultants”. It would be OK if they were just a few but this way really important news don’t get the attention they deserve while link baits on corporate blogs do. [It's not just about exploitation of UGC and your "social capital", you can also gain by promoting your own stuff]
- Responsibility for negative votes and comments? Still valid, but with exceptions. People can verbally abuse you and vote everything you submit down while you get banned for complaing. [Responsibility for what you voted down or buried, it's visible who did it]
- Most private groups and Ning-like communities are dead on Mixx. Mixx made several wrong decisions along the way and never implemented my suggestions to make groups more prominent. This way even my best group, SEO 2.0 got hidden so well that even myself I need three clicks to access it. Thus it’s almost dead. [Private groups extend Mixx. Instead of participating in an anonymous mob site you can socialize with peers]
- Luckily there are still only a few Apple marketers on Mixx as the Mixx traffic is still not worth it. [Apple marketers and fans comprise one of the biggest pressure groups on Digg, almost every day at any given time you have an Apple front page story, not on Mixx yet]
- There is still no open SEO hate on Mixx. On the other hand there not many SEOs on Mixx. The traffic and the links are not worth it still and the SEOs have been outnumbered by social media consultants from a plethora of publications. [No SEO hate, in fact my 101 blog optimization tips have been mixxed by some stranger, in contrast all my articles have been buried on Digg because I do not hide the fact of doing SEO, while all the Apple marketers do]
- Sadly just yesterday one of the most successful SEO blogs from the UK, Hobo got his excellent basic SEO cheat sheet deleted on Mixx. Another SEO related submission was on “popular” though yesterday. So it obvioulsy depends. Some SEO submissions get banned while others don’t. [SEO niche news can coexist with the rest and SEOs are embraced]
- None of the great social media mavens I love to read are still on Mixx. None of them stayed for long. Even zaibatsu quickly left after he got banned at Digg. [All my favourite social media superheroes are already there, Zaibatsu, tamar, MSaleem, Nowsourcing, Andy Beard, maki where are you?]
- [The founder has a solid media and publishing background and does not offend people because of their occupation like Kevin Rose of Digg "SEO is a whole industry dedicated to gaming the system" or Jason Calacanis of Netscape.com "SEO is bullshit"]
In fact there are many more issues with Mixx now. This was just a review of an old post. I just want to make sure that nobody says I recommended Mixx and now it’s awful. I want people to be able to rely on my expertise.
I am onreact.com at Mixx if you want to see my contributions. I won’t leave Mixx completely, but I will stop caring now. I’ve been contributing submissions, comments and reports daily for more than a year and now I get bullied and blocked by a racist from the site. That’s too bizarre to still care. I was sick of reporting all the content theft and other crap anyways. The signal to noise ration worsened over time.
What did others say about Mixx? Here are a few old posts about Mixx. Please remeber that they are quite old by now and I assume that the opinions voiced in them aren’t still valid either.
- SEOCO Blog » Mixx.com Review
- A Digg Clone That Might Actually Make It << Vandelay Website Design
- Mixxing In, and Why Early Adoption is Important: A Review of the Newest Social News Network » techipedia | tamar weinberg
- Top Digg Contributor’s are Frustrated: Is Mixx the Answer? | Inventor Spot
- Mixx: A Social News Remix : Somewhat Frank
- Stealthy Startup Mixx Launches Into Private Beta
Btw. do not digg this, or I will use this code here to block Digg.
Related posts:
- Mixx: SEO 2.0 Group Reaches 50 Members and 7 Other Reasons to Join
- Are You SEO 2.0 Enough to Join Our Mixx Group?
- 10 Reasons Not to Use Digg
- 10 Reasons Why Mixx is Broken and How to Fix it
- Seobook.com Banned at Mixx?
This thing has 29 Comments
Tad,
Thanks for the great post, we greatly appreciate it and are glad you like the product. If you ever want to talk more about Mixx, just drop me a line and I can set something up. We welcome your feedback, so keep it coming!
Will
Nice, I gave up on Digg ages ago even went to the point of closing my account, the traffic is poor and the people who are on it are not interested in anything but naked women, idiots on skateboards and computer games. All outside my interests.
Thanks Tad thumbs up from me!
Who cares about digg it just sucks. Now there is an alternative way to digg; mixx it baby.
It seems that Mixx is growing very rapidly. I’m sure it’s tough for a start up to go face-to-face with Digg, but it’s really good timing for them that so many people are annoyed with DIgg. Nice article Tad.
great post, it inspired me to join
Actually Jason Calacanis directed me to Mixx.com. I guess he changed his mind on SEO…
I missed out on the Digg early adopter wagon. I won’t make the same mistake here. The interface is very nice.
Why does anyone have to “give up” one or the other? We need to get past this “There Can Only Be One” mentality. Im new to mixx and we’ll see if it sticks for me. Otherwise, I wish them all the best.
I see my submission went popular on mixx, please let me know about the traffic gained
CGT2099 told me about Mixx a little while ago and I’ve really been enjoying it there. It’s less about “news” and more about sharing… well, almost anything.
It’s a very positive and enjoyable environment and it’s growing rapidly.
Digg will always have a place, but Mixx has the potential to become a strong contender.
So far I am liking Mixx because it is easy to use. It makes Digg look like it was assembled by dinosaurs.
Hi Steven,
Great post as always. I just started playing with Mixx and it looks to be a fierce competitor to Digg. I would assume more digg power players will be coming over in the near future. Lots of potential for success.
Just read your Post excellent information now I will have to join Mixx digg has never really done much for me. Mixx looks like it will be a winner. So Ill give it a try
So much hype all the time for these same sites over and over. Go to pligg and create your own digg. That is the free software online that mixx uses. I’ve commented on a few sites on the hype, Digg still rules in my opinion. Also if you like digg clones check out that earthfrisk one earthfrisk.com they have more features and a good community and you can see the difference right from the start. Also digg users are at stumbleupon, which is now my favorite site of them all.
Thanks for the review. I’ll check out mixx!
Great post, (b)logged it
(I’ve never really got into DIgg that much, I’m more of a Stumbleupon fan, that being said, the more I hear about Mixx, the more inclined I am to give it a try)
David from Log Thing
Tad u write:
I was banned at Reddit even before I really started to contribute I now finally found one: Mixx.
What happened? Just curious.
I still like Digg, but will try Mixx.
Tad, I ‘d like to vote for you, not because of your hat but your wonderful words!
I registered with MIXX today and found it to be very pleasing. I think DIGG has turned more into a scam sort of where users DIGG each other’s posts. This is what I have observed.
Thanks!
Very useful infos!
@Mike Jacobi
Just to clear up any confusion, our site isn’t built off of Pligg. We do know about pligg and think it is a great product, but we built mixx from the ground up.
Tad thanks for the great article!
Meh its pretty sad that something that started so well as degenerated to such an extent that pathetic racist views are tolerated.
great post, i will try to joint Mixx
I agree. Digg is getting to saturated to the point that is feels like it is meaningless for the common blogger to post a story on their site. Mixx has a different concept that sets this balance and just works way better than Digg.
I Always love MIXX! MIXX Rule!
Sorry to hear about the trouble your having on Mixx and the poor treatment you’ve received from the Mixx team, very bad news. I feel a complaint is due in the Mixx email inbox!
i already join both … but i never use them … i’m too lazy maybe .. thanks for the great info …
Excellent post, yes, me too I was blocked several times… i don’t know why! thanks for the info.
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