Editor’s Note: The author of this article is an avid Digg user and a contributing writer for a major Los Angeles news publication. This is his unfiltered rant.

The Diggbar is terrible. Now that that I got that out my system! What ticks me off more than anything is the unfavorable trends occurring with Digg.com. It is what has me recently shying away from this amazing resource of great (sometimes reoccurring) information. It’s this secret society of intelligent and money hungry, tech savvy robots in the digg community. Who are these people exactly, Kevin Rose? Loved you on Late Night, but we both know Jimmy Fallon had no idea about what you were talking about.

Look, I read articles all the time. I love to Digg. I find it is a great way to find new and interesting articles in a most timely fashion. I can consume everything on the site with no problem. The only issue stems when I try to share my stories with the Digg community. Posting a story to share on Digg is so easy to do and always impossible to make the front page, regardless of the quality of the content.

This is when I realized that Digg.com is the central hub for the secret society known as:

The Diggalotti.

Daa Daaa Daaaa! Don’t recognize the term? The Diggalotti are members of the Digg community who work in the ways of the secret order of the Illuminati. This all-controlling group of power hungry domineers run the world that is Digg. They Digg and they Digg-a-lot-i.

Power users. Names like MrBabyMan, d2002, etc. You’ve seen them. You’ve read their articles. Like information superhighway super troopers, they are able to do things that none of us can do. They manage to get to the front page with only 30 diggs. They can have a popularity ratio of 25%. Are they really that fast at posting up stories? Does duplicating other people’s stories affect their popularity? Jesus, I feel like its high school again on Digg where getting popular is easily attained so long as you accept shouts or anything that comes out their ass. If you want to have power too, you have to do what they do. I know, I know. Of course there are exceptions. There is always the random geek who gets in with the cool crowd. (See: Long Duk Dong)

They are probably great people. I have read about MrBabyMan and realize he does exist. But it also has me wondering about motives and the status of other power users. Digg is incredibly marketable. The digg effect can take a video and make it a hit viral sensation. It can take an article from some unknown blogger from Mauston, Wisconsin and make her the next bestselling author. It can take a potential Presidential candidate and make him think he’s about to take office. (Sorry, Ron)

If I was a corporation and I wanted to promote a soft drink, (maybe a funny viral video to that laughing kid who happens to be drinking a Coca-Cola) I would love more hits. Or if I worked at The New York Post, why not have a power user share the controversial Obama Chimp illustration to drive hits that day to the site. Are these users paid to spread the word about the next big blockbuster movie? Let’s say “2012.” That article by POWERUSERX about the world ending is only there to generate buzz even if it never mentions the movie. It’s strategic and it’s smart, but it makes me lose faith as an “regular” user. If I were a member of the Diggalotti, I would accept the money given to me by some marketing honcho at Universal Studios.

I’m not angry. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I still love to Digg. I just wish I could contribute to Digg without having to think about the mystery behind the system or how to fit in. One thing is for certain, the All Seeing Eye is clearly there. The only thing I can hope is that Rick Roll isn’t behind all of this.