falun wrote:
It's not just about intimidation -- it's about critical mass. I could post stuff and I've tried before -- all the nerd-centric junk I post isn't cool enough to get noticed and there's no incentive to post anything else -- if there is an audience for something that isn't technology or politics it's not visible.

This is a chicken and egg problem. No one posts stuff that isn't "nerd centric" and so no audience develops that isn't "nerd centric." The point my rant was that people who have things to say that aren't "nerd centric" ought to consider posting.

It's not just about intimidation -- it's about the high opacity of how this place works.

I'm sorry that some of the features aren't clear to you. I'll answer these questions in kind. Some of them are addressed in the documentation.

I have no idea what it takes to be on the front page, or what it means.

The front page is explained here. The posts there are the most popular in the past 24 hours. The people listed are the first person to post a particular link in that timeframe.

When I'm looking at my agent how do I tell it that this article is of no worth to me and that I felt it was a waste of my time to even see it?

Of course, such a feature doesn't exist. Frankly, if you don't click on recommendations from a particular person, you're less likely to see them. However, admittedly the agent would work much better if there was a lot more traffic on the site.

All that aside, it isn't clear what difference it makes when I recommend an article to someone or even why I would (and on top of that do I push my own crap on other people or is the magical agent supposed to take care of that?).

The difference between forwarding to a friend and posting to your blog is that if you forward it, it will go to their inbox (or email address) and they are guarenteed to see it. Generally speaking if they read the site often and they read you, they'll see it anyway.

To use this site you have to know people here -- you have to have a group of friends that you feel comfortable sending articles to and that respond in kind.

Why is that? Why isn't it the same for Digg? Or Blogger? Thats what I'm trying to understand. Unlike a number of other sites, this one hasn't expanded far past it's initial seed community, and many people have a perception that it shouldn't... I'd like to get at the heart of that.

RE: The reason...