Have you ever wanted to say that a blog post is great, or that a video on YouTube should be watched by all LibDems, or found an article on LVT in an online journal? Never got around to blogging it, or don’t even have a blog?
I know that I have, and that many others have pestered me to create a version of Digg.com for the LibDems. So for the last three weeks I’ve been working at it, and today it goes live.
It’s called LibDig and can be found at libdig.co.uk.
It uses the Liberal Democrats Account system to login, so no need for another username and password.
If you are really lucky the LibDem blogs you regularly visit will have one of the fancy widgets on it, allowing you to vote there and then and it’s already integrated with LibDemBlogs so you can see which posts are recommended.
I hope you enjoy the new site, and please submit content you recommend.
Subscribe
-
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
-
Like us on Facebook
-
Subscribe to our feed
-
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Most Read
Search
Op-eds
-
A roadmap to Queer Equality (Tara Foster)
-
A strange but welcome feeling (Jennie Rigg)
-
Fifteen years ago today…… (Caron Lindsay)
-
Mathew on Monday: Pluralism Means More Than a Slogan (Mathew Hulbert)
-
Urgent Call to Action by Lib Dem MPs on Palestine (John Kelly)
Why non-fiction books need their indexes
Changes in status: Local Elections wrap up
What should the Liberal Democrats stand for?
Recent Comments
Ben Wood
It is such sad news. I was lucky to get to know Micheal over the last few years (working on a book project for the John Stuart Mill Institute). He reaffirmed fo...
Ed Sanderson
Very sad news. I remember many a lively evening of erudite discussion in Leeds - Michael was a true intellect - and a genuinely warm soul. My condolences to his...
Jack
This is bang on. What is the point of a liberal party that won't stand up for rights, especially when both government and opposition want to make hay out of div...
Matt (Bristol)
I totally understand this is a key issue for many Lib Dems (and I'm not speaking for Lib Dems myself, I'm an ex-member). But I don't understand how this 'vangua...
John Grout
Fully agree with all of this. I've seen a few MPs' Pride Month posts reference Section 28 abolition and Same-Sex Marriage - we need to start talking about this...
46 Comments
It does not work. I tried logging in with my extranet user name and password but it would not let me.
The extranet and Liberal Democrats Accounts are *two* different things.
You should visit login.libdems.org.uk to create an account if you don’t already have one.
So there is not ‘one account’ to rule them all after all?
Like Peter, I am still using an old Blogger template. I have tried inserting the code, but it does not seem to work.
Any suggestions?
Many thanks
Yet another exclusive Lib Dem only thing that only works for some and encourages the Lib Dems who use it to look inward rather than outward? No thanks. I want the party to be LESS insular, not more.
With (old) blogger, take the code for the widget and replace
[YOUR POSTS URL] with <$BlogItemPermalinkUrl$> & and
[YOUR POSTS TITLE] with <$BlogItemTitle$>
Heh. Clearly and explanation is not possible via the comments. YHM.
Jennie – how does a social bookmarking tool which allows people to link to ANY website count as inward looking?
Because only Lib Dems will be using it, and looking at what other people have bookmarked. Only (some) Lib Dems will be able to put the buttons on their blog posts. There will be nobody from outside the party even getting a look in. Apart from Iain Dale, anyway.
Except that a) they will have a look-in (you don’t need to login to read it), b) most – not “some” – people will be able to add the button (and everyone will be able to add the bookmarklet) and c) it isn’t intended to be the only news source for anyone and won’t be. Sure, it is a community resource, but by its very definition it is an outward looking one.
Lib Dem Blogs wasn’t meant to be the feedreader of choice for Lib Dem bloggers either, but I reckon more than half of the people looking at this use it as such.
How many people are going to read something they can’t contribute to? Isn’t that why we insist that Nadine Dorries’s propaganda tool isn’t a blog?
I can’t add the button. There are two comments from people above who can’t add the button. And who can be arsed editing a bookmarklet into every post?
This is exclusionary, and anti-new-people, and I don’t see how you can claim it’s outward-looking in all seriousness.
But, whatever, I can see I’m not going to change your mind, so…
* shrug *
… enjoy your new toy
The two people above can add the widget, as I have just emailed them and can demonstrate here. It is a line of code. Clearly it should be a priority to make it as simple as possible for people to use, but I seriously doubt that it will be significantly more complicated for 99% of platforms.
I accept it probably isn’t that simple with Live Journal because nothing is ever that simple with LJ. But then who’s fault is that? Couldn’t it be something to do with introversion on the part of the LJ community (it isn’t just me saying that – didn’t you just link favourably to this)?
No doubt LibDig can be improved and will be over time. But the idea that it is a step towards insularity is absurd; if anything it is a reaction against the insularity of LibDemBlogs.
I always welcome new features, as they provide an opportunity of one kind or another.
I’ve registered for LibDig but guess I’m less likely to use it. The thought of adding code to any entry I write, especially if I’m using my BlackBerry to blog, does not fill me with the deepest of joy. Besides, the idea of deciding which pieces I ‘nominate’ strikes me as (even more) vanity publishing.
However, there are those who will use it and benefit from doing so. Once again, we should be grateful to Ryan for creating the tool on our behalf.
I am sorry but could somebody please post what this is all about in words of one syllable. I have tried to install it on my blog but despite a very helpful e-mail from James Graham am unable to do so. I then tried to submit and entry to see what happens but that confused me even more. It is not just a matter of voting but of submitting comments as well. You cannot vote without submitting a comment. To confuse me more when I looked at a Paul Walter post on Libdig and then went to his blog he does not have the widget or anyway of voting for his post. So how did it appear on Libdig? Oh and what is the point anyway?
signed A. Luddite.
I fully support this. Excellent. I did have one or two problems with the instructions for installing into blogger, that some unescaped characters had to be escaped and vice versa.
I would post what I did here, but html escaping would defeat me. Happy to email it to anyone.
You don’t need the widget to appear on your blog, it just makes it easier for people to vote for you.
Submittions can be made direct from LibDemBlogs (when it’s back up) and if a post has already been submitted you can click through to it’s LibDig page and then click on the Dig It button on the left.
Jennie, the bookmarklet isn’t to be used within the post. It’s to be used with your browsers whilst surfing the net. If you right click on the bookmarklet text and “Add to bookmarks” / “Add to favourites”, when you open the bookmark it will take you to LibDig prefilling the URL and Title of the page you were just on.
Also it’s not my fault if LJ won’t allow Javascript or iFrames, however it should be possible to place the following link at the bottom of every post (or in a template)
<a href="http://libdig.co.uk/add.php?ref=1">LibDig This</a>
Peter, there is no need to comment on anything if you don’t want. I’m guessing that you didn’t see the “Dig It” on the left, which I can understand if you haven’t used Digg-esque sites.
Ryan, on commenting, if I click the LibDig bookmarklet on a page not previously submitted, I get a popup. If I then press submit without commenting I get the message:
Story description must be at least 10 characters long
This must be what Peter was talking about.
Anyway, I’m off to dig everything Jennie writes, just to annoy her.
You can submit any web page anywhere on the web to LibDig. The widget is a way of showing if a post has been Dug and encouraging people to Dig it, but isn’t necessary for Digging.
If a page has already been Dug and you are logged in to LibDig, you don’t need to do anything beyond click to Dig it, either on the widget if it’s there, or on LibDig itself.
Joe: 😛
Guys: I don’t think Peter has ever used Digg, so telling him that it works like Digg isn’t going to help. He wants to know what the point is?
Having tried and discarded as pointless timewasters both Digg and Delicious on more than one occasion, I guess I’m not the best person to explain it…
Would the launch of LibDig be connected to LibDem Blogs not working or is it just me its not working for?
Nah, it’s all of us, James. Ryan is on it, at least by his comment above.
Am I correct that you have to be a party member to vote?
By the way I have added Digg to my coding but the widget sits in a funny way and unless I can correct it then it is coming off. It is on my blog now if you wish to see for yourself. Any ideas? Thanks
Peter you have this in your template straight after the LibDig code:
<div style="clear:both;"></div>
You will either need to replace that code, or move the LibDig bit after it.
Thanks Ryan. It was showing up in the source code but not the actual template html. James has now sorted it for me. Apparently, I needed to amend the settings.
OK, I am on board. Can you now tell me what libdig is for?
The idea of LibDig is to highlight the best bits of the web in one place.
There are many other sites which do the same, however depending on the membership depends on what appears. For example the biggest site Digg.com have “Is Google Using Chrome to Index Password Protected Web?”, “24 Words The Dictionary Wants To Ditch” and “How green is your computer?” which are probablly articles that you wouldn’t want to read.
By only allowing LibDems to nominate and vote it “should” pickup stories which intrest the LibDem community.
Its purpose is to recommend to other people good and interesting items on the internet, and to see their recommendations:
1. You can use the newsfeed to read recommended links more or less as they are recommended.
2. The website itself shows you what is getting the most recommendations and hence what is most highly recommended.
It means that the best blog posts, videos, etc. will get greater exposure than they do at present. The more people who use it, the more comprehensive it will become and unlike LibDemBlogs, more participants will result in better recommendations instead of simply more noise.
“the best blog posts, videos, etc.”
I’d argue that “most popular” does not equal best, myself, but perhaps I should stop stirring…
‘Peter, there is no need to comment on anything if you don’t want. I’m guessing that you didn’t see the “Dig It” on the left, which I can understand if you haven’t used Digg-esque sites.’
Ryan could you please elaborate on this please? On the left of what?
Does anyone know how to get the image widget to work on WordPress? I’ve tried making the alterations as per the Lib Dig site, but nothing happens.
James, the code wasn’t quite right earlier on so depending when you copied it, I’d try the revised code now. It’s working OK on my WordPress site.
Nope, still nothing.
Here is what I’m doing.
1. Copy the full code from LibDig and paste it into the ‘post’ box
2. Copy the alterations for WordPress.org and make the switch
3. Click preview…nothing
James, you have WordPress.com, which is different (if not annoyingly named) from WordPress.org.
If anyone works out if it is possible I’ll put the code onto the widgets page.
I see now. Alas, my knowledge of code and other forms of web geekery are limited to say the least and I didn’t recognise the difference.
When I first saw this I thought “Yawn – another way for us all to pat ourselves on the back”
But now having had a look and a wee think I see it has the potential to be an excellent idea, but only if people use it to flag up posts, news, events, etc outside LibDemBlogs that others aren’t necessarily going to read.
For me, there is little point flagging up an LDV or other LDB post because most people are going to be reading those anyway. Instead I will probably use it to flag up the things I read everyday (mostly science and economics) that most others wouldn’t, but that they might be interested in (my first one is here).
If people treat it like that rather than a brown-tongued extravaganza then it will be a great development.
Andrew, I’m guessing that the events/news/videos sections are for you, not so much the ‘blog posts’.
FWIW, I think it is fair enough to dig stuff on libdem blogs. Not everybody reads it all: I rarely do, and I often skim past good pieces when I do.
So, wishlist:
1. A way to click through from the list of dug items direct to the items.
2. Feeds for the dug items. (Below shared links on my blog I could put a widget of lib dem dug links).
3. tags – to make the resource browsable as well as topical. Whether you can read author’s tags, or allow diggers to tag, I don’t know.
Joe
1. If you click on the number of votes it should directly link to the story, although I plan to tweek the template soon.
2. There is an RSS feed, which if you view the source (or use Firefox) you should find.
I hope to make the url a bit more friendly via the .htaccess file.
3. The software had “tags” built in, however it turned out to be rather rubbish. For the time being it’s not a priority.
Cool. I’ve added the feed to my blog in a widget. Although the feed URL says cmd=popular, it seems to more closely resemble the upcoming items. cmd=upcoming gives a slightly different list also resembling the upcoming items.
I would rather have the current popular items. I am assuming there is some logic whereby an item with lots of old votes will eventually drop off the list in favour of newer items even if they don’t get so many votes.
Wishlist 4, not sure if it actually a good idea, might be to allow people to submit feeds of their own shared links, or, say, facebook posted items, to libdig as an “I dig everything on here”. Descriptions might be an issue, I suppose.
But leveraging the social bookmarking people are already using might be easier than getting them to use another one.
“If you right click on the bookmarklet text and “Add to bookmarks” / “Add to favourites”, when you open the bookmark it will take you to LibDig prefilling the URL and Title of the page you were just on.”
This isn’t working for me. The prefilled URL is always the LibDig widgets page, no matter what page my browser was resting on when I clicked the bookmark. What am I doing wrong?
I don’t know about anyone else but I simply click and dragged that button into my toolbar.
Aha, that’s better, thank you!
We are a blog set up to give the people of Stoke on Trent their say. Our blog is attracting large number of posts. It’s sad but a fact that the BNP are popular in Stoke. Our city has no middle ground to turn to when we are disillusioned with Labour or the Tories. Our blog is has attracted the BNP activists and we need opposing views please pass this on to all willing debaters! I will put a link to your site on our blog, please do the same for us. If you know the contact details of the local Libdems in Stoke, please mail me.
Our blog address http://pitsnpots.blogspot.com
Regards,
Tony
We are a blog set up to give the people of Stoke on Trent their say. Our blog is attracting large number of posts. It’s sad but a fact that the BNP are popular in Stoke. Our city has no middle ground to turn to when we are disillusioned with Labour or the Tories. Our blog is has attracted the BNP activists and we need opposing views please pass this on to all willing debaters! I will put a link to your site on our blog, please do the same for us. If you know the contact details of the local Libdems in Stoke, please mail me.
Regards,
Tony
I’ve made a few minor hyperlink tweaks to the pages. You can now get direct access to the recommended page by clicking on the bit which says via example.co.uk
I have also fixed the bug which meant the number of votes didn’t change on the left when you voted (votes were still counted and an F5 would have shown the increased count).
I’m still not 100% sure about the “popular” logic, I’m going to wait for a week to see what happens with the posts and how far they fall (if at all) before looking at recoding it.
For the time being I’m keeping away from any auto feeds as I want people to submit items they want to recommend to other LibDems.
Catching up 🙂
Looks interesting – is this the first independent site to be integrated with the Party login accounts system?
I admit that I have the same concern above about “silos”, and discouraging cross-party blog-reading.
But I can’t see how it would work without submission being a walled garden – 6 BNP activists could bury it in noise if it was a completely open system. And then you’d be into all mechanisms that Digg have to cope with abuse, and that *would* be a waste of time.
Matt
The LibDig plug-in is now available at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/libdig/.
Matt. I think Flock Together was the first. There’s also Liberty Research. Although arguably they’re ‘arms length’ rather than fully independent.