I don’t know his motivations. I think he probably is a good person but like you said a lot of learning to do. What I do know is the advice and counsel given to him by individuals and the masses on the internet. What I also know is that to this day, the advice given has been ignored.

I sure as heck hope you’re right about upcoming changes. Like I said, I’d like to be on the front line finding out about these changes but I’ll never be.

If I know Kevin like I think I know Kevin, he’s just a kid. A kid caught in the glamour of the moment, sucking up all he can. He knows that life in this medium is short-lived, and is savoring as much as he can until Digg goes the way of the proverbial Dodo.

Instead, I’d point to some of the partners behind the scenes that Kevin answers to. That’s right, he answers to some folks. He may be the founder, and he may still have a lot of say-so but there’s enough money involved that the directions Digg goes is a collective effort and decision…i.e., this is not a blog.

The Kevin *I* know spends a lot of time trying to refine the Digg system so it can’t be gamed. He looks for new ways to peer into the bunch that tries to run the community and give them less fascist control while allowing the small voice to be heard. Had you been deeply into the workings of Digg a mere year ago, you’d know that the system is already considerably more democratic than it was then, and the team at digg genuinely doesn’t want the loud few to have control to the degree they do now.

I’d wager that the new features coming out will have some additions to your liking as well as the implementation of some of the new anti-gaming rules. I’d bet you’ll find it quite funny just how much vitriol the digg crowd can spew right at digg (and Kevin Rose) because it prevents them from gaming the system. We’ve seen it twice before with each major algorithm change, and I’d wager we’ll see it again.