Here is Digg mafia story by an user; blog.shevin.info/2007/05/mafia-inside-diggcom.html, seems true to me, I also have somewhat similar experience, if you go little deep digging you may also find why some of the story get many comments inspite of their substandard quality and few useful unique article even not get single comment and eventually that disappear from digg.
Digg Mafia
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