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Users who Dugg This
Stephen Biernacki
70 Followers
Andrew Hedges
369 Followers
Mendokusai Daiyo
17822 Followers
xnerdcorex
446 Followers
retroscifigeek.com
710 Followers
Doug Ludlow
50 Followers
Closed AccountOct 25, 2010
Digg has to take some positive steps to get back on track.
barnettizerOct 26, 2010
damage is done / too little too late (pick one). Reddit will always be my 'goto' website from now on which is funny because untill Digg fracked up i never even had a username there.
barnettizerOct 26, 2010
i see i'm getting dugg down here. no doubt by diggers in denial who still like to revel in the 'glory days'. whatever... enjoy your decline into the charred wastelands of social bookmarking sites. ttfn.
sndsOct 26, 2010
You're being dug down for being a troll. Everyone knows how unhappy everyone is with Digg and we all understand that a lot of Digg users went to Reddit, hell I'm one of 'em. But continuing to advertise your disdain isn't doing anyone any good.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
daphoenixOct 26, 2010
Yes, reddit is cool - I like my website that look like they're from 1995, the only thing missing is the rotating skulls.
dengzhiOct 26, 2010
same.. altho i still dont have a username at reddit.. i moved to techcrunch.
mintOXOct 26, 2010
Why are you still here then? Go away.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
No, the digg users to take some positive steps to get back on track. I'm sick of people blaming all this stuff on Digg. The USERS are responsible for the content on this site. Yes, Digg started Digg sucking, but the people on this site have continued the suckage to the detriment of everybody.....It's up to us to digg up and keep good content on this site; not the Digg CEOs or whatever.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
clippclopOct 26, 2010
There are no steps to take. digg is almost certainly under contract to keep the site running as it currently is. Move back to a more social version and they will lose the contracts, likely with a penalty.
That's not to say reddit is better. Yes lots of content from reddit ends up on digg, but the users over there are far less mature.
amyvernonOct 25, 2010
It seems as if every single day they take another step back toward v3. It's kinda sad.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
Hey, that's kind of good. If v3 comes back, I bet they'd see their pageviews jump 100% for the day! Who knows, maybe there will be more real comments than spammers!
skyscapeOct 26, 2010
it will be hard to ignite the fire back up.
kmyeOct 26, 2010
The 90% of the 90% of the v3-and prior community is gone for good. It was already drifting away for a while before this whole mess. "'v'3 coming back" wouldn't make things here the way they were.
I'm curious what this 'product refocus means.' If I cared about digg, the company's, survival (which I don't, particularly, anymore), I'd hope they realize it's too late to try to go backwards, and instead realize that the roll-out committed them to a certain direction, and head even further in that direction to a product that doesn't require a vibrant community or sense of ownership in its users to succeed.
kmyeOct 26, 2010
Yikes, start's supposed to read: "90% of the 90% [who left] are gone for good."
subatomicdocOct 26, 2010
Now they stepped off a cliff -> LtGenPanda's Tumblr salvo on Digg http://t.co/9oNn6AW
davidg11Oct 26, 2010
Not sad. Glad. I can't believe the CEO wasn't smart enough to do so in the first 4 days. Now they have layoffs because apparently a company with less than 100 employees can't move fast enough to change it back?
Now that's pretty sad.
mebesurferOct 26, 2010
I wish they would just re releases v3. Just get rid of this crap and go back to the way it used to be. What is so hard about that?
sungoddess808Oct 25, 2010
Sometimes companies make fatal business mistakes.
kaiosamaOct 26, 2010
Sadly of course, a mistake like the one Digg made could've been seen coming by most readers from miles away.
davidg11Oct 26, 2010
They weren't interested in diggers. They were interested in revenue. But the MBA geniuses (if they have any) apparently never figured out a lot less diggers = a lot less revenue.
Not their asinine theory: a lot more ads/publisher submissions = a lot more revenue...even with less diggers!
datalossOct 26, 2010
Diggers are the product, not the consumer.
boulderbumOct 26, 2010
What I don't get is why they don't just rollback, then make incremental changes to reintroduce some of the better features of v4.
Yes, you invalidate a lot of the work you've done, but it's better than losing 50% of your valuable website traffic (or whatever it ended up being).
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
Because they almost certainly signed contracts with the sites that are currently spamming the front page. Can't go back on those contracts.
scatteredbombOct 26, 2010
Bulls**t. There's no reason they couldn't have the same kind of functionality in v3 if that's what was REALLY preventing them. It just doesn't make sense to go back to an old chunk of code after they've already put so much time into this one. Just improve. That's what they're doing.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
khsheehanOct 26, 2010
Holy s**t people, contracts were not signed, Digg did not sell out to publishers secretly. There is no evidence to support your claim.
scatteredbombOct 26, 2010
v4 was much more than just cosmetic. They changed database structures and a lot of other small things in the back-end. I think the best way forward is to just bring back things that will make the site grow from this new starting point.
gordigorOct 26, 2010
I keep reading that excuse but regulatorguy has it correct.
addiktionOct 26, 2010
If you are a designer or developer you might understand better. The old platform just was becoming unstable. It was built on older technology and unfortunately there was no saving the 'old digg'. I'm sure they didn't want to rush things out like they did but they didn't have many options. With that said, I still think they needed more time to test and fix bugs at least before the switch over, along with further user feedback and actually implementing those old features we all know and love.
boulderbumOct 26, 2010
I am a developer, and I don't know what old Digg ran on, but I do know I never experienced a stability issue with it, and now I get the fail wagon or "user not found" messages daily.
blackinthmiddleOct 26, 2010
I'm also a developer and what you're saying doesn't make sense. Let's look at this logically. Rose has said that digg.com was built on code that wasn't scaling well. So the solution to that is to then go to a new system with no bury button, rss submissions and them gaming their own system so that only large news outlets make it to the front page? That's a non sequitur.
They obviously were able to go to a new system with v4. Why couldn't they do the same thing with version 3?
timlopezOct 26, 2010
The Digg v4 beta was a GREAT idea. Not listening to the beta feedback was the worst thing they could have done.
retroscifigeekOct 25, 2010
Here is the skinny! I lurked on Digg until they went to V4. I love it but more than likely that is because the changes didn't affect by bottom line like it did for so many other people. Change is inevitable, and I am down with whatever changes or back peddling comes about. I just appreciate a site like digg exists. Other wise we as an internet community would still be using FFA sites still or something worse. Digg was the site that attempted to clean up the web, and for the most part has. Although the love of drive-by content like stuff from Demand Media is quite annoying.
netantOct 25, 2010
Ken Rose and his lieutenants royally screw up the digg v.4 rollout, digg employees in the trenches pay the price. Sad.
user500Oct 26, 2010
How to fix Digg:
1. Find Kevin Rose
2. Fire Kevin Rose
3. Profit
Kevin is Like Cramer from MSNBC. Do the opposite of what he says.
antimattOct 26, 2010
I suspect that the ones to be fired are the business development guys that saw opportunity for revenue in every corner of the site. I'm sure Kevin's direction was to accommodate the plans those guys came up with, but more for accommodating the technical underpinnings to allow for richer communication between the members of the site.
natemartin4Oct 26, 2010
....Ken Rose?
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
Well...one of the big problems of hte new Digg is that after TWO MONTHS (closing in on NINE weeks now) the site is still broken almost half the time. So the little people like the programmers can't be excused entirely.
netantOct 26, 2010
I have no doubt most of the problems were ticketed in digg's problem tracking system while in beta. Management had some form of gun barrel pointed at them to make the radical v4 rollout regardless of bugs. I've seen this before in "software development" houses. (I do not comprehend why this doesn't outright kill the software company.)
The programmers were contracted. They knew they'd be gone once the new digg was in place; perhaps a few more weeks of paychecks as they killed the most egregious bugs.
Digg v4 was purely a management play, highlighted by Kevin Rose's indifference to what he helped build. They took something that was financially unsustainable but had RABID consumer loyalty to a more sustainable infrastructure and total alienation of its consumer base. My one nagging question left was how the current CEO came into the job. Was he part of Kevin Rose's inner circle, or was he dumped by the the venture capital partners? I think the fact that Kevin Rose stepped down days before (or after) the digg v4 launch is telling.
And I disagree that digg is broken almost half the time at present. But to be fair, I don't visit this site as often.
mrx742Oct 25, 2010
funny this is on here, as if the digg staff needs to read about it on their own site lol
segdehaOct 25, 2010
We were in a meeting where this was announced at the same time this was published, so we didn't hear about it on TechCrunch.
mille716Oct 26, 2010
I'm sorry to hear about the layoffs. Digg is still my favorite website. I really hope all the workers laid off find other jobs quickly.
skyscapeOct 26, 2010
the laid off workers should quickly launch a digg v3 under a different name.
pcx99Oct 26, 2010
skyscape: even if they brought back v3 tomorrow it wouldn't do any good. v4 killed the community and without that digg is just software and anyone in a basement can make that.
hardeep1singhOct 26, 2010
pigg.com ??
seth13Oct 26, 2010
You've obviously never been to reddit.
user500Oct 26, 2010
if they weren't surfing the web the could fix some site bugs.
richidOct 26, 2010Staff
C'mon, these YouTube videos are just too good to miss!
ekdogOct 25, 2010
Hope Digg doesn't go belly up. I love reading different people's takes on the issues of the day .
uberdugerOct 26, 2010
Don't worry, you can still do that on Reddit.
krymsonOct 26, 2010
yep. just prepare for eye bleeding
kaiosamaOct 26, 2010
Reddit's format isn't really all that bad once you get used to it.
Their discussions are certainly far more community-oriented. Hell, they've even got a suicide watch section.
traxenOct 26, 2010
Reddit sure doesn't look good at first.. but god dammit, the community thrives.. and prospers. It feels like digg was before and even better. Sorta like a mix of digg + 4chan (and not the bad sides of 4chan).
If you got an iPhone, download "Alien Blue" and reddit kicks digg in the nuts.
danieltttOct 26, 2010
www.olddogg.com
Just give Kevin his site back....
theexitwoundOct 26, 2010
OldDogg is nothing but vocal right-wing chest-thumpers at this point. Until the traffic increases there like a million fold, the stories are skewed and the comments even worse. It's not that it's right-wing that bothers me. It's that it's SO biased in one direction, the front pages stories suffer.
pharmermikeOct 26, 2010
"OldDogg is nothing but vocal right-wing chest-thumpers at this point.
How is that different than Digg v3?
theexitwoundOct 26, 2010
There's actually on occasion some good debate on Digg. Absolutely none on OldDogg.
dcjoedogv2Oct 25, 2010
It's ok, at least Jay didn't regret his decisions as CEO, jerk ass.
Closed AccountOct 25, 2010
It also looks like Digg v4 is totally spam proof - it's impossible to get rid of!
wrath017Oct 25, 2010
Something tells me that most of the people getting fired are not going to be the ones directly responsible for the Digg V4 fiasco. Bet you it's not the decision makers, but whatever. Good luck to them.
Good job digg. You failed your visitors, your core users, and now your employees. Maybe next time listen to what the community wants, instead of giving them the middle finger. That only works for Steve Jobs.
linuxwesOct 26, 2010
Actually didn't they boot the guy with the great idea to move to Cassandra?
rockarollrOct 26, 2010
"Maybe next time listen to what the community wants, instead of giving them the middle finger. That only works for Steve Jobs." - PRICELESS!!! Well said!
Kevin Rose, I like you. You're a rather cool dude...and pretty damn smart, too. But you're no Steve Jobs. Get over yourself and give the users what they want - Digg V3!!
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
How do you know he is cool OR smart? You know nothing about him personally. All I know is that nothing he has been involved with has ever turned a profit.
rockarollrOct 26, 2010
First of all, smartass, you don't know what I know or don't know. What on God's green Earth makes you think you do? Second of all, Digg could have very well turned a huge profit (for Kevin) had he and the other board members decided to sell it and let someone else own the name, technology and run day-to-day operations. They (Digg) just didn't want to see it turned into something other than what they envisioned.
If you knew anything about Kevin Rose and the history of Digg.com, you wouldn't be arguing anything I've said thus far. Kevin happens to be a pretty cool guy AND he was smart enough to start a web site that became an online phenomenon... if only for a short while. Yet you point a finger and make a negative comment toward Kevin Rose. What have YOU done that's turned a profit? I don't see any mention of that in your babbling above.
Go troll somewhere else and leave my opinion alone to be exactly what it's meant to be - my opinion, d*ckhead.
itcollOct 26, 2010
that has also worked for Facebook
addiktionOct 26, 2010
Cassandra's decent but they sure as hell should have done more wagon wheel testing before launch.
shadowfyreOct 26, 2010
From a web design standpoint, Digg should revert back to V3 and make small changes. I prefer the old color scheme of Digg v3 better than the v4. v4 just looks like it's trying to be Facebook. There is already a facebook, and we don't need two.
Get rid of the "my news" and bring back the bury button and Digg would spring back into it's prime.
esornosoOct 26, 2010
YES!
dvsbastardOct 26, 2010
While many people did not like the design, that was the least of the sites problems. Digg changed its core functionality and site focus / direction and went from a community driven link aggregator to a glorified publisher focused newsreader. Digg took advantage of its flourishing userbase and expected the users to be fine with it.
Nothing about Digg v4 was about the users, and all changes seemed purely to serve Digg's self interests. It was arrogant to think the users wouldn't care - and that attitude is why things have gone downhill.
technopunditOct 26, 2010
But but but... Leo LaFunk said it was "awesome".
Say it ain't so, Leo!
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
That guy will say anything if you pay him enough.
grafenbergOct 26, 2010
digg used to listen to it's users.
endersgameOct 26, 2010
It didn't help that Reddit already had a community that provided interesting content along with intelligent and insightful discourse. I bet there were a lot of Digg users that didn't give Reddit a chance because of its UI and then after v4 came out we all tried Reddit and found ways to fix the UI (using greasemonkey, etc). This is a major reason why Digg will have a hard time recovering. Reddit is everything that Digg should be and I know its not for everybody but Digg turned off a lot of users with v4 and most of them have gotten used to Reddit and have found a new home there.
At this point I just don't think Digg is going to make it. The content is still crappy, the community is almost non existent, and most of the comments look like they belong on youtube. On top of that the remaining users along with some of the staff want people like me to shut-up and go away. When we complain we are trying to make Digg better and the attitude that Digg is fine and if we like Reddit so much we should just stay there isn't going to keep Digg in business.
c_calienteOct 26, 2010
spring back = maybe
into its prime = unlikely
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
On the list of things that Digg needs to change back, the color scheme is #783
buffalo83Oct 26, 2010
I agree with you 200% on the web design aspect. Bury button is taking wayyy too long to return.
gamben0Oct 26, 2010
Jesus Christ, It's been said 400 million times by KEVIN HIMSELF they cannot revert back to V3. Impossible, can't, won't happen. They can however, re-implement some of the features in to V4.
robertwrightOct 26, 2010
I'm sticking with you till the end Digg!
danieltttOct 26, 2010
I'm outta here a week after the election....
www.olddogg.com
davidtcOct 26, 2010
Sorry, they wont care about you there. Only the main powerusers from v3 tried to go there so they can continue to play with each other in bed. But cause you haven't noticed, a lot of them have started to come back here. Why? Cause they couldn't make their rent payments from paid submissions on olddogg. Even with Digg declining, it still brings in more money than that site.
http://olddogg.com/alltime/
Pretty sad list there. Most of them are about Digg too.
danieltttOct 26, 2010
david, who gives a rip. I have absolutely no need to be 'cared about' by a web site.......what's your hangup?
davidtcOct 26, 2010
You seem to care about what people think of you on this site. Why else would you announce it?
danieltttOct 27, 2010
The only point is to lead people away from digg. The twits have ruined this site with their "enhancements". i hope to see it's demise for their childish arrogance. I have no aspirations of being a "poweruser" and could care less about receiving their blessings. I don't need digg or olddogg or twitter or facebook or the damn drudgereport to "care" about anything. Sorry if you do.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
When I initially clicked on the link, it said "Failed to load story" Found that to be pretty ironic.
user500Oct 26, 2010
or par for the course.
skinturtleOct 26, 2010
"The team is listening and acting quickly on the feedback from our passionate community."
What community? There is nobody left!
DIGG is definately in the business of getting rid of people lately...first their users...and now their staff.
Soon it will be just............Kevin.
technopunditOct 26, 2010
...and a six pack of "Old Dog's Ass".
user500Oct 26, 2010
and mrbabyman
skull24Oct 26, 2010
Please just give in already and go back to Digg v3.
chuckdontsurfOct 26, 2010
And then what? Is the old community just going to suddenly reappear? Most have moved on to other things. Sad, but I think that's what happened.
kaiosamaOct 26, 2010
You never really move on when it comes to the internet... It's not like you're really physically going anywhere.
fakerepublican1Oct 26, 2010
weak
c_calienteOct 26, 2010
Hey Kevin, it's Leo Laporte... Just checking, how is that idea I gave you working out? pretty awesome I bet. kthxbai
technopunditOct 26, 2010
Twit has been living up to its name, too.
davidtcOct 26, 2010
Hey Kevin, it's Leo Laporte.... Just wondering where all my traffic is that I was paying you for. Please get back to me soon.
kaiosamaOct 26, 2010
Wonder if Leo's still advising Kevin to ignore the whiners.
martoqOct 26, 2010
I'm sorry Leo I couldn't quite make that out, your talking over someone who has something interesting to say again....
technopunditOct 26, 2010
To Leo, every opinion matters.
As long as it's his own.
nanukkOct 26, 2010
Hi leo, its been working great. check it out here: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/digg.com#pageviews
no need to wonder anymore
user500Oct 26, 2010
also quite telling when half the comments are spam, anther sign the site is on its way to irrelevance.
davidnivenOct 26, 2010
Actually, I like the new Digg. There aren't as many flaming liberal wackos who bury anything they disagree with into oblivion. Now, we get a balance of stories and articles.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
pharmermikeOct 26, 2010
I would bury you if I could. Until that day, I will just have to Digg you down.
Love you, man!
davidnivenOct 26, 2010
I just dugg YOU down. Feel MY love, sweetie.
rajatworkOct 26, 2010
New CEO is ex-Amazon so just make the remaining engineers work 3 times harder while robbing them from any opportunity to innovate personally.
novenatorOct 26, 2010
Laying off their staff is the wrong answer to jittery investors, improving their product is, and that is increasingly difficult to do with less folks on the payroll
pharmermikeOct 26, 2010
Actually, not breaking even is going to make jittery investors flee worse than this. They have to cut cost somewhere and that somewhere has to be staff. It is very sad and I agree that improving the product is imperative, but that is the stark reality.
enantiodromiaOct 26, 2010
i dunno man... i've been through enough dot com burnouts, and firing staff is often the very first thing the VC's ask you to do. Usually sysadmins are last to go, so I've seen all the steps towards oblivion.
birukunOct 26, 2010
I tried to bury this but.....
Oh well off to Reddit
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
you and your 25 comments wont be missed
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
did they fire all the people who took spam out of the comment sections? just buried and reported 5 on this story alone
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
The way things are going Digg will be DOA in about 3 months.
tao52nycOct 26, 2010
It's what you get for trying to "fix" something that wasn't broken...
swellinOct 27, 2010
If it aint broke, fix it until it is.
emceelokeyOct 26, 2010
Kevin Rose seems kinda dickish. Pretentious really. I try to watch Digg nation. Probably explains why the Digg Reel got pulled.
RobertHillbergOct 26, 2010
I called it back in August and September:
"No users = No Revenue = No Investors = No Employees = No Digg. It's just that simple."
http://digg.com/news/offbeat/have_a_sexy_saturday/20100830035604:5cbb3da1aadb4de986a31a7629ea7826#20100830035604:5cbb3da1aadb4de986a31a7629ea7826
"What will likely happen is Advertisers will lower their rates or completely pull out, investors will began to pull out, employees will be laid off and Digg will become small niche site (if it remains open).
People don't *need* digg like they need a phone, electricity or fuel plus there are so many alternative sites like it so digg done for. Kevin screwed up and he's going to end up paying for it big time."
http://digg.com/news/technology/diggs_traffic_is_collapsing_at_home_and_abroad/20100923204154:4c132a8a582341b8a4dce349ede00864#20100924215258:073c4faf162846dfaa6b8f0c59b30fd2
enantiodromiaOct 26, 2010
Wow, it's like you thought what we were all saying back then...
shumphreyOct 26, 2010
I remember logging on a few days ago and seeing a down arrow next to the up arrow. Clicking that arrow buried the story. But now... it's not there.
I've now realized that must have been a dream. I'm dreaming of Digg V3. What the hell?
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
Do Diggers dream of blue downboats?
martoqOct 26, 2010
I had a feeling this was coming when I found myself going back to Slashdot for interesting articles to read.
skyscapeOct 26, 2010
It should have been more like 67% of layoffs, to digg dig out of the hole.
sgyoungOct 26, 2010
Maybe they can go work for reddit? I bet they are hiring now
enantiodromiaOct 26, 2010
Reddit actually has employees? How hard can it be to maintain a phpNuke instance?
melthornalOct 26, 2010
They have 4 guys and zero funding. In fact, the guys from Digg have helped them out writing code and fixing issues. They are all friends, and the Reddit people visit Digg on occasion. Digg has also petitioned to the owners of Reddit to give the site more funding.
In other words, Digg has no issue with Reddit. And neither should anyone else. Its a false dichotomy.
micahcOct 26, 2010
Guess there won't be an update to the Digg Android app any time soon. :(
richidOct 26, 2010Staff
As a fellow Android-er I hope that's not true. I'm equally as tired of the force-close necessary frequent in the Digg app.
klasharOct 26, 2010
Hope you turn around, been through a similar thing. Hopefully I'm not alone, but I've got bored with Facebook now and now visit back to Digg twice a day like i used to. Please keep the normal pagination though.
Focus on your strengths and your users.
networktwenty3Oct 26, 2010
Hey Kevin wanna help my startup? I don't need financing, just need to make sure I don't make fatal mistakes, we can only learn from our mistakes.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
SHOCKER!
To the 37%...look at it this way...at least you have a head start in the job hunt. the REALLY unlucky ones are the ones who are still employed by Digg. They will go down with teh sip and when Digg goes bankrupt early next year, you will have taken all the available jobs.
gordigorOct 26, 2010
It is never unlucky if you have a paycheck vs. not having a paycheck.
Closed AccountOct 26, 2010
Could be long term if you get a job and then those who get laid off later when Digg doesn't under can't find any.
gordigorOct 26, 2010
Digg is the new Slashdot.
paduraOct 26, 2010
Slashdot is now actually very good. They have good stories and good comments.