If I were Kevin I would absolutely sell Digg.
Over the last couple of years they have failed to keep pace with the gamers and spammers, and half the stories that gets frontpaged now are button-pushing BS with half-truths and hyperbole - the headlines especially have become ridiculously sensationalist and poorly represent the stories. So much propaganda.
The Ron Paul campaign especially treated Digg like its personal bitch, and it was really scary how many people drank that koolaid readily as if the popularity of his stories were just amazing and organic grassroots support which weren't completely orchestrated and gamed.
Also the tech staff at digg has not been able to deal with everyday code problems and respond to user's feedback in a timely manner - I think the users have been clamoring for a new comments system for 2 years - it crashes Firefox for christs sakes - and they still havent fixed it.
The experiment is over, Digg is losing its edge, just sell it, take some money home and thanks for the ride Kevin.
well as long they do not delete out comments and submissions it is ok but can not digg survive alone? they can.. they can monetize their 20 million plus unique visitors with more services. they can do merger with cragielist 4 example.
I love reading about how the evil corporations will ruin thing for everyone. Do you think if Google or Microsoft spend that much to purchase Digg that they will want to overhaul the site and "ruin" it? I didn't see much change in YouTube after they were purchased by Google.
They could always choose to take the harder "exit" route -- IPO 8-)
@61 - Chris Hill
Honestly, I'm more likely to believe this blog than the, "We're not selling, I promise!" post on the Digg blog...
I mean think about it...what's the exit strategy for a site like Digg? There really is no other option. It's either sell or attempt to be the next Craigslist, one of the last great indies, but I don't think the $11MM of VC behind them will allow that to happen ;-)
It seems to me that Techcrunch is totally responsible for this problem, it is you that keeps running these stories which have so far ALL turned out to be false, why don't you try getting your stories right for a change? You have a real nerve running a rumour then running a story about all the rumours. Your ego is clearly the real problem!
i'm so confused - is it still 'cool' to hate microsoft? don't people have anything better to do? i'm more worried about elgoog...
I think these acquisition rumours will probably peter out as before, as behind the scenes Microsoft or whoever look through the hype and realise exactly what they'd be getting, and quietly walk away. Why any big company would want to dip their hand into the razorblade tombola that is Digg's community I've no idea.
The fact of the matter is, it doesn't matter what they do. Users won't be happy either way. Right now they're preaching about how Digg is the "bastion of free speech", but not a month goes by where Digg is not accused of censorship, and moderation (though this has been cleared up time and time again).
Comments like, "Kevin Rose doesn't care about you" make me laugh. Why the hell should he? They certainly don't care about Kevin, and why should they feel any less of him for cashing out (oh, I mean "selling out", right?).
Some of these users are ridiculously pathetic. They act as though Digg is a site owed to them, and that money should not be made from the internet, or advertising on it.
The truth is, the majority of vocal Digg users are a pathetic bunch of losers, who don't want to see success in any one else.
Kevin: just fucking sell the thing. Everyone wants to be a millionaire, this is your shot, and you'll go on to do bigger and better things. This community of bandwidth leeches are unimportant, and you'll gain absolutely zilch from pleasing them.
I remember when the 'community' at MP3.com jumped all over Robertson for selling out. It was a smart move with terrible timing, as I told him and everyone else. Months before and it was $500MM+... waited too long cause all the noise (it seemed to me) and ended with what? $123MM... people just couldn't believe... check that... some STILL can't believe he built it for the money and not because he 'cared'... saps. anyway - sell it if you can and get as much as you can get. so what people's feelings get hurt. you didn't build it for them anyhow - you built it for the money.
A MSFT could actually take Digg to the mainstream. I have been using Digg for over a year and enjoy the articles and video selection, but feel that the site could benefit from some mainstream users (submitted articles).
Plus, whats wrong with Jay making some $$$........ he deserves it :)
Maybe if MS buys Digg, it'll leave Yahoo alone.
What's the big deal? YouTube is still YouTube under Google (though a tad less full of pirated content, but that was bound to happen sooner or later), Flickr is pretty much the same under Yahoo. Instead of these people whining about acquisitions like this, maybe they should point out situations where an acquisition of this nature DID "ruin" a site.
The only one I could think of was, really, Barnes & Noble buying TheSpark. Beyond that, I can't think of much.
A MSFT acquisition would be interesting in terms of seeing what Microsoft would do to Digg's technology platform; would they leave the company to run as a separate entity within MSFT, or would they try to swap out the various open source components with their software?
I can understand that Digg users want Digg to retain its innocence, but the problem is Digg is a business, not a charity. If users want a free service that isn't going to sell to some big company, they should one themselves.
So these diggtards really thing Kevin owns 100% of Digg and its not already part of corporate america?
I gave up on digg a long time ago because of this exact mentality from their userbase. They are the most whiny annoying children I have ever seen in my entire life and I can't stand it.
No offense to Kevin or the digg team, they built a great product and it took off like nobody's business, but this type of site just doesn't work once it hits the breaking point.
what? move to Mixx? like if Mixx would not sell out for a bunch of cash??
doh... Digg is/has been at least run by geeks for a while.
Mixx on the other hand is being run by ex-Yahoo corporate sales/mktg people. they've had $$$ printed in their foreheads the day they bought the domain name. at least Digg was real (whatever that means) for a while. Mixx is pretty and dandy but I trust NOTHING out of their exec team.
there i've said it...
want to share high quality news?
get into http://popdup.com
@17. Yeah. Maybe a Microsoft buyout would make it usable again.
Passionate users = Pro accounts. There's your business model Kevin.
Oh no, I would not want the Digg crowd suddenly homeless and looking for a new haunt.
Please don't find YC!
Netscape undermined their own user base: bad explanations; bad publicity; bad cloning attempt (trying to control with iframes); trying to pay users to switch from Digg; thus, more bad publicity. I have no idea how Propeller.com is doing now so who knows. It's not like Netscape couldn't have worked. It just didn't go about it properly. Yahoo's method, at least, seems a little smarter, by having a separate area and featuring front page stories within their portal.
As a longtime Slashdot reader, I can say that it's obvious that Digg has much less in common nowadays than it did starting out. Sure, there's a big crossover of tech enthusiasts, which includes reactionary MS bashers. But those people are becoming less influential on Digg. And that's OK. There's room for more than one news stream.
Additionally, it's not like MS or Google would banish negative MS or Google stories. Maybe in the past they'd be that stupid, but not now. Censorship, more than anything, would get people revolting/leaving.
@18
"tech Elite"? More like tech bottom-feeders. I mean sure it's better than a FPS message board, but that's about it. Digg is full of ignorant, internet-addicted, skill-less, life-less leeches. It's just tabloid news with a tech spin.
If the "community" had it's shit together enough to organize a mass-exodus post-Microsoft that would at least be something marginally worth of respect. But don't fool yourself, because you won't fool anyone who matters--Digg users ain't goin anywhere.
Honestly, digg has seen a lot of attention from the higher up developers (Scott Guthrie etc).
I sincerely hope to god they don't buy digg, solely because you get "Digg'd" for running adblock on firefox. I mean seriously, why would someone want to buy a site where the core demographic essentially consists of mother's basement dwellers on their xp pc's acting like they have a mac while beating off to anime always facing the bay area like some sort of koran ritual?
I know I wouldn't.
I hope Digg is reddited by Google,because Google have a plan to reddit for it,Facebook have the hope with me,oh...
M$ is a great company in positive transition.. not necessarily bad.
If M$ is in, I’m out.
They already control what gets posted on digg and what gets advertised.
Just try loading digg and see the first urls being called, msn, acquantive, and so on.
M$ already has its hands on it.
Fuck em!
"Maybe Digg losing the 100% reactionary crowd would improve Digg as a source for news."
Like Netscape right? Digg was a slashdot for younger people. The only way digg would survive a Microsoft buy out would be to turn it into a lame social site like MySpace with butt ugly pages. Digg isn't your run of the mill startup. Rose built the site on a foundation of die hard geeks.
Imagine if Commander Taco was made to kiss Gates's pinky ring? How many people would still read the articles? If you don't know who Commander Taco is, then perhaps you shouldn't comment on this thread.
Digg is such a lame site full of major dorks. How in the hell does anyone come up with such a crazy valuation? Kevin is a dork, but he is not dumb and is ready to take the money and run before people start getting a clue. Web 2.0 madness at its finest.
Chris, that's nonsense. Digg will continue to do well even if Microsoft buys them. It'll continue to make partnerships and grow. It has such a huge audience, with or without the teenage, anti-MS die-hards. And where there's a huge audience, there will be people trying to get their stories seen.
Maybe Digg losing the 100% reactionary crowd would improve Digg as a source for news. But something tells that most of them wouldn't give up Digg, once they realize it's still Digg.
would they be happier if YHOO buys Digg?
Digg only exists by the grace of Kevin's tech TV following.
Look what happened to Netscape when they put a clone on their front page?
That will be Digg when it is acquired. Esp by Microsoft.
80% of digg users could successfully clone the entire website. That's unlike any other website demographic.
This is interesting. The power of the community. I am not a Digg user. Every time I tried to, their registration seems not to work well for me. But as I have gone to the site couple of times, the content is not all that appealing to me. Nonetheless, they have a good amount of traffic.
I wander what will happen.
This is interesting, Michael. Have some silly comments by a handful of angry digg users actually scared away Microsoft? I've found that a vocal minority can dominate what seems like the 'message of the masses' for a little awhile, but the proof is in the analytics. Even voluntary survey I've seen of diggers shows a majority of users are on Windows machines browsing with Firefox. I'm sure the digg referrer logs show the same (despite the perception of a disproportionate Apple base)
Microsoft hating is fashionable. Digg comment threads are a worse echo chameber than any other. Yes, People really will be pissed (myself included) and no doubt, digg will lose a lot users if it goes through, but Microsoft shouldn't care about losing those users anyway...not if they're serious about buying the site in the first place.
totally agree with Lawrence. Who are these strange people that care to spend their time voting on news clips? Who the hell digs DIGG?
I hate digg - i don't see why people use it;
digg itself, and the concept.
Read news from the top news sources - and that's it.
who gives a hell about 'votes'...from that bland site
Lets put it this way. I hate everything Microsoft does. And no PR in the world is going to change that. They Need a whole new turnover of their thinking, company culture, design, UIs, and image.
Perhaps a deal gets killed because the buyer realizes there's no revenue model?
Microsoft is a bully. With money. And now he wants to buy yahoo and digg. Which one do we let him have...
Digg users are the next labor movement.
The next UAW, AFL-CIO, etc. The contributors to user vetted aggregators like Digg are the ditch diggers of the next 25 years ... the on-line grunts who's hard work isn't yet worthy of putting on a resume.
Yet.
Has Digg jumped the boat?
What these users don't understand is that with equity financing, Digg from the beginning was set down a path towards sale. It might not be ideal, but Reddit did the same thing and much earlier.
Is this post here because Michael's story was flagged in-appropriate or was it really intended as the posts says :P ? Digg - ChatterBox! :)
Uh, no, reddit doesn't want the Digg users.
The Digg community, like any other mob, is irrational, stupid, and you don't want them to be pissed at you.
This reminds me to Paul Graham's article about trolls: http://paulgraham.com/trolls.h...
These comments just illustrate how far up their ass digg users shove their heads. Digg is a business. Kevin wants to make money. This exemplifies that free services are detrimental.
Shame that a site with better technology has attracted such a following. The, users there don't know what they got, that's fer sure.
and I will be part of it.
acquisition by microsoft would kill digg. but kevin rose has to make money right? :)
I have used Digg since day one almost and I would honestly never use it again if this happened.
Do you know what happens when people get pissed off on internet forums?
They create a new internet forum on another domain and take all the users with them, since they are mostly networked through IM and social networking. This is exactly what will happen if digg is purchased by Microsoft.
The big difference between Digg and Pligg, technically, is a few developers and some server clusters. The will of the Digg users is FAR stronger than Kevin Rose or the servers running the website. If the digg users get mad, there will be no more digg.
This is VERY rare for a website. MySpace for instance could do anything and it wouldn't matter. Digg users are the tech Elite. They will not stand to be pushed around by a domain name. Guaranteed. There will be another website up in 24 hours from the acquisition and the users will leave.
Digg is cool, but the mob sucks.
@8, Andrew, I don't think Digg users expect Digg to be non-profit; they just want Kevin at the top, not one of the corporations they've come to see as 'evil'.
Personally, I like Kevin Rose as the figurehead (minus his Apple fanaticism), but I don't think a buy-out by MS would necessarily be a bad thing. I actually do like some of MS's products and services.