# Did the website "Digg" commit suicide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177 "2010-08-31T19:59:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tree\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@Tree\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tree_Boy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/1 "2010-08-31T19:59:20Z")
I know there are always bugs that need to be worked out when a website goes through a major redesign, but whatever the programmers did to Digg has made it the very definition of user unfriendly. There used to be 100-200 story/picture/video diggs in a 24 hour period and now there seem to be less than 50. Not only that, the ones that are displayed have bizarre icons that don’t match-up with the title, are unnecessarily large-fonted and trying to get more to load on a page goes at about a 10% success rate. Anyone have any insight as to why the owners of Digg decided this new layout was a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/2 "2010-08-31T20:05:36Z")
> [@Tree\_Boy](#): > > Anyone have any insight as to why the owners of Digg decided this new layout was a good idea? The Digg people decided that the future of the site was in “social link sharing” so now fewer articles are shown to everybody and most are just shared among Digg friends. For example, here’s how the Digg people describe some of the changes to the website to make them more friend oriented: > [@](#): > > **Personalization** - we put a lot of thought into how people consume news and wanted to make it easy to view content from the friends, publishers, and influencers you care about. Once you start following your friends, and sources you trust, we’ll build a custom news homepage for you called "My News”. Customizing Digg will enable you to see your friend’s recent Digg or Comment, as well as the latest article submitted by a publisher. > > **Friends & sharing** - the new Digg is all about making it easy to see the stories your friends are Digging and commenting on, and to share interesting stories with them. You’ll notice activity from the profiles you’re following highlighted in stories, on comment pages, and even on their profile page as you navigate the site. Attach your blog or RSS feed to your profile and send your followers content as you create it. Because of this, people have deserted Digg in droves and stuff that used to be hugely popular (and was eventually shown to the entire Digg community) gets a handful of Diggs and dies on the vine. It’s really a spectacular look at the EPIC FAIL meme in action. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/3 "2010-08-31T20:06:49Z")
I went to the web site to offer a comment but [digg.com](http://digg.com) is down. Perhaps it should stay down. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/4 "2010-08-31T20:14:43Z")
The good news is I’ve taken a liking to reddit, despite the ugly, ugly threaded comments view. So, good riddance, Digg for trying to make me follow losers rather than simply be a good news aggregator. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/5 "2010-08-31T20:24:49Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > The good news is I’ve taken a liking to reddit, despite the ugly, ugly threaded comments view. > > So, good riddance, Digg for trying to make me follow losers rather than simply be a good news aggregator. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/6 "2010-08-31T20:47:32Z")
It’s funny- we’re pretty much seeing a “New Coke” fiasco unfolding right before our eyes. I used to visit Digg multiple times a day… but this morning, I removed it from my bookmarks. It’s become unusable. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/7 "2010-08-31T20:51:30Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > The good news is I’ve taken a liking to reddit, despite the ugly, ugly threaded comments view. > > So, good riddance, Digg for trying to make me follow losers rather than simply be a good news aggregator. I have always love and used Reddit, the threaded comments are great because you can actually have a converstation or discussion without quoting the person, like you would to on Digg or even SDMB. I also find the Reddit users far better than Diggs. You will find many interesting discussion there akin to those on this board. I never understood why someone would use Digg over Reddit, just because it is prettier? Or I think many do just not know about Reddit. I encourage people to go try it out, you can subscribe to the “Reddits” that you want to see (military, US news, World News, Politics, Guns, Conspiracy, Food, Health, Money, Economy, Aircraft, Maritime, Marijuana, Comics, Stargate, Star Trek, Movies, TV, Simpsons, Biology, Chemistry, Science, Space and 1000s of others you can even make your own.) It is like a huge Usernet ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/8 "2010-08-31T21:20:10Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > I never understood why someone would use Digg over Reddit, just because it is prettier? Or I think many do just not know about Reddit. RSS. Digg had plenty of feeds. So far, I’ve only managed to find the main Reddit feed, but I’ve _not_ explored a lot. > [@](#): > > [Y]ou can subscribe to the “Reddits” that you want to see (military, US news, World News, Politics, Guns, Conspiracy, Food, Health, Money, Economy, Aircraft, Maritime, Marijuana, Comics, Stargate, Star Trek, Movies, TV, Simpsons, Biology, Chemistry, Science, Space and 1000s of others you can even make your own.) It is like a huge Usernet Again, I’ve just been lazy so far, but I assume I can subscribe to these via RSS? Maybe RSS is just too old fashioned, but the only real web site I visit any more directly is [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com), and I don’t know why there’s not an RSS feed for the main page articles! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/9 "2010-08-31T21:28:22Z")
I have never been to Digg, although I have heard of it. I decided to go to see what you’re on about - but it won’t load. So yeah, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/10 "2010-08-31T22:25:43Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > I never understood why someone would use Digg over Reddit, just because it is prettier? Or I think many do just not know about Reddit. …\… It is like a huge Usernet Yes, it is like someone brought back all of the text-based aesthetic appeal of Usenet without all of that content getting in the way! 😉 Seriously though, Reddit is one butt-ugly site. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/11 "2010-08-31T22:57:00Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > > [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > > > I never understood why someone would use Digg over Reddit, just because it is prettier? Or I think many do just not know about Reddit. …\… It is like a huge Usernet > > Yes, it is like someone brought back all of the text-based aesthetic appeal of Usenet without all of that content getting in the way! 😉 > > Seriously though, Reddit is one butt-ugly site. It works. Look at the message boards here. Why do I have a big ass STRAIGHT DOPE on the top of my page that is like 100 Pixels high? The logo takes up more space than the browser above it. Reddit is quick and many users have created styles for it. The people who created Reddit were programmers and its run by less then 5 people. It is not bogged down like Digg its very simple. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/12 "2010-09-01T00:39:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Again, I’ve just been lazy so far, but I assume I can subscribe to these via RSS? > > Maybe RSS is just too old fashioned, but the only real web site I visit any more directly is [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com), and I don’t know why there’s not an RSS feed for the main page articles! I only read Reddit and SDMB through RSS. To get feeds for anything on Reddit just add “.rss” to the end of the URL. For example, the Programming sub-reddit is: [programming](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/.rss) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/13 "2010-09-01T01:54:31Z")
Well, digg is back up but the residents are angry about the new approach. Several of the topics I selected at random have similar negative comments about the new digg totally unrelated to the thread topic. And then there are those who are [using the new digg against itself](http://digg.com/news/technology/kevin_rose_poses_for_a_new_business_week_cover). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/14 "2010-09-01T01:59:39Z")
This coverage of the latest redesign and personnel changes at the top, from a Reddit link: [Readwriteweb.com story via Reddit](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/digg_amazon_manager_will_take_the_helm_try_to_save.php). It seems that the redesign was partly motivated by Digg’s desire to shake things up and disempower some of its most influential users (who had been wielding too much control over the site’s content, at least for its executive leadership’s taste)… hence their rebellion at the redesign. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/15 "2010-09-01T04:56:57Z")
Hmmm… I used to read Digg all the time. FIrst time I’ve been there in weeks or months. I can’t figure it out now. Each time I move to a page I seem to get something different, very little of it readable. “Epic Fail” for sure. Oh well, at least [slashdot.org](http://slashdot.org) still works. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/16 "2010-09-01T09:59:37Z")
Kevin “I’m not gay” Rose should’ve taken that 50 million Yahoo offered him way back then. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/17 "2010-09-01T11:31:22Z")
Digg just hired a new CEO. [http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/08/31/31gigaom-new-digg-ceo-must-grab-the-reins-and-go-90762.html?ref=technology](http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/08/31/31gigaom-new-digg-ceo-must-grab-the-reins-and-go-90762.html?ref=technology) ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/18 "2010-09-01T11:43:52Z")
Being a news junkie, Digg is (or was) one of my favourite sites. What they’ve done is pretty much an abomination. Used to be people submitted stories, and other people voted on them and the cream of the crop would rise to the front page (admittedly some gaming going on). Now with this auto-submit the front page is full of crap; random, variable quality articles from just a few big tech sites. It’s like finding your email has turned overnight into nothing but viagra and penis enlargment spam. Certainly looks like a suicide attempt. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/19 "2010-09-01T12:05:37Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > > [@Balthisar](#): > > > > Again, I’ve just been lazy so far, but I assume I can subscribe to these via RSS? […] > > I only read Reddit and SDMB through RSS. To get feeds for anything on Reddit just add “.rss” to the end of the URL. For example, the Programming sub-reddit is: [programming](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/.rss) Yes! Back in RSS wonderland! > [@blue\_infinity](#): > > Used to be people submitted stories, and other people voted on them and the cream of the crop would rise to the front page (admittedly some gaming going on). Now with this auto-submit the front page is full of crap; random, variable quality articles from just a few big tech sites. It’s like finding your email has turned overnight into nothing but viagra and penis enlargment spam. I’m (now) getting from reddit that which I used to get from Digg without the “power user” and “social follower” non-sense. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177/20 "2010-09-01T12:23:14Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > This coverage of the latest redesign and personnel changes at the top, from a Reddit link: [Readwriteweb.com story via Reddit](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/digg_amazon_manager_will_take_the_helm_try_to_save.php). > > It seems that the redesign was partly motivated by Digg’s desire to shake things up and disempower some of its most influential users (who had been wielding too much control over the site’s content, at least for its executive leadership’s taste)… hence their rebellion at the redesign. So that’s the reason that even people here even indicate they don’t like it, and almost all the comments on every article I’ve seen address the change. Sure it’s just some elite posters that have a ton of power. I still cannot understand why people think it’s a good idea to make sweeping changes all at once. They wanted to keep the page from being dominated? Add that feature silently, and wait and see what happens. No, their strategy is to change everything all at once, and then get blindsided when everyone hate it. If they’d just have done it gradually, half the people would have never noticed, and the rest would have given enough input that they’d know whether their ideas were even remotely good. I mean, at least when Microsoft did it to Office, they actually had done enough testing to know that a lot of people would like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-website-digg-commit-suicide/552177.md?page=2)