next big thing: digg

December 14, 2004 9:21 AM

yesterday: news.com
today: Slashdot
tomorrow: digg
posted by johnnydark (23 comments total)

So this is basically like del.icio.us except specifically for news?
posted by TetrisKid at 9:24 AM on December 14, 2004

Meh. They could really do some work on readability, and if there's a comments system it's obscured behind whatever the hell a "dig" is.
posted by Foosnark at 9:24 AM on December 14, 2004

Looks like one of those sites that comes up in a google search when nothing comes up.
posted by condour75 at 9:37 AM on December 14, 2004

I like del.icio.us, I like news. It's a neat system, as long as they can keep egos and cliques out of it. Or, you know, bias.


Ok, so maybe not a neat system? I'm willing to suspend judgement for a while.
posted by cmyr at 9:38 AM on December 14, 2004

Aggghhhh! The tyranny of the majority.
posted by caddis at 9:45 AM on December 14, 2004

It looks like Metafilter/NewsFilter, only with karma points ala Slashdot, et. al. Looks simple enough once you grasp that "dig" means two things. You "dig" (=look) through queued articles, then indicate the ones you "dig" (=like).

Just a little too clever to be intuitive. They could perhaps rename one action or the other.
posted by Tubes at 9:47 AM on December 14, 2004

Exactly what I thought, condour75. The design is very domain-squat chic.
posted by rafter at 9:47 AM on December 14, 2004

This is interesting. A little difficult to figure out at first. But has some potential.
posted by asianmack at 9:48 AM on December 14, 2004

i think it's like delicious, but with longer blurbs. meh - m = eh.

on preview: i think a "dig" is a "cool" vote from a user, which then designates which content shows up pages. the faq could use a little meat.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:51 AM on December 14, 2004

Foosnark: read the FAQ.

Not bad, although I'm not as interested in the tech geekery as some may be. I actually don't mind that there's no commenting, although that would probably be seen as a detriment by most /. users.
posted by me3dia at 9:53 AM on December 14, 2004

so how do they prevent it from being a PR/spam vehicle? i guess it all depends on critical mass.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:55 AM on December 14, 2004

Now we have someplace to send the people who want MeFi rating systems. Awesome.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:28 AM on December 14, 2004

The FAQ page needs a rewrite by someone who isn't a programmer.
posted by smackfu at 10:40 AM on December 14, 2004

Google To Digitize Much of Harvard's Library [+ 29 digs]
Slashdot (an alternative to digg.com)

I thought that was kind of cute.

Its got potential. Why is the site digG and the rating system dig?
posted by fenriq at 10:46 AM on December 14, 2004

Why is the site digG and the rating system dig?

domain name availability: disney internet group?
posted by mrgrimm at 11:29 AM on December 14, 2004

memigo is better.
posted by shoepal at 12:59 PM on December 14, 2004

i think the profile pageviews count is an interesting statistic, but i guess it wouldn't do for metafilter to start counting them now.
posted by radiosig at 1:38 PM on December 14, 2004

Were you watching The Screen Savers yesterday?
posted by brad! at 3:35 PM on December 14, 2004

The big difference between these three sources is that News.com is an actual (award-winning) newsroom with reporters, fresh content, etc.

Slashdot is a tech version of Metafilter.

Digg is an aggregator; or something like it. I fail to see how it is the future, though I do think non-application aggregators will come into wider use. They won't replace the newsroom though...

btw, I work at News.com...and I tried to keep this balanced...and it's my first comments on the Blue, though I've lurked on the regular for two years. I love the blue.
posted by roundo at 3:45 PM on December 14, 2004

I'm very confused (although I might have overdone it on the wine tonight). smackfu: why do you think the FAQ was written by a programmer? roundo: comparing /. to mefi is the most insulting thing I've read in a long while.
Does johnnydark think that the lack of commenting is what makes digg the future?
Still confused... what me3dia said, but I can't see the geekery. I guess I'm too much of a geek.
Oh, and shoepal: thanks for the link.
posted by mleonard at 4:10 PM on December 14, 2004

Maybe it will just take time to get the kinks worked out, but when the first item I see on page 1 is a link to a t-shirt sales site, and items 3 and 7 are both articles about EA Games' exclusive rights to NFL games, it makes me glad I don't have any time or money invested in this site.
posted by Bort at 6:11 PM on December 14, 2004

shoepal: thanks for the props (I run memigo).

This is a good attempt but, what 2 yrs too late? del.icio.us is better as a community, findory is more personalizable and, IMHO, memigo is a better combination of both ways to organize news.
posted by costas at 9:11 PM on December 14, 2004

I think this has real potential. It seems to play well with firefox live-bookmarks. ***1/2 (of 5 stars)
posted by rxreed at 11:25 PM on December 14, 2004