
Digg: Not for Sale  - nickb
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008121_004686.htm
======
brk
Translation: nobody wanted to buy it, so we took it off the market.

Granted, it's been about a year since I last used Digg, but it had really
turned into a cesspool of stupid/useless/gamed links. Digg, Reddit, etc. all
seem to have passed the apex of their value curves.

~~~
pgebhard
So true about those other sites. I'm so happy to have found HN, and I no
longer even remember how it happened.

~~~
jonursenbach
It'll eventually happen to HN like it has with every other social news site
out there.

~~~
icey
With respect, you've been here for 2 months. I think it's a bit premature of
you to predict the demise of YC.

~~~
dmix
Yeah, our niche will out last those other niche(s)!

But seriously, Digg had a chasm to cross, I don't think HN can go mainstream.

~~~
icey
Well, the goal of this site is not to grow large, it is to be useful (as per
PG).

Digg and reddit are companies before all else; their goal is to grow as large
as possible.

Artima hasn't "gone digg", I don't see why this site has to.

~~~
jonursenbach
Artima doesn't look to be a social news site.

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coliveira
I think they are right: there is potential for digg to become big. Too bad the
IPO market is so screwed at the moment.

We need more independent companies and less of the ones that are selling at
the first opportunity. I don't want to live in a world where the only chance
of success is selling to one of _five_ big companies.

~~~
ojbyrne
Hmm, I'm gonna make one of those positive digg comments I'm so well known for
(not). There is a potential for a shakeout, they have lots of money to weather
the storm, an established brand, traffic, revenue - it may happen.

~~~
brandnewlow
Digg's a legitimate brand, courted by all the established media entities.

8 months ago, the Tribune company assembled a strike force tasked with
figuring out a way to game digg to get their content out there. How many other
startups are changing how people in other businesses hire and operate like
that?

They may not have figured out how to be self-sustaining, but there's enough
people with cash trying to get in with them that they'll find something
eventually.

~~~
ojbyrne
And just in passing, the Tribune should have contacted me. ;-)

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kqr2
According to this recent article, digg traffic has flattened:

[http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/06/why-hasnt-digg-made-any-
pr...](http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/06/why-hasnt-digg-made-any-progress-its-
worth-only-164m-now/)

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brandnewlow
As long as advertising is based on pageviews, Digg's important because it can
create a lot of pageviews for you.

~~~
netcan
Is advertising based on pageviews?

~~~
brandnewlow
Sure. Pageviews/1000 x cost per thousand impressions = Payout.

Sure there's cost per click ads, affiliate links etc, but display ads are
still a big force out there and as long as that's true, then Digg's powerful.

Huffington Post does monster numbers. They're also on the front page of Digg
all the time for rewriting other people's reporting. Digg drives a lot of
traffic their way, but how many of those people stick around and engage?

~~~
netcan
I meant that sort of sarcastically.

I know that a lot of display advertising is based on pageviews, but I don't
think there is much of a business model in pageviews.

------
known
The quality of comments on digg sucks. We can host digg clone with
<http://www.kubelabs.com/phpdug/>

