Not much info yet, but I grew up on Digg, so I’m cautiously optimistic. Probably no Fediverse support, but honestly, any Reddit alternative is a win. Really hoping for real API access and third-party apps.

  • @[email protected]
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    944 months ago

    I’m rooting for them simply because I want to see Reddit and them fight. I’m not going to be switching, because I’m basically done with centralized ultracapitalist bullshit for personal use.

    • @[email protected]
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      414 months ago

      100% this. Why would I go back to another centralized corpo line must go up service that will inevitably enshittify when we got lemmy right here?

    • XNX
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      74 months ago

      Its being recorded by Reddit cofounder Alexis ohanian. I don’t think they’ll fight lol

      • @[email protected]
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        64 months ago

        He has nothing to lose by competing. He owns a stake in Reddit, and he’s rebooting a competitor. He wins either way, and striking out on his own has a better chance of making him more money than relying on his stake.

        If he fails and Reddit “wins,” he still has his stake to fall back upon.

    • doug
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      54 months ago

      Yeah the chasing profit is what ultimately dooms public forums.

  • aramis87
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    364 months ago

    Why would you expect an aggregator-and-comment site bought and rebranded by reddit-cofounder O’Hanian to end up significantly different than his other aggregator-and-comment site?

    • @[email protected]
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      124 months ago

      Yeah, the mention of AI is pretty ominous. It makes me wonder if AI would be used to fill in the gaps when the user base is too low.

      • @[email protected]
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        94 months ago

        It absolutely will be. It’s what’s happening to twitter right now. Loads and loads of bots/ai posting “content.”

  • @[email protected]
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    264 months ago

    The original Digg was an important site for me personally between 2005-2009, but only in that early era and mostly as a bridge between my Fark and Reddit eras. I honestly can’t see it competing with Reddit’s established user base or being as no-nonsense and free as Lemmy. I don’t think it will gain traction and the AI aspect will turn a lot of people off from it.

    • @[email protected]
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      54 months ago

      Oh neat! I used to use Fark, too. I just checked and it’s still around, just looks a bit dead compared to how I remember it from back in the day.

      I started using it in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, but I stopped sometime in that date range you mentioned. For me, it was the fact that I got multiple back to temporary suspensions (with no warnings). It was like I couldn’t do anything right and to some extent, it felt targeted and personal.

      I don’t even remember them all, but two of the suspensions stick out to me. I got banned for posting the picture of the officially unofficial fark squirrel (i.e. Big Balls). Up until that time, it was basically a Fark meme posted openly and frequently by large numbers of users. I guess advertisers didn’t like it and I didn’t get the memo. Another suspension came when I responded to a homophobic bigot who was arguing against legalizing gay marriage in the USA by telling him “if you believe that, you are an idiot”. Apparently that’s name calling, but using cocksucker as a pejorative against another man was still considered A-Okay.

  • @[email protected]
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    254 months ago

    Didn’t use dig but not going back to centralized link aggerators after what I saw happen with reddit over the years. CEOs can’t be trusted.

    • bizarroland
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      124 months ago

      Yeah, isn’t that what everyone wants?

      A website where you talk to people and a robot with no oversight shows up and changes what you say, or silences you, or prevents you from talking to certain people.

      At the same time though, I don’t care if billionaires play rock and sock em robots with companies. It just kind of sucks for the people that work at those companies, being tools of a game for rich people to play.

  • @[email protected]
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    194 months ago

    Digg lost its popularity for the same reason Reddit is. It started taking investment money and began to please only the share holders. Yeah it’s private owned again, but they will just repeat the cycle because the temptation is there.

    I’ve only been using Lemmy for a few months, but it seems to me that taking any instance public will not be a feasible business model. i don’t recommend anyone go back to digg unless you just like watching enshitification happen. Should they reboot Ebaulmsworld while they’re at it? I know that last statement struck a nerve!

      • @[email protected]
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        64 months ago

        Yes, and no English language site other than 4chan has been a larger part of early English language internet culture than ebaumsworld. So many things started there.

        • @[email protected]
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          44 months ago

          that one must have collapsed quite thoroughly. i havent seen even a mention to it before now

          • @[email protected]
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            64 months ago

            Seriously? It’s foundational to the history of the internet. If an image macro format, what the kids call memes, didn’t start on /b/ it started on ebaumsworld.

            • @[email protected]
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              4 months ago

              Let’s not forget Something Awful and YTMND now. Should reboot those too. Maybe assemble them all together like Vultron or something.

            • @[email protected]
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              34 months ago

              maybe i just havent been around in places where it would be relevant to mention it though now it feels a little odd i dont remember any any mention of it if it was that foundational. I guess its possible i have seen the name mentioned but wouldnt have known to pay any attention to it.

              • @[email protected]
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                24 months ago

                Were you an adult with internet access and were English speaking and on the internet a lot between 2005-2010? If you answer no to any of those that’s why you don’t know it.

                The foundational sites aren’t always known. Im willing to bet most people think the meme formats they shared started on facebook or instagram.

                • @[email protected]
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                  24 months ago

                  its such shame details disappear into history. i bet there were tons of stuff on there that would be interesting today that doesnt exist anywhere anymore

  • @[email protected]
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    174 months ago

    In 2025, that’s like saying “Hey, we should go back to Myspace!” Myspace did a complete makeover, too. Does anybody care? No.

  • dantheclamman
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    174 months ago

    I am not optimistic. Kevin Rose spent the last few years doing crypto/NFT nonsense, and is now on the AI train. Plus, link aggregators have tried to double down on AI with mixed results. See the example of Artifact, which crashed and burned just last year. There is no business model for this, and if there were, I wouldn’t trust Kevin Rose to deliver it. I say this as someone who was a massive Digg/Revision3/Diggnation fan as a teenager but grew disillusioned.