Big Changes With New Digg Release

Sat, 09/04/2010 - 09:33 in

Recently, Digg rolled out the latest version of its website. There have been some highs and there have been some lows once you take a step back and look at all of the changes and the reaction of the Digg community. With all of the backlash in the community, it is difficult to tell whether or not all the changes will be considered successful until the dust settles.

Digg, version 4, has been officially released. While most people aren't surprised at the instant backlash that occurred throughout parts of the community, there are both some new features and new complaints that you might want to know about. Here is a quick look at what the latest version of Digg has to offer and some of the common complaints that were quick to hit the internet.

The New

There are 3 main points that were highlighted by Digg founder Kevin Rose. He said the main benefits of the new version are that it will be faster, easier to personalize, and have improved social aspects. Along with this, there was also a major overhaul to the overall design, feel, and even a sleeker logo. Additionally, all domains that were previously banned are now unbanned.

The Backlash

While it may not have been a big surprise to some, there was an immediate backlash from many people within the Digg community. While they have a variety of complaints, the primary problem seems to be that Digg has quickly become more “corporate-friendly”. One of the primary reasons that so many IP's were banned from Digg is because the Digg community did not want people using the platform solely for SEO purposes, which is why domains were previously banned. Additionally, there were a number of changes made to the front page. Immediately, a number of Diggers found the “Top News” section has been featuring only a few publishers. Additionally, many of these articles had comparatively fewer Diggs than other articles. This has made many devoted Digg users feel like they are being passed over in favor of larger, corporate publishers.

Another common complaint relates to a surprisingly large number of bugs considering how long the new version has been in the testing mode. While bugs will always cause a mini-riot, they will also be fixed as quickly as possible. However, because of the number of changes that were all made at once, these bugs simply acted like fuel to the fire.

With the new roll-out, as with all new website updates, the big question is whether or not the “old guard” of the Digg community is going to accept the changes or not. There have already been rumblings about a number of Diggers moving to Reddit, however a massive exodus is yet to be seen. All in all, many of the upgrades were expected, whether more traditional Digg users like it or not. Andrew Sorcini (MrBabyMan) is the top Digg user of all time and he was noted as saying the some backlash is to be expected, but the changes were made for both users and publishers alike. In the end, he said: “money has to talk for the site to continue to exist.”

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Schn (not verified):

I liked old Digg more

Mon, 09/06/2010 - 05:47

I liked old Digg more. Categories now don't have subcategories, that's bad. I was always checking top in technology - programming, now I can go only to top - technology.