Isolationism

Not that Digg is exactly my favourite news site—I think its’ “unedited” approach allows far too much chaff through the nearly non-existant filters: Myriad duplicate stories, bad (or non-existant) writing, too many exclamation marks, rampant use of superlatives, all caps, etc. (e.g.: “OMG WORST SITE ON THE INTERNET!!!” being an accurate summary)—but it would be a shame all the same to see it tumble under the likes of News Corporation, that entity which is ‘famous’ for Fox News, and their moderately recent online acquisition, MySpace.

Rupert Murdoch is evidently catching on that the Web is a potent medium and is buying up assets quickly (although Digg has some respite for now as nobody was willing to lay down the 150 million they were hoping for)—but I find myself wishing he would leave it alone.

Why? Simple enough; Look at what he’s done for MySpace: nothing.

MySpace is still by far the worst-designed web application in the world for its size/popularity; the only thing that’s changed is there’s more money behind it (it still runs off a single piece of hardware, for example; it’s amazing the site works as often as it does).

Digg does have an attractive design and the momentum of growth behind it—but it hasn’t managed to shake itself free of the juvenile attention it seems to attract by its very nature; for comparison, consider Slashdot or Technocrat; both have a more moderated editing process, more intelligent discussion, and overall have better (if fewer) articles.

The fact that viewers aren’t encouraged to vote for stories (which in turn determines what people see when they visit the site, as stories with more votes are given precedence over those with less) keeps the conversation closer to the topic at hand, avoiding the type of comment resembling, “[Complaint about story]. NO DIGG” frequently witnessed on Digg.

Will Digg become another MySpace if acquired, or will they retain some autonomy? Also, will stories see even more cherry-picking by Digg’s overseers for political content in line with News Corporation’s heavily conservative views?