Reddit @lemmy.world irelephant [he/him]🍭 @lemm.ee 3mo ago

Digg invites got sent out, it costs $5 to get in.

Just got the email there (to see how bad it will be.) The full text is:

Hey.

You're getting this email because you were first in line.

Before the homepage. Before the platform. Before most people knew something was even happening.

So... welcome. You're officially invited to become a part of Groundbreakers, a small group of early supporters helping shape what Digg becomes next.

If you're just tuning in, here's the short version: Digg is coming back. Not as a throwback. Not as a museum. But as a reboot of the original social news site—rebuilt for how the internet actually works now.

And we want to build it the right way: with real people involved from the start.

We're gathering on Circle, a private online space where we'll share early ideas, rough screenshots, updates from the team, and weird internet energy in all forms.

👉 Join the Groundbreakers Community

What to expect:

– Early access to updates, mockups, and experiments – A front-row seat to how Digg is being rebuilt – A chance to give feedback, share ideas, or just watch it unfold – A community of smart internet people who showed up early—just like you

Also: you probably noticed there's a $5 charge to join. That's not about access. It's a simple way to keep things human—a small hurdle that helps make sure the people coming in are, well, actual people. No subscriptions. No gimmicks. Just a quick check at the door.

And since we're asking for it, we figured we'd put it to good use. > Proceeds will go to a nonprofit we'll choose together inside the community.

Thanks for being early. And for helping us build something new on top of something iconic.

See you inside, —The Digg Team

Some notes:

There is a high amount of em dashes, and it reads as ai.
The link isn't personalised, so giving them your email is pretty useless.

Well, looks like its going to still be shit.

44 comments

I would prefer Lemmy take off as the Reddit successor rather than Digg. We don't need another centralised Reddit and the talk about Digg being AI powered now and whatever really turns me off.
- I agree. Being centralised is enough to disqualify it in my eyes.
  
  I'm hoping the launch is a disaster as we've seen some nice growth here on Lemmy lately and I'd hate for this to cannibalise it. Though I can see that happening as there are no doubt Redditors with fond memories of Digg, and it has what looks like big money behind it to do a marketing push, while we're relying on strictly word-of-mouth and individual proselytizers.
  
  I think we’re soon going to get to that sort of critical mass that means any alternative without massive venture capital backing would have a better time just making itself activitypub/lemmy compatible, so they don’t have to start from scratch userbase wise.
  
  After what reddit has turned into I agree
- Reddit is already partially AI powered itslef
SA charges $10, and their forums are notoriously "human." A barrier to entry that is small enough for a single real human to leap, but very costly for a bot army to avoid, is not a bad thing on its face.

This dosn't mean that I think this Digg reboot is good, just that the $5 part isn't bad.
- The email also mentioned they'll be donating it to a nonprofit, to be decided upon by the people who sign up early. It's not ideal, but it doesn't seem especially evil either.
  
  It would probably be something that fediverse instance admins ought to put in place, considering the dark turn that the Nicole thing has taken. Dual purpose: prevent spam/scam/bot accounts, offset hosting and administration costs for a platform that should remain otherwise unmonetizable.
  
  I'd pay it.
The list of investors in new Digg was enough for me to know I'd never use it.
- Yep there's the influence. We've been really badly burnt by reddit, we need to avoid that
To me, it doesn’t read as AI generated but rather another gross instance of marketing trying to sound casual, cool, and not of lizard ilk
- the em dashes are not helping.
  
  "hey chatgpt, make a marketing email that sounds causal and cool"
  
  As an avid em-dash user—I hate that AI is really cramping my style.
  
  Looked to me like an attempt to pull off an in-line bulleted list.
There is a high amount of em dashes, and it reads as ai.

Look - as someone who is probably on the spectrum - I resemble this comment.
- You use hyphens -- they are different.
  
  You use hyphens because they look cool.
  
  I use em dashes because Oxford Standard Style Guide for English dictates how it should be used.
  
  We are not the same.
  
  I sometimes use — or – when trying to convey something when other punctuation such as a comma do not feel right.
  
  I'll always ensure to be consistent on either side - which is something the BBC didn't do recently. Making me wonder if it was their mistake or mine.
  
  Edit: I tried to find the article but can't. Does anyone know a way to search a user's comments? I know I brought it up at the time.
Beat me to it:

The SomethingAwful approach. Has anyone tried it? Even just to spread the good word of the fediverse? Can we crowdfund an account for Blaze? (genuinely).
- I for one will always speak highly of something awful. If you had the balls to post in general bullshit, you better have made sure hell your post was locked tight and being worth posting or else you wrist your account that you paid for being banned, I got so muchvalue and laughs out of something awful. I still maintain my account after all these years Frankly if Digg wants to go this direction someway, I’m willing to hear them out on it.
  
  Also, their banner should have a hidden fuck spez in it.
- I 100% vote for Blaze I'll deffo chip in for an account. He's so busy here though I dunno if he'd have time
  
  That's a fair point. I'd page 'em to ask but I don't know which account to ping, let's try @blaze@slrpnk.net
  
  Edit: wow, swing and a miss
  
  ~~@blaze@lemm.ee~~ ?
  
  oh, @Blaze@reddthat.com ?
Just got the email too. Lol no. They need to do something before asking for money.
Just posted it to !watchredditdie@sh.itjust.works ha ha
lol

lmao even
I giver them a year before they shut it down again.
- I wouldn't be surprised, but why do you think that?
If they are being honest and really giving all of that money to charity then that’s cool. I’m hoping they are successful enough with this that it hurts Reddit, because fuck Reddit, but I’m sticking with Lemmy for now.
- Lemmy won't take off to that level, let's be honest, the majority of people is turned off when they ask them to "choose an instance" and whatnot, most users just want to sign up and use the service, not learn about instances, which third party app to use and such...
  
  It's literally why this platform is mostly filled with IT people or at least Linux users lol.
  
  I like Lemmy of course, but I'm being realistic, most people don't care about FOSS alternatives, privacy and such
  
  Yeah, no doubt. I’m honestly digging the smaller community aspect personally.
- No, they're keeping the money, but in a non-profit.
Probably better to have forums, so they can dominate anyone site

44 comments