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.

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

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

i don't think so. those other sites are motivated by maximum users and pageviews. the management around these parts are motivated by quality and high signal-to-noise, and actively discourage trolls and discord.

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

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.

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.

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

I guess when the user base starts resorting to childish name-calling, the end probably is near.

How big of you.

Will you please stop wasting space with these silly arguments?

"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Maybe reddit has, but have you seen http://thecutelist.com ?

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.

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.

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.

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

I guess my (not) aside made things unclear. I agree with you.

According to this recent article, digg traffic has flattened:

http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/06/why-hasnt-digg-made-any-pr...

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

Is advertising based on pageviews?

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?

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.

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