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.
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.
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’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.
That was a decade or more ago. Idk before my time. There’s not going to be many redditors who remember it.
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.
The bannings has gotten worse,shadowbans seems to have overtaken site wide bans.
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.
Absolutely–especially if it helps to offset server costs. I’ve donated before for that.
Curious what you’d think of a sort of roped off, “free to enter” entry community/instance that would be akin to a shallow pool. Just enough so you understand how it works and see what it would be like, but everything else would have that pay-for barrier. You’re right that there’s a good benefit to putting a wall up but at the same time we’re still small enough that actively discouraging people from joining might not* be wise. I absolutely have turned my nose up to websites and servers that have some kind of pretty splash page and then a “Okay pay to get in!” message. I don’t even know what I’m paying for.
considering the dark turn that the Nicole thing has taken
What happened there? I get the messages occasionally on my lemmy account, but don’t know any of the backstory or current events surrounding it.
The list of investors in new Digg was enough for me to know I’d never use it.
soo another monolith that must appease a board of directors and focus on shareholder value. the rest of this is just hopeful marketing.
noooo thaaaaankkkk yyooouuu
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”
