The Digg Meltdown

I refrained from initially reacting the big Digg Meltdown last Tuesday, but I did finally succumb to the temptation to comment on it on a BusinessWeek Tech Beat blog post by Rob Hof entitled "Digg Users Revolt. Web 2.0's Moment of Truth?" Here's my comment from Thursday:

Although I myself am "too old to understand", I have mixed feelings about this latest "episode" in "Internet/information freedom." Superficially, I would agree that Digg users really jumped the shark this time and that Digg is now doomed to a Napsteresque fate, but on the other hand we old fogies do have to recognize that the next generation will have its own values that will ultimately prevail regardless of what we believe and know to be "right."

That said, one has to wonder whether the crowd/mob/gang of "hooligans" and "information anarchists" that has gotten attention here is truly representative of all of the Millennial Generation, or just a niche "community" that we should simply ignore.

Finally, although we (I) assume that these Digg agitators are "young", is that really completely true? Or are some significant fraction of them actually "aging hippy types" who simply fashion themselves as "young" or simply relish the opportunity to once again play the role of "radical activist"? I do not know, but I simply do not want to blindly blame "young people" for the Digg meltdown. I do imagine that there are probably quite a number of "old people" who also "steal music."

-- Jack Krupansky

Although the initial emotional "flap" has died off, there are both lingering legal ramifications as well as challenges to the validity of the concept of The Wisdom of Crowds.

My overall reaction is that if the Digg episode is the best of Web 2.0, then we should distance ourselves from Web 2.0 as quickly as humanly possible. The Digg Meltdown does not reflect in a very positive manner on humanity.

-- Jack Krupansky