cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/60936421
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.
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this; I thought it could be relevant.
Removed by mod
We get complaints of barriers to entry but then I see digg doing this…
Someone should set up a open-entry Lemmy server, without an email requirement, but you have to pay $5 for each account you sign up with.
insane when you can install yunohost on a vps and have that all going for 5-10$ a month
Wait that’s double the cost at best. $5/mo is $60/yr, and that link above is $30/yr. It sounds like a good deal to me right? It definitely seems good if you don’t want to deal with the sysadmin portion of self hosting these services, kind of like the game server hosting companies back in the day.
Hey redditors, if you send me five bucks I’ll set up your Lemmy account for you. /jk …unless?
I really hope this isn’t the end of the nice bit of growth we’ve seen recently.
Until the UX of Lemmy is improved, that will stay true.
Lmao
I loved Something Awful and I still never paid to make an account on it. Why would I pay for something that sucked so bad it died once already?
Forums with admission fee make a sense to people discussing there. If you’re just observing then of course there’s no reason to pay but you need to wonder what was the reason you loved browsing that site.
exit scam?
it’s totally a grift.
You’re officially invited to become a part of Groundbreakers, a small group of early supporters helping shape what Digg becomes next.
Another money-grab business? Just asking.
money-grab+ai.
Edit: I should’ve tried reading
Apparently they’re going to donate it to a community-chosen charity
Oh that’s my bad for not reading the whole thing lol
Also ur account we be linked to ur real identity cos I doubt they got an option to pay with xmr. Governments would love ur social media presence linked to ur real identity.
I’m not opposed to the idea of an entry fee. I think they could get a huge advantage in regards to the network effect if they federated. They could give local users a verified badge and ranking priority on their instance.
Who owns digg BTW? Would it be possible that they sell themselves to a nonprofit that they create?
If they play their cards right they could be the foundation that they new internet will be built upon. I dont think the Fediverse can survive/go mainstream running purely as a volunteer service. They have incredible opportunity here, do a twitter style verified priority for their local users and also get the openness, freedom, and user interaction from across the fediverse. The only concern (if they are a for profit company) is if they get big enough they threaten to kill Activpub the same way google killed xmpp.
Digg doesn’t plan to federate, from what I can tell.
Digg is owned by Kevin Rose (person who made old digg) and Alexis Ohanian, the reddit co-founder.
I mean, I was using digg before reddit existed but I did not get any such email.
… I used digg because I was too broke to afford SomethingAwful’s $10 charge.
I was also… 14? lol














