Is Digg up for sale – if it is, why should anyone buy it?

Things keep changing at Digg…

…and generally not for the better. Digg always seems to be adding new features, tweaking existing features, and removing old features that people liked. For instance, Digg took away both the user rankings and the data field that, for a time, allowed people to figure out who had buried some of the stories… (We know…that was NOT a feature – that was a BUG!) As far as we are concerned, those examples show how Digg merely tries to cover up problems instead of addressing its users’ biggest complaints – sluggish performance, unresponsive tech support, accusations of bias and lack of transparency, and, of course, the infamous Bury Brigade.

This past fall, Digg put in some major changes to its user interface that were obviously intended to help it compete with StumbleUpon and other social news sites. Prominent Digg user Tamar Weinberg liked Digg’s new features, but as we pointed out, the changes failed to provide the hoped-for boom in viewership. There were some irritating glitches; for instance, the new “Shout All” feature bedeviled current and former users with email spam, until Digg belatedly decided to set some limits.

What is the first thing to do when one is stuck at the bottom of a hole?

Hmmm, if your company name is Digg, that’s a tough one! Digg’s owners recently hired an investment banking firm to find a buyer for Digg. We thought that, after Digg had already alienated much of its user base, it was a bit late to be putting it up for sale. But it gets worse. According to Tamar Weinberg, as soon as Digg went up for sale, its customer support all but disappeared. They keep shooting themselves in the foot, saying “Ouch!” – and pulling the trigger again…

Rumors are flying!

On Christmas Day 2007, Mashable reported a rumor that Digg may be buying Spanish-language site Meneame, and “build-your-own-Digg” service CoRank. But later the same day, Mashable denied that Digg is the buyer for CoRank and Meneame – and they are wondering who is. This should be interesting!

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More about Digg:

• Performancing.com: The New Economy of Digg Blackmail
• More articles about Digg on 1389 Blog
• Here’s what Foehammer has to say about Digg.
• The Fort Hard Knox team weighs in on Digg.
• Tex and Jenn’s research shows why Digg’s management is not on our side.
• Has Digg Dugg a Hole Too Deep to Crawl Out?
• FHK’s Digg Archive and resist! censorship campaign

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Thanks for the nod, Chaotic Flow.