Digg & Google Share the Same Evil

And if you think you're in a position of authority to call businesses evil for doing legitimate business, you're a lot more naive than anybody who's responded to your thread. Digg isn't poisoning the water supply, they aren't pushing people off their land; they're growing, which has been their goal since day one.

PS - I don't use Digg. I just don't like them or see any value in their site. Never have. So you have my condolences if you feel they're turning their back on you. But then I have a hard time taking anybody seriously who gets up on a soapbox and complains like the sky is falling over non issues. If you need an example of corporate evil, look into Enron, or some would say HMOs. Google and Digg gaining new users is just not "evil."

This will be my last comment in this thread. I wouldn't have written this, but felt compelled to respond when you called me naive and in a false sense of reality ... for calling you on saying a company growing is "evil" at all, let alone at a time when people are dieing in too many wars to count. I'm sorry, that's not just wrong, it's wildly out of touch with reality.

 

I agree with you. But the true tech community left it long ago.

When Digg was created, it prided itself with being tech only. I remember when stories were buried for not being technology related! Digg has changed significantly over the last year.

I would have to agree less what you said about Google though. I can see what you mean, but maybe if you had phrased it differently more people would have gotten it. It was originally the tech community who picked up on Google, as it is with all cool things in tech. Their long term goal, however, was to cater to the mainstream populace.

Both Digg and Google are similar in that they originally attracted geeks, but moved on to targeting the general population. Some may call it an evil, but others would call it business as usual.

 

I think you missed it, but I agree with you and have since the beginning of this thread. But still, it is what it is.

That's a very good point. But, I think the true tech community tried to tell Digg it was happening. Am I wrong?

You basically summed up my message in two sentences. I too call it business. It wasn't me that started the "Google is evil" brigade. I'm simply posting a part of why I think the label gets tossed around. And Digg is now a part of that.

Thanks for lowering the level of bias and commenting with an open mind.

 

By the way forrest, you may want to go back and read my post again.

Google made the right business decision and I never deny that. But once again, it is what it is.

If you don't like the evil label, go hammer the people who started it. I don't believe Google is evil for making good business decisions, but I do believe that the side effects of those decisions are why a lot of people call them evil.

Just sharing my opinion... something you apparently think I'm not entitled to.

 

The point is that those two facts simply don't mesh; you can't refer to something as 'good' and 'evil' at the same time. That is very similar to people's tendency to say that they support troops fighting in a war but don't support the war they are fighting, an oxymoron in itself.

Regardless, I think everyone here enjoys your opinion - it's your inability to effectively argue without becoming emotional that turned this thread into an immature argument.

 

Wow, thanks for the negative reputation. It's "silly" to point out what evil really means when you call two companies "evil" - your words - for fulfilling their stated goals?

 

The neg rep was for getting all emotional because someone disagreed with you. It is silly, and something I really don't spend much time paying attention to.

Back on topic, it's good to see this debate take place.

I don't assert that Google is both, and quite frankly, I feel like I'm having to constantly repeat myself. I've made it clear that Google is very good at its business. It did what it had to do. But a lot of people consider Google "evil" because of the route it had to take to get there.

Here are the facts for you on my opinion...

1) Google is a great business that knows how to make a shit load of money
2) In the process Google shifted its company model in ways that I personally would not have preferred to see
3) It doesn't matter what I prefer, business is business
4) It is what it is
5) I've stated my opinion
6) Many of you have stated yours
7) Nuff said

We'll simply have to agree to disagree, which again, is perfectly OK.

emotional? Are you serious? I've spent a lot of time in P&R here at DP. It takes far more than what is in this thread to get emotional.

Anyway, thanks for the dialog. I enjoy seeing other aspects on issues such as this.

 

Well that is a retarded article Web 2.0 what the hell :S Buried.

Digg is starting to piss me off to SlashDot is what I am using now.

 

Well, I can sum up my thoughts by saying that, not only do I not feel that Google is anything close to evil, I've never heard of them referred to as that by anyone, ever. I have heard complaints about actual issues such as Google's limited use policy in some countries, etc, and I agree with many of those points, but still no 'evil' involved. Who calls a company 'evil' for changing a successful business model into a super-successful business model?

Anyway, as you put it: nuff said.

 

And here is my final note

 

All that link suggests is that you're unoriginal

Seriously, 'nuff said

 

Exactly when did I say anything "emotional?" Seriously, after taking away from my reputation, and paying a price to your own to punish me for expressing my opinion, if that's your reasoning, you owe it to me to explain what you think was "emotional" in my response.

I have a feeling you're talking about when I pointed out that there's real evil going on in the world, while you're sitting in your arm chair calling Google "evil" for being successful. That's the easiest thing to misinterpret as emotional instead of just basic common sense that I can see in this thread.

For your own good, if you're going to drop links to get some traffic for your blog, when you use words like "evil" to describe a pretty benign company, it comes off as more than a little histrionic. Which you've seen in all the other replies to your thread ... it's not just me. Controversy can bring you a lot of short term page views, but it makes you seen as less of an authority.

And for the record, I've never stood in the way of anybody expressing their opinion. I critiqued yours, and you punished me ( and yourself ) with negative reputation for bringing up some facts that didn't fit in with your picture. I really don't care what a bottom feeder thinks of me, but you might benefit from looking in the mirror when you talk about getting emotional and lofty freedom of speech ideals. Have a nice day!

 

I think it's ok if we work hard for money. For what reason we spend so many times in internet but we didn't get anything in return?