They started around the same timeframe and it was as much Mac/PC in terms of fanboyishness. Reddit won because of the power of subreddits and capturing the long tail for content and communities.
What's out of touch with your story is that Digg users thought Reddit's UX was horrifying and avoided it like the plague. Even to this day without enhancement suites I wouldn't crown Reddit to be the pinnacle of UX. It's very much Linux terminally compared to Digg's Mac.
Finally, this jaded bitterness that Kevin Rose got $1.7MM to piss away...
If you were worth getting $1.7MM to piss away you would have had $1.7MM to piss away.
I am saying the IDEA of social content sites evolved from one, to the next, to the next.
As I mentioned, it is not about UI, or content, it was about UX!
The UX that digg had, especially in V4 wrapped too much UI around the content resulting in a poor UX!
Reddit, while seemingly ugly - allowed for far faster and more fluid consumption of the content. It also left more control over what content users wanted.
>It's very much Linux terminally compared to Digg's Mac
I think you're putting too much weight on the shiny.
I think anyone would agree that the speed and agility one gets on a CLI (linux) vs any GUI when you're a savvy user is incomparable.
Finally, I am not jaded/bitter because Kevin Rose got 1.7MM -- I am jaded bitter that anyone would get 1.7MM and so nonchalantly walk away from it AFTER making the types of comments he did.
I think I just have a different perspective than you, I also think you believe I am focusing on things which I am not. :)
So you are implying that a luck and contacts and more other things such as your experience, geolocation, etc. don't matter as long as you are worth getting $X, you will have $X to piss away.
uhm, is there any website to sign up? I want to try my skills against it -- perhaps I am "worth it".
If you were the inventors of the facebook, you would've invented the facebook.
For some reason, I really like this type of argument. There's really no comeback to it. It's so, matter-of-fact.
"If you were [x], then you'd be [x]"
A LOT of ideas can succeed when you get to skip the whole network effect hurdle.
I think he has some insightful thoughts once in a while (like predictions he makes on Diggnation), and he did a great job parlaying Digg into Rev3.
I'm also pretty jealous he'll get a paycheck to say "Hey this feature would be cool" or use his celebrity to push Google+.
I don't think anyone has argued against this. He does deserve credit for this.
The problem is that he has been given too much credit. I.E. that there were far more ideas of the same caliber. I am sure this must have been tough on him, to fail at producing again like the early digg iteration.
I see the evolution of the social content site to be:
Slashdot --> Digg --> Reddit.
Each a stepping stone for the next. And I do not think this is about THE CONTENT -- I think this is about the UX you provide the users, and the control over that UX you leave to the users.
Digg evolved /.'s model. Reddit evolved Digg's.
Reddit has provided a UX which allows for a VERY fluid and quick experience with the content, given FULL control to the users on what content they see, how it is categorized, modded etc.
Kevin took money from ivestors for his own little think tank - that money was largely given to him by charismatic reputation alone.
Now, after a very short period, he isn't even pivoting, or "shooting this idea in the head to work on others" -- he is abandoning the whole freaking endeavor and taking (unknown) position in struggling social company, Google.
This doesn't leave a good taste in anyone's mouth (Sour Milk? (Sorry)) because being given $1.7MM which he gets to walk away from is a slap in the face to the people who work their asses off on good ideas and don't get any of the valley coddling as Kevin.