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Consider the possibility that business writers might have some insight into the operation of telecoms, financial companies, manufacturing companies, accounting

Consider the possibility that business writers might have some insight into the operation of telecoms, financial companies, manufacturing companies, accounting companies, law firms, consumer product companies, restaurants, etc, etc, and not just tech companies, which is where the expertise around here lies. I could make a passable Digg clone in a weeknend. A weekend. I couldn't run a single McDonalds franchise if you put a revolver to my head. That's what he's talking about.

staunch 16y ago
You could run a McDonald's franchise. You would attend the classes where they teach you how. You would find it remarkably simple. They would give you a big handbook that explains how to do everything. You could not fail except through a lack of effort. Now if someone had said to you in 2004: "Create a new fantastically popular way to consume news" you would likely not have an idea as good as Digg. Even if you did you would likely fail to market it effectively.
kyro 16y ago
And by that same token, you lack the insight of what's really behind Digg. I doubt with the years of work they've put into it, tweaking algorithms, etc, that you'd be able to duplicate it in one weekend.
- jonknee 16y ago
  I'm sure I could find a way to alienate Digg's users in a weekend and that's apparently what they've been up to for the past few years.
marcamillion 16y ago
That's the same mindset that AOL/Netscape & Jason Calacanis had...so much so that they even tried buying Digg's top users. Look how that turned out. Seeing something built, or being built and building something are two completely different things. It's the same thing with games. Watching someone playing a game and seeing how effortlessly they make it look, is completely different than playing it. You could make a passable Digg clone, but it would not be successful. Hence my point. It's NOT easy to build a web company, otherwise everybody would be doing it. If it were that easy, and assuming that Mr. Lyons is a rational individual, why does he not build one himself? He could easily make a few million dollars by listening to his own advice.
vaksel 16y ago
if you've ever launched a website...you know building is a very insignificant portion of the equation...the value of digg isn't the website or the technology, it's the users...and getting those is a lot harder than most people think

staunch 16y ago

You could run a McDonald's franchise. You would attend the classes where they teach you how. You would find it remarkably simple. They would give you a big handbook that explains how to do everything. You could not fail except through a lack of effort. Now if someone had said to you in 2004: "Create a new fantastically popular way to consume news" you would likely not have an idea as good as Digg. Even if you did you would likely fail to market it effectively.

kyro 16y ago

And by that same token, you lack the insight of what's really behind Digg. I doubt with the years of work they've put into it, tweaking algorithms, etc, that you'd be able to duplicate it in one weekend.

jonknee 16y ago
I'm sure I could find a way to alienate Digg's users in a weekend and that's apparently what they've been up to for the past few years.

marcamillion 16y ago

That's the same mindset that AOL/Netscape & Jason Calacanis had...so much so that they even tried buying Digg's top users. Look how that turned out. Seeing something built, or being built and building something are two completely different things. It's the same thing with games. Watching someone playing a game and seeing how effortlessly they make it look, is completely different than playing it. You could make a passable Digg clone, but it would not be successful. Hence my point. It's NOT easy to build a web company, otherwise everybody would be doing it. If it were that easy, and assuming that Mr. Lyons is a rational individual, why does he not build one himself? He could easily make a few million dollars by listening to his own advice.

vaksel 16y ago

if you've ever launched a website...you know building is a very insignificant portion of the equation...the value of digg isn't the website or the technology, it's the users...and getting those is a lot harder than most people think