Everyone knows that users hate change, so it’s no surprise that the new version of Digg has got people up in arms. Despite new user registration for the site going way up since the launch of v.4, people have identified about a dozen separate issues with the new layout, from actual bugs to petty nitpicks. Digg’s Kevin Rose addressed them in a new blog post, explaining the reasoning behind some changes, and promising fixes for others.
Here are the key points:
The Upcoming section, removed because it got only a tiny percentage of Digg’s total page views, is coming back in some form. The bury button is also gone, but it’s not coming back. Rose says removing the button was a way of shutting down the organized “bury brigades,” who were systematically censoring certain viewpoints and topics on Digg.
There are a ton of bugs that Rose acknowledges and promises to fix, including issues with RSS feeds, third-party Digg tools, and missing favorites. It sounds like some people think the new design of the site ought to be filed as a bug, but Kevin’s response, apart from pledging to look into some specific usability issues, is basically that you’ll just have to get used to it.