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September 24, 2007

Pownce vs Digg: Who Will Kevin Rose Back?

Duncan Riley

46 comments »

ros.pngI’ve speculated previously on the growing conflict Kevin Rose has between his roles at Digg and Pownce, and now it would appear that we may finally be on the eve of Rose being forced to decide between the two.

Leah Culver, a co-founder of Pownce with Rose has made a bizarre post to Digg suggesting that Digg’s new features were a direct copy of those from Pownce:

Since I originally came up with the Pownce gender list, I’m somewhat miffed that Digg copied Pownce.

Culver also linked to an image on Flickr which she subsequently deleted.

The first and most obvious question: has there been a complete break down in communications and trust between Pownce’s founders that they now find it necessary to air their dirty laundry (ironically) on Digg? Second: why did Culver delete the picture after posting the link on Digg? Was pressure brought to bare?

As much as we all admire Kevin Rose’s tenacity and creativity, there is always a point where you can be wearing too many hats. Rose has three (Digg, Rev3, Pownce), which I’m guessing is at least one too many, possibly two.

leah.png

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 6:26 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. Between the Lines mobile edition

    September 25th, 2007 at 3:33 am

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  1. Heeyaah!

    September 24th, 2007 at 6:28 am

    DIGG!! DUGG!! DOGG!!

  2. Chris

    September 24th, 2007 at 6:41 am

    “The photo you were looking for has been deleted.”

    The photo is gone, and even if it wasn’t this is a single feature. The speculation here is reminiscent of valleywag, almost paparazzi-esque in nature.

  3. Textbook Case

    September 24th, 2007 at 6:51 am

    I’m rooting for anyone but the tool in the photo.

  4. Andy Arnott

    September 24th, 2007 at 6:55 am

    This is such a minuscule part of both sites… I mean what’s the big deal!?! Personally I think it’s a little stupid.

  5. Learn PHP

    September 24th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    Neither Digg or Pownce are worth the time.

  6. One Powerful Word

    September 24th, 2007 at 7:00 am

    hmm so whats the proof that Digg copied Pownce?

  7. Cameron Barrett

    September 24th, 2007 at 7:07 am

    What’s next? Is TechCrunch going to start posting articles about Britney Spears and OJ Simpson? I fail to see how this even qualifies as relevant tech news — or are you simply trying too hard to copy Valleywag’s editorial model?

  8. Brian Hoffman

    September 24th, 2007 at 7:14 am

    I think that it’s pretty critical to draw a line in the sand between each site and really work hard to show each one’s independent draw if they’re going to be separate entities. Now if the plan all along was to merge these worlds somehow that’s different but right now they’re all dancing on the same dancefloor and I really have no drive to join Pownce since I’m already on Digg.

  9. Shaun

    September 24th, 2007 at 7:27 am

    Cameron you don’t see how this is tech news? You on glue? Digg is one of the biggest tech companies in the last few years and it’s founder is in limbo .. I’d call that a story..

  10. James Thomas

    September 24th, 2007 at 7:35 am

    Leah, if you’re reading this… call me. We can build pownce together and forget all about kevin. I’m a pownce beta tester, and although I think the site is so so… I love girls who program. We can make the site work. Kevin couldn’t even tell you the difference between an indexed and an associative array… I can code OO MVC frameworks all day long. It was meant to be.

    If we should run into each other at some conference, please forget how creepy this post sounds and just remember… I’m mentally retired, so I have an excuse.

    Love,

    Jimmy

    (unless this isn’t that type of breakup…)

  11. sean percival

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:03 am

    I wonder how many “time of the month” jokes will end up in the digg comments.

    also

    WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

  12. Richard Miller

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    Somewhat I think that Kevin won’t leave the Revision3 Project. It may sound weird but it has the biggest potential of the three.

  13. Mike Robinson

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:22 am

    I have to agree with Cameron Barrett, this is hardly news worthy. It actually looks like a joke to me, but if things are actually falling apart then at least wait for a more formal announcement.

  14. Privacy image is needed

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:27 am

    Things you should NEVER NEVER do when you entrepenurer… Never Show your face on website. Everytime you go out. you need privacy. People do bug you alot.

    It’s much safer to have quiet and privacy. You can go to stores, other places quietly.

  15. David

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:33 am

    I don’t know.

    I do know that Digg certainly doesn’t answer support emails at all, ever.

  16. Bjorn Tipling

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:37 am

    Drama to bring Pownce into mindshare. Looks like it works. When was the last time you heard of Pownce?

  17. Jim

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:45 am

    Maybe Mr. and Mrs. are having some intimacy issues? Never mix work with pleasure Kevin, NEVER!!!

  18. Jazza

    September 24th, 2007 at 8:51 am

    David,

    They do answer support emails. In fact the only time I’ve needed to contact them, I got a reply 5 minutes later and they resolved the isssue.

  19. K.Kaviraj

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:04 am

    Com on yaaaar ……. This all are pre - practised drama’s :-) . Just a way of viral marketting . To somehow make people speak about it and to be in the news ( And I think Mike already knows about this or he is also in the drama … whatever ;-) ) .

  20. K.Kaviraj

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:05 am

    Oh sorry …. I ment Duncan Riley ( didnt notice the author name ;-) )

  21. Steve

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:07 am

    Ah, the irony. Remember all of the complaints about digg-clones?

  22. Someone

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:24 am

    Leah Culver is one of the most annoying people in SF. Talk about no-talent hanger-on…

  23. Andrew

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:45 am

    over blown - no story.

  24. Adi

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:48 am

    Who is Leah Culver, who is Kevin Rose and who am i ? Whatever…..

  25. whoopie

    September 24th, 2007 at 9:53 am

    leah culver is the angela bowie of web2

  26. Chris

    September 24th, 2007 at 10:22 am

    Good post and a valid one, I don’t understand the whiners here. Digg wants to be like social network like Pownce, she has the right to complain. Rose should say clearly what he has in mind in Pownce, he can’t invest in both. Here is the picture she posted it earlier. http://i20.tinypic.com/1j9n5k

  27. DAVE MCTOOL

    September 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am

    BUT I THOUGHT I COULD BE MASTER OF 500 HATS

  28. jwestfall@iloveteh.biz

    September 24th, 2007 at 10:38 am

    Leah Culver just landed herself a spot at the back of the “Kevin Rose took [idea] from me” line, she’ll be waiting quite a while.

    Rose is just a lecherous capitalist, taking what he wants because he’s the valley’s “successful kid”.

  29. Glenn

    September 24th, 2007 at 11:06 am

    “…pressure brought to ‘bare’?”

    Are you suggesting it was a ‘naughty pic’?

    I like the “whiners” comment… WHERE’S MY MIRROR!! :D

    8)

  30. models inc

    September 24th, 2007 at 11:09 am

    Seriously, Leah is just making something out of nothing.. the gender list they came out with is really cool.. but who’s to say they “own” the idea? Many other startups is going to copy them sooner or later, Digg is probably the first to be noticed.

    Probably Kevin’s not involved in this at all, more than likely the PM or digg programmer just decided to put in something cool without informing Leah and kevin since it’s really NO BIG DEAL.

  31. Izzy

    September 24th, 2007 at 11:31 am

    Is it just me or does Rose have the same stupid expression Paris Hilton uses in every picture she takes? They could be brother and sister.

  32. WoWpwnt

    September 24th, 2007 at 11:42 am

    screw pownce she should get over herself

  33. Tamar Weinberg

    September 24th, 2007 at 11:53 am

    “Pownce vs Digg: Who Will Kevin Rose Back?”

    I’m hoping for Pownce. Jay(?)/Kevin killed Digg with the new changes last week. It would be nice for Digg to revert to its old self with an emphasis on social news rather than social spam overload.

    Maybe someone else can start to back Digg and they’ll do it right.

  34. Wayne Smallman

    September 24th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

    Sounds to me like pride is getting in the way of common sense.

    I can’t see why the opposite isn’t true — that Digg and Pownce grow closer together…

  35. sam

    September 24th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    it’s “bear” not “bare”

    “pressure brought to bear”

    lame enough to close with a cliche, even more so when the wrong word is used!!

  36. Powncer

    September 24th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

    As a longtime user of Pownce since the first beta invites were handed out like so much candy, I can say without any doubt that:

    Pownce sucks. Woo.

  37. Don Wilson

    September 24th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    If that is all Pownce has in it’s feature set, I wouldn’t worry about them existing too long.

  38. MarkB

    September 24th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

    This is a beat-up over nothing. Rose can manage both Digg and Pownce, considering he has a full team working on Digg; it’s not like he’s overseeing every aspect of both projects.

    Duncan, you’re really chasing a non-existent (or rather, unimportant) story on this one, but as your forte is gossip I guess we’ll have to let it slide. You’ll come up with something more bizarre in a week or so, I’m sure ;)

    As for Rose v Culver - I want to see them mud wrestle on stage at FOWA next month :)

  39. Ajay

    September 24th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

    Get a life…to readers..!! To Techcrunch, Get some contents..you are becoming one of those news channel who got nothing new to say so just include plain stupid things..

  40. phenom

    September 24th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

    Digg is way too better. Pownce sucks
    http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

  41. another powncer

    September 24th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

    Wow, talk about biting the hand that feeds.

    Common people, when did integrity stand for nothing?
    How much more crap does she need to pull before people stop working with her? Then again, she milks the pretty-girl in a male-dominated field like a master. You got to give it to her for finding chums who will fall for it. It’s all a shame, since she could just go on merit alone…

  42. Nemrut

    September 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

    Duncan, not sure if you’re riding on the coattails of yesterdays fluff piece about Payperpost, but the recent TC posts about valley squabbling, conflicts etc is not only juvenile, but getting rather tiresome.

    It seems like TC is slowly gravitating toward the editorial direction of valleywag.

  43. Victor Laurence

    September 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    Funny… Leah, Kevin and Daniel are all still coming to the ‘Future of Web Aps’ conference in London next week.

    Leah and Daniel dated for a while, and recently broke up. This is a lovers spat, nothing more. Plus, Leah is really young. She is still adapting to losing control of her creations - - literally for the first time. Don’t read too much into this one.

  44. Nick Caldwell

    September 24th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    Pownce is a pretty fun, super-simple nano-blogging, forum and micro-groupware tool. Digg is a barely more respectable Fark and is thus one of the great new cesspits on the Web. I know which I prefer.

  45. cweeb

    September 25th, 2007 at 7:44 am

    leah culver and amanda congdon = ultimate nerd porn video

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