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October 30, 2007

Dig A Silicon Valley Girl: Exactly As The Name Suggests

Duncan Riley

70 comments »

digvalley.jpgNew site “Dig a Silicon Valley Girl” takes Digg cloning into the realm of hot or not with a geeky premise: it only covers Silicon Valley girls.

User can submit “Valley Girls” for public scrutiny, although the definition of Valley girl is fairly broad; Desperate Housewives Star Terri Hatcher made the cut based on her being born in the Valley.

Valley Girls currently on the front page include Google’s Marissa Meyer, Pownce Co-founder Leah Culver and former TechCrunch writer Natali Del Conte.

I suppose the notion of rating Valley girls in a Digg-style beauty contest could be deemed as being sexist, but I’m not going there: if the five women who read TechCrunch find this offensive their contact page is here :-)

vdig.jpg

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 5:13 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. We Need One of these for London « A Fuller View

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am

  2. A Pligg site featured in Techcrunch - and as usual TC refuses to mention Pligg - Pligg Forum

    November 1st, 2007 at 6:30 am

  3. meneame.net

    November 1st, 2007 at 12:47 pm

  4. Somewhat Frank

    December 3rd, 2007 at 11:06 am

Comments

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  1. Suraj Luke

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:22 am

    Dumb and useless idea!

  2. Derrick

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:27 am

    Is this idea going to lead to ad dollars for the site’s owners? Erm, it is hard to tell. It is only a matter of time the definition of “Valley Girls” gets broadened to include ladies from every other valley.

  3. Allen Stern

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:31 am

    Absolutely horrible.

  4. Jack

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:47 am

    Bastards stole the site I work for’s logo: http://www.wedigtv.com

  5. * MISS UNIVERSE

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:04 am

    I suppose the notion of rating Valley girls in a Digg-style beauty contest could be deemed as being sexist, but I’m not going there: if the five women who read TechCrunch find this offensive their contact page is here

    This is kind’a cool. It’s all in light hearted fun since they will probably only be featuring attractive women. Deep down inside - no matter how accomplished you are - every woman wants to be a Miss Universe :-D

  6. sputnick

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:06 am

    Hehehe… Don’t worry mate, the five women who read TechCrunch are unlikely to be feminists.

  7. Duncan Riley

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:07 am

    Miss Universe
    true…I was also joking about there being 5 female readers as well…just in case anyone starts flaming this thread.

  8. Be careful

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:12 am

    To Founder:

    Are you sure you guys doing right thing?

    I’m talking about right-right choice. When these women get married… I don’t know man… Just be careful with this shit. Sometimes mothers do complaint.

    You are grown up. You are not horny kid anymore.
    There is no American dream marrying these women.
    Women can turn into prune juice.
    Taking care kids is extreme hard and pain in ass.
    They yell…
    They cry…
    They fuck your brains up….

  9. Beta3

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:44 am

    Jeez some people can be so (un)creative…

  10. Rex Dixon

    October 30th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    Sometimes you have to have fun. Everyone is being too damn serious these days. It’s not earth shattering, it’s not very productive, but hey - it’s a fun site. Lighten up - no one said this site cured cancer or helped you perform in home brain surgery!

    Rex

  11. Dan Schawbel

    October 30th, 2007 at 7:00 am

    They might have taken too small of a niche with this one.

  12. Jason Sadler

    October 30th, 2007 at 7:02 am

    There are no starving start-ups out there, with brilliant ideas that could use some publicity? Instead you write about these things? I don’t understand the purpose of TechCrunch anymore.

  13. Amy de Buitléir

    October 30th, 2007 at 7:03 am

    As one of the five women who read Tech Crunch (and also a feminist by the way), I would like to state my response for the record. Here it is:

    Meh…

  14. One Of Five

    October 30th, 2007 at 7:08 am

    You’re all right, people need a little fun! I think I’ll follow up with a site that lets Silicon Valley Indians leave their favorite curry recipe, and then everyone can judge which is the tastiest. Oh, and maybe a site that lets people vote on which Silicon Valley Negro dances the best. Hm, there are a lot of Russians around here, too– maybe a site that lets them share their drinking games and tips about how to deal with hangovers? These ideas are all great fun and not at all demeaning, marginalizing, or offensive… whee!

  15. ace

    October 30th, 2007 at 7:31 am

    and like a prom date….the site is down

  16. Senya

    October 30th, 2007 at 8:01 am

    Natali Del Conte is hot!

  17. Jessica Mah

    October 30th, 2007 at 8:05 am

    LOL this is fun and stupid… but mostly stupid.

    I was going to comment on how this will go to the dead pool pretty fast, but I take that back. Geeks need something to look at during the work day.

  18. Lux

    October 30th, 2007 at 8:29 am

    Also a female TechCrunch reader.

    Whether this site will be harmless and amusing or sexist and insulting remains to be seen. The site owners will have to keep close tabs on the community to keep it from becoming the latter.

  19. nitsuj

    October 30th, 2007 at 8:42 am

    this site won’t last long….the talent pool of attractive girls out here is pretty thin

  20. Pushkin

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:12 am

    Where do you find time for covering crap like this? Yes, there are sites that need some publicity maybe you can try covering them.

    And yes being one of the 5 women who read this post, I will be dismayed if this idiot site succeeds.

  21. kj

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:13 am

    Duncan - has TechCrunch ever done research into the male/female ratio of its readership?

    — another female reader

  22. HeyHey

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:25 am

    Let the nineties go… Move towards usefulness.

  23. Amy Wilsch

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:39 am

    nitsuj, i’d have to say that goes both ways.. sorry kiddo.

  24. Laura Lemay

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am

    digasvgirl: putting the Buh? into the bubble.

  25. Lindsay

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:43 am

    I too am a female reader and would love to know the male/female skew of Techcrunch. Hell, I work in market research, I volunteer to take a stab at some of your internal numbers.

    The website idea mentioned in the post is just okay; it isn’t going to make anyone much money. Unfortunately, it paints the men of SV in a poor light (assuming men built the website). It potentially creates an environment where women who are interested in science, technology, and the interweb feel even more out of place than usual. Being in the minority in such fields is not always terrible, but being singled out as a result is.

  26. Chris

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:44 am

    hawt!

  27. For the Ladies

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:48 am

    I think we ladies need a site that rates the size and quality of the valley boys. Important details if you know what I mean. I was at the infamous ‘grotto’ party this weekend and could provide some pretty juicy details.

    Or would that be considered offensive?

  28. alice

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:52 am

    I figure there has to be at least 6 of us female readers

  29. Pam

    October 30th, 2007 at 9:57 am

    The 5 girls joke feels pretty old to me. You boys need to think up some newer/better material, please ;)

    Along the same vein, perhaps this site won’t run out of content so fast. Perhaps there are more valley girls out there than the stereotype would suggest. Yah I know, I’m an optimist.

    P

  30. Michael Arrington

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:13 am

    this thing is really dumb

  31. Jeff

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    So who are the founders of “digasvgirl.com” friends with at TC? I mean, an out of the box pligg site with only 2 pages of content? Come on! There are far better pligg sites out there that deserve some PR!

  32. Robin

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:16 am

    Now it will be four women reading TechCrunch.

  33. Jared

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    Michael ,
    how could you let this get posted on TechCrunch. Its an out of the box Pligg site with absolutely no changes to it except the logo. and worst of all it only has 2 pages of content. Come on this has got to be a joke. There are lots of websites out there that actually spend there personal money to just get off the ground and this person who obviously must know duncan because there is no way that a starving startup would get passed up for this crap. Seriously WTF

  34. Don Wilson

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:22 am

    Waste of time.

  35. Hammer

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am

    Two days later, no more front page material

    BURIED!

  36. techgirly

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:31 am

    wow, there’s only four other girls? cool.

    HI, LADIES! :D

  37. Teesh

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:38 am

    sites and posts like this are exactly the reason I am a feminist.

  38. agnieszka

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:42 am

    One more gal here.

  39. tahoeuw

    October 30th, 2007 at 10:48 am

    @#8.
    WTF?

  40. John

    October 30th, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Take a look at their about us page - its meant to be fun.

    http://www.digasvgirl.com/about/en

    Life is already too serious - take it as it is. A ‘tongue in cheek’ site.

  41. Wil Schroter

    October 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am

    It’s like gotcast.com but without the hot chicks.

  42. Another one of the 5

    October 30th, 2007 at 11:33 am

    The dig site is just stupid and not worth my energy to comment on. However, I’m disappointed that Tech Crunch is so clued out about their own audience that they think that only a small % of their audience is women. I bet it is much higher than you think.

  43. Jason Sadler

    October 30th, 2007 at 11:56 am

    Re: John

    To me it is not about the site being fun and TC covering it. It’s about the thousands of other starving start-ups that are actually good and could use coverage. All you read about around here anymore is Facebook, how many more millions company XYZ got, Conde Naste brochure (???) and crap like this.. I liked it better when Arrington ran the show alone.

  44. One Of Five

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

    John, if demeaning women is how you get your kicks then hopefully looking at these pictures is the closest you ever come to actual interaction with a female.

  45. Sarah

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    Another girl here. :)

  46. Micro Blog Community Fan

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

    Nice Girls! Terry Hatcher is a EX-Valley Girl? Wowww

  47. Gary

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    And people wonder why there’s so few women in geek circles. GG fellows.

    http://xkcd.com/322/

  48. Fake "Fake Michael Arrington"

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    Pretty cool! Through this one post, I was able to collect the numbers of about a dozen and a half of girls!

    Their numbers are: 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 36, 37, 38, 42, 44, 45

    Seriously, the sole reason I refused to move to Silicon Valley was the poor male to female ratio out there. How was I supposed to know that the love of my life moved there?!??!

  49. Gary

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    I mean, this is great, I can go to 4chan and see people yell ‘TITS OR GTFO’ or I can come here and see the exact same attitude but expressed in coherent sentences. I don’t know which one is more depressing. At least on 4chan there’s a thought that the 17 year olds will grow out of it. But you guys are like, prolly in your forties.

  50. Liesel

    October 30th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

    This is great because we ladies DEFINITELY need more reminders that being smart and successful is not enough. So happy to be a woman in tech and the mom to a daughter who will have to deal with this crap as she grows up. Ugh.

  51. Looks like there's more than 5

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:03 pm

    TechCrunch is apparently missing out on a bigger chunk of the ad dollars they could be getting for their (grossly underestimated) female reader demographic.

  52. agnieszka

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

    #51, agreed.

    Ach, late… Must run.

  53. Clyde Smith

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

    And Silicon Valley guys wonder why they can’t meet women without flashing their cash.

  54. For the Ladies

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

    I say again, what we really need is a site that analyzes the size of the male member. We can digg the boys up and down so we few girls can save ourselves future anguish. I mean, this is far more fundamental then boobs.

    Now the question is, will Tech Crunch cover that one as well?

  55. trace

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

    duncan, your comment about the 5 girls that read techcrunch was really stupid, even if you reclaimed it (likely under pressure from your colleagues). i’m barely a feminist but found that comment alienating, insulting, uninformed and lame. just for the record, taking something back doesn’t usually help it aka Senator Craig.

  56. John

    October 30th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

    To me - this is a parody of the whole 2.0 startup crazy thing going on in the valley.

    Quoting from their about us page:

    ‘.. to celebrate (and jump on that bandwagon), we’ve created (cobbled together) our own Web 2.0 social-face-be-space-graph-network-platform app…..
    Ah… ‘Silicon Valley Girls’… we HEART them. They brighten up all geek events. Without them, the valley will be a lonely place indeed.’

    At least they are open about it. Unlike some other ’social sites’…

  57. Joe

    October 30th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    Another dumb web 2.0 site.

  58. Rachel

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    Frankly I was more astonished at Michael Arrington’s assertion that only 5 geek chicks read his stuff… hmmph…
    http://www.quantcast.com/techcrunch.com

    All hail the technobabes!

  59. One Of Five

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    Well, John, you don’t get it, but at least you’re persistent in your view point. You must be a hit at parties.

    Rachel, it was some other blog poster named Duncan that had the five chicks comment… and in the “just kidding don’t flame me” comment also agreed with a previous poster that professional women secretly enjoy having their looks picked over by a bunch of socially retarded trogs. Michael Arrington properly pointed out that the site is dumb. I hope he does the same with Duncan.

  60. IAAdmin

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    I’m glad you see you were joking about there only being five women who read this site. As a women, I find this site very informative. Keep up the good work.

  61. Steve Ballmer

    October 30th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    Exploitation of women!
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    oh yeah!
    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

  62. Pierre Col | UbicMedia

    October 31st, 2007 at 2:56 am

    TC folks, please do not report that kind of senseless sexist crap!

  63. #1,793 out of "five" (&feminist)

    October 31st, 2007 at 2:58 am

    Why visit dsvg for sexist comments…here you get a press release to read too!

  64. Seth Brundle

    October 31st, 2007 at 8:20 am

    I lived in Silicon Valley for two years, and couldn’t wait to get out.

    The social scene was the #1 reason - relatively very few young women there, and *everyone* works in the same god damn industry, its boring as hell.

    Its like working in a giant industrial park, its horrific.

    When I went back to visit after the dot.com boom was over, it was even *more* depressing, because the only appeal it had when I was there was the insane economy - now theres not even that.

    Ever since I moved to NYC I have been in heaven - women outnumber men, and there are people from every walk of life and occupation - its like coming out of a coma into a huge party.

  65. Nerd Gurl

    October 31st, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    One of the five…That’s me. Although in counting this thread looks like more than that :) I have read techcrunch for a while now. I have also turned many of my fellow co-workers onto it. I think maybe you don’t realize the demo on your site. I am not a feminist and the dig a silicon valley girl site didn’t bug me (actually I would kinda like to be on it) but your comment that you think only five chicks read your site sorta did.

  66. beecee

    November 1st, 2007 at 10:56 am

    i am thinking of a site… it’s about SV boys and the ratio between their penis size and the lenght of their code. what do you think? would you cover that one?

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