Visitors to Netscape.com will see a more traditional news experience very soon. Don't worry, the social news site isn't going away! We will keep you updated on where you will be able to find the social news site as we get closer to making the switch.
Translation? We don't like seeing the Netscape brand dragged through the mud by blog spammers and other not-so upstanding elements of the interwebs.
We received some feedback that people really do associate the Netscape brand with providing mainstream news that is editorially controlled. In fact, we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn't expect to find it on Netscape.com.
Yup, sounds about right.
Netscape realized something that digg discovered many months ago. If you build it, they (spammers) will come (and try to game it). The sad thing is that the blog post also slaps all of those Netscape Navigators and Scouts right in the face by saying the people want editorially controlled content from mainstream sites.
Take a look at what passes for home page content on Netscape:
What was the whole point behind the Navigator and Scout programs? Why to bring some editorial control over the social news side of things. This post essentially says that all of those editors they hired are not worth a damn and failed to keep the site properly edited.
So let's take a quick look at Netscape's new design.
Wait a minute, where have I seen that design before? Oh yeah...
It looks just like Yahoo!!!
First they cloned Digg, and failed.
Now they clone Yahoo...
I've heard that imitation is the highest form of flattery but this is down right ridiculous. Know what is real ridiculous? That the people in charge of making these decisions get paid in the millions of dollars!