Technorati WTF Digg Clone

written by John Chow on January 31, 2007

I just saw over at TechCrunch that Technorati has started a Digg like clone site call Technorati WTF. The WTF stands for “Where’s The Fire.” However, as soon as they launched it, Technorati unlaunched it or took it down for maintenance.

Technorati WTF is supposed to provide users with a way to submit stories that are hot, or on fire. Other Technorati users then vote on submitted stories. The hottest stories go to the front page – just like Digg. Before the WTF site was taken down, TechCrunch manged to pull this screen shot.

I actually had an idea for a Digg clone site with WTF in the name. I called it TechWTF. The site was to offer technology news that makes you ask, “WTF?” I haven’t done anything with the site so far. Maybe I can sell it to Technorati? TechWTF sounds a lot better than Technorati WTF, if you ask me.

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{ 24 comments }

Alex Becker January 31, 2007 at 10:41 am

All I can say to this is WTF?
I don’t think any site that has WTF writen everywhere will be taken seriously

Marc January 31, 2007 at 11:47 am: I agree with Alex. It’s cute and all, but it’s almost too cute. Don’t think something with WTF in the name is as easily adopted as if it wasn’t in the name.

Leftblank January 31, 2007 at 11:15 am

Yeah, WTF, they should’ve named is YADALW, ‘Yet Another Digg A-Like-Website’, would’ve suited better

Jane January 31, 2007 at 11:36 am

Great idea with starting your own digg-like site, but I agree…stay away from WTF. It’ll be interesting to see what Technorati comes out with and the features it offers.

MillionDollarJourney.com January 31, 2007 at 11:40 am

I hope that it works out as it will mostly be fellow bloggers voting instead of spitey little kids.

FT
http://www.milliondollarjourney.com

Ryan January 31, 2007 at 12:45 pm

Are you serious?

WTF is perfect! I like it because it grabs attention.

There’s a need for a digg for blogs that no one can figure out just yet, but this just might be it.

I love WTF, and if they change it I won’t use it based on principle.

Jane January 31, 2007 at 1:25 pm

WTF Ryan! haha…sorry, just wanted to say that

Ryan February 1, 2007 at 12:05 am: Stop messing with my head please.

Chad January 31, 2007 at 6:07 pm

Looks like it’s back up. I’m curious to see if it catches on.

Jane February 1, 2007 at 12:30 am

Yeah, saw that too. For as big of site as Technorati is, I can see it do well as long as it’s user friendly.

Nomar February 1, 2007 at 1:15 am

I think they can grow as big as digg.. great

Alex Becker February 1, 2007 at 9:54 am

Once there is a site like Digg, people don’t really need another

Jane May February 1, 2007 at 11:15 am: Unless that site is an Anti-Chow site.

retirerichblog January 31, 2007 at 7:43 pm

WTF….that got me curious….I put http://www.wtf.com and there is a website “an online RANTING community for those who want to bitch and moan about anything on their mind. “….cool! There icon is the finger.

Ted January 31, 2007 at 9:53 pm

I’ll never take a site with WTF in the title seriously, but that’s okay coz I hate being serious!

Jane January 31, 2007 at 10:33 pm

WTF was up and running today. I submitted a post just to go through the process. Not sure that I like it that much. I don’t think it’s as organized as it could be. To search for topics is confusing, i ended up searching for blogs (extreme example, but you get the point).

Nomar February 1, 2007 at 1:14 am

thats cool John, you can sell that domain for big dollars i guess.. looks like the shortcut of technorati

Chris February 1, 2007 at 2:39 am

Perhaps if Technorati concentrated on getting the main site to run faster than if I was on dial-up, and got around to fixing the blogspot blogs not updating, I might take it seriously.

But then again it’s called ‘What The Fu**’ so I’m not

HMTKSteve February 1, 2007 at 5:16 am

Why can’t Technorati focus on fixing it’s core site first?

It bugs me to no end when I do a search for my blog and find 95 links from 56 blogs but I have to dig deep to find the 56 blogs. Why can’t they just have a separate tab for blogs that link in?

Ryan February 1, 2007 at 6:28 am

That would be too easy! It seems like a lot of sites (myself included, at times) focus on new stuff instead of fixing the core stuff first.

Jane May February 1, 2007 at 11:17 am: They saw a demand and jumped on it. I agree, they should focus on what’s not user friendly first before growing, but tell them that.

Raghu February 1, 2007 at 7:45 am