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You weren't on your computer night, you were at some kick-ass party. So you're just now finding out that AOL launched its highly anticipated clone of social news site Digg.com at Beta.Netscape.com.

No worries. Here are nine reasons you're not missing a thing.

  1. The above picture is Netscape's top story.
  2. Http://beta.netscape.com doesn't actually work — it's the clumsy WWW.beta.netscape.com. Details, AOL! Details!
  3. Yeah, by the way, it's AOL. AOL of the "eternal September" of clueless newbies. AOL, which was so bad that old-school Net users thought @aol.com meant kids from some lowbrow public college were logging onto Usenet. AOL, which has yet to even produce a decent set of coasters. (You know what I mean.)
  4. That vile teal color is so '98. Not that we're ones to talk, but Digg is a lot prettier.
  5. The vote button is ugly too.
  6. 24-hour chat. Because AOL chat sure has made the Internet a classy place.
  7. There's a channel called "Women." Hello iVillage! Goodbye pretense of gender equality!
  8. Half the other entries are about Netscape. It's one thing for a newbie site like Digg to be systematically self-obsessed — but geez, Day 1 and a post-facial old-fogey site Netscape is already all about itself? Call the Fonz — that's one impressive shark jump.
  9. Hating it just seems right, ya know?

Netscape Beta [Official site]
Earlier: AOL team leaks Digg-killer shots just in time for Digg-killer-killer [Valleywag]