Is it still Digg they're on about? I thought the complaint now was that reddit was turning into 4chan? HN is turning into reddit, reddit is turning into 4chan... Shall we take bets on how long it will be until people start bitching about G+ turning into facebook?

I think this is just a necessary byproduct of our need to find patterns in events and relate current experiences to past ones. Rather than saying, "the dynamic on this site is changing from something familiar to something new", we always feel the need to compare it to some past experience. Thus, techies are always looking for "the next microsoft", calling g+ "the next facebook", looking for the next Netscape Moment, and so on. It seems to be a very deeply-ingrained need for us to cast entities and experiences as being reminiscent of those we've had before. I'm sure this is an instinct that is usually very beneficial, but boy howdy does it ever cause an inordinate amount of kvetching on the tubes.

Well, he was right. The Reddit frontpage and vast majority of the new users (new being under 2/1 years old accts) have turned it into a complete idiocracy. On the other hand, the niche and smaller subreddits about specific pursuits and topics are doing pretty decently. Hivemind think and other stupidity still leaks in, but it's not too bad. The problem is as subreddits grow, they turn to crap. Look at the problem with the starcraft subreddit or plethora of marijuana subreddits.

I particularly like the subreddits that aim for better signal/noise ratio from the get-go and the good folks that help police them. One particularly outstanding fellow is blackstar9000, mod, creator, and prolific poster/commenter of several nice niche subreddits who has helped keep things in line. If there's any one who deserves some kudos in that regard, I'd nominate him/her for the honor.