Disappointment in Diggnation – A Digger’s Delima Dealing with Discriminative Age Decree

Being a self-proclaimed geek and computer nerd, I’ve known of Diggnation for quite a long time, and after watching their announcement on episode 190 and learning that they were going to do a live Diggnation in Austin, Texas for SXSW on March 14, my geek-out meter just about broke the scale (I live just hours away from Austin). This date happens to fall on the same week as my Spring Break, and what better to do for Spring Break than to party Diggnation style? It became almost too good to be true when they further announced that it will be open to all ages, meaning my girlfriend (age 19) and some friends in the Austin area, equal Diggnation fans as well, would be able to attend. As it turns out, however, it was too good to be true. From Digg’s most recent Digg Town Hall webcast episode from February 26 with Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson, it was further clarified that the live show age limit was 21 and over. This depressing bit of news spurred me to write the following email to the Diggnation and Revision3 team:

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Hello Kevin, Alex, and the rest of the Diggnation/Revision3 team,

Words cannot express how incredibly disappointed I am with this age limit of 21+ for the live show in Austin for SXSW, especially after being put under the original pretense that it was for all ages. Even though I am 21, my girlfriend (and fellow fan of Diggnation) is only 19 and we were making big plans on driving to Austin since this will probably be the last time Alex and Kevin come to Texas for a while (she lives in Houston while I live in Dallas). I say “were” because it looks like those plans will not come to fruition now. For the past years that I’ve watched Diggnation (since episode 1) and seen announcements about the live shows, I always got miffed about the 21+ age limit imposed at some venues even though it was impossible for me to go because of the vast distance anyway. Now it seems impossible yet again for I will not be able to enjoy a live show that I can actually attend because my significant-other as well as other friends in Austin wanting to attend are considered “under age” yet over 18 and considered adults.

Obviously the reason for the imposed age limit of 21+ is for alcohol control (there will probably be a bar and also drinking involved…hey, it’s Diggnation after all), but why not implement some sort of system where if a person attending is under 21, then they get large black X’s marked on the back of their hands in permanent marker so that the bartenders know not to sell alcoholic beverages to them? I’m sure it’s not that hard to give bartenders and waiters instructions for one night not to sell any alcohol to anyone with black X’s on their hands, nor will it be hard for the bartenders and waiters to comprehend these instructions. I’ve seen this procedure implemented at numerous clubs and social events in bars and it seems to work fairly well. If the question comes down to man-power to do this, then I’m quite positive people will likely volunteer for this type of crowd-control duty. I’ll be happy to do it myself, and I will be more than happy to send the Diggnation/Revision3 team my contact information to help organize an ID-checking and marking team so that people enter into the venue in an organized and safe manner.

This is the point I’m trying to make here: there are plenty of fans that are old enough to vote or have a license to carry a gun, but at the same time cannot attend the live show of one of their favorite internet-television programs because they are still considered “under age.” I hope this Diggnation live-show trend somehow gets changed for future shows, even if I’m still unable to attend, because I don’t agree seeing such a loyal fanbase treated so unfairly because of their youth.

Not looking forward to not attending,

*personal info excluded*

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In short, my aim is for future live shows to be open to more age groups and not just the “drinking crowd.” It may be too late to change the plans for their March 14 Diggnation, but I want those who were like me – seeing the announcements and wanting to go to a live Diggnation, but can’t because of the distance – and get their chance when a live show finally comes to a city near them, not to be robbed by some miniscule and asinine technicality such as age.  I hope that this age limit of 21 and over does not become the standard for Diggnation’s live shows, and I believe quite a few fellow Diggers feel the same way.

UPDATE:

It seems the age limit for the live Diggnation has been changed back to the original “all ages” age group. The most official proof I could find of this was from Revision3’s blog post about the event.