Sayonara Seattle PI?

The redirect says it all:

http://disaster.seattlepi.nwsource.com/

There is some pitiful message about "technical difficulties," but there is mostly old news. RantWoman was looking for a favorite columnist or, cough, banalities like the horoscope and the weather report.

There was a farewell column by one favorite columnists.

The Soundoff facility was turned off so RantWoman could not get several news threads the thrashings they deserve.


To add insult to injury, RantWoman clicked into the cross-town rival, the Seattle Times, lately admitting to financial status as dismal as the Seattle PI's.

There is fresh news.

There is more or less believable weather report. Well RantWoman would prefer candor such as "strong winds and Snowzilla," but Snowzilla is in a spitty splashy mood and RantWoman doubts that our besieged press wants to tangle.

There is a horoscope page RantWoman is too heartbroken and impatient to figure out tonight.


It's not like there has been no warning. Last week there were announcements that no buyer has been found. RantWoman is mostly underwhelmed by the do everything on the cheap / show most of the old salts the door things she has been reading about Hearst's proposed new online edition. RantWoman forgot to bookmark the site she ran across from the journos who promise to start their own site as soon as the PI ceases publication, and RantWoman has too much to do already to want to spend time on it.

But RantWoman is BUMMED. The Seattle PI was scrappy and resourceful. It ran prize-winning investigations all over the place. It covered neighborhoods and printed decent quotes in many stories other outlets flubbed. Over the last couple months, RantWoman has missed a couple invitations to go say goodbye in person. RantWoman is sorry. RantWoman is sorry for all the people dislocated. RantWoman is sorry for all their uncertainty and upheaval.

Well, RantWoman has not previously thought of herself as a fount of advice about coping in straitened circumstances, but in the face of all the upheavals going around, RantWoman admits at times to a twinge of impatience: just get on with it already. RantWoman supposes this is because, unlike people who are nourished by every embroidered retelling of personal dramas, RantWoman would almost always, always, always rather talk about anything else than have to relive whatever is eating at her guts by t-t-t-talking about it.

This does NOT mean RantWoman is unsympathetic. Far from it. RantWoman just does not always know what to say and would like as not just invite the suffering and at sea to go for a walk in the Arboretum or come over and help her with her button issues or....

RantWoman supposes that by morning there will be some new web-only thing-a-majiggy. RantWoman promises to look but if they want RantWoman to stay...