Nearly Half of Weblogs Inc's Blogs Are Dead

Well, it's time to needle Jason Calacanis again. I like needling Jason because I know he has a customized alert set up, just like Danny Sullivan and other Web bigwigs with robust egos. Whenever anywhere in the world, from Zanzibar to East Harlem, mentions Jason or Danny, alarm bells ring and Klaxons blare in their offices, and they immediately come over to see what the ruckus is.

It's frickin' Pavlovian.

What's the ruckus today? Well, it looks like almost half of the Blogs at WebLogs Inc. are no longer updated. Of 106 Blogs listed within the network, only 54 remain active, with 52 being classified as "inactive/on hiatus." Now I know this isn't Jason's fault -- after all, he sold WebLogs to AOL back in 2005 for about $25 million, and while he's still listed on Weblogs Inc's masthead, he's not responsible for all the bitrot that's been piling up there.

But Jason, look dude, can you really sleep at night knowing that you profited so mightily from selling property which less than two years after its transfer is starting to look as weedy as Grey Gardens? I mean, 50 percent of these Blogs are dead. Sure, you got over AOL in a big way and that's no small achievement. After the way they treated you at Netscape.com, I'd be the last one to tell you to return any of this money. But wow - is this whole Web publishing thing for real or just a new age version of Glen Garry Glen Ross? Are none of us anything more than salesmen of swampy real estate to clueless buyers?