Though the tendency to say that something's dead when it's simply slipping a bit is way overdone in web discourse (even a Wired cover that says "The Web Is Dead"? that's just bad writing), some things do die.
I'm not leaving hip hop media entirely but after posting at Weekly Hip Hop Albums for four years and having Google remove the site from their index for no clear reason, though I bet their algorithm is confused and marked it duplicate content, I think I may have to kill it by pulling the plug. I did keep it going for quite awhile after Google dissed it because I had a lot of direct hits from the newsletter and from folks knowing what was up.
But that's dwindling as fewer albums are released. Also, bloggers aren't linking out, etc. It's a reminder that despite the fact that this is the most accurate announcement of new releases with what I think is almost always some interesting album art, folks want what they want and they've got a lot to choose from. Which is one reason I think most newspaper paywalls will fail but that's another story!
In any case, the corpse will continue to be on display and I will continue to mistrust Google because, despite their reliance on math and machinery, they're all a bunch of humans, i.e. they're inherently untrustworthy!
