Cooper, who joined Portfolio in 2006, was one of the the business magazine staffers who was made a contract writer when they cut costs last year. He writes in his welcome post that he'll "continue to write for Conde Nast Portfolio, where I'm a contributing editor, as well as its website, and other publications."

Cooper's reporting for Time got him caught up in the scandal which brought down Scooter Libby, the Dick Cheney aide accused of outing CIA agent Valerie Plame. He was a high-profile hire for Portfolio, establishing the magazine's breadth of ambition; his departure, after the slashing of the magazine's Web staff, now signals a contraction. As Portfolio sinks, weighed down by the expenses of print, TPM rises.

Connie, its such a shame you write such foolish prose. Given how poor your facts tend to be I would have expected you to make it up with words that quietly rolled from one to the next. Instead we get “spending up a storm” which is neither informative or elegant.

Did they keep you on at Portfolio after you wrote your silly, pointless and partially accurate story about me being a “Bad Boy” in Silicon Valley, a place I only see from the air if I see it at all.

Either pump up the prose, or secure some facts like other journalists, but this half fact, half invention in a pedestrian form just isn’t interesting.

Sorry, just one man’s opinion.

I can't wait to hear what Minor has to say about my post.

Portfolio had lots of things against it from the start. The $100 million investment from Conde Nast placed almost superhuman pressure for immediate success on the editor. And that may have been the biggest problem of all: the editor, Joanne Lipman, was not particularly good at her job. Lately she may have even been losing the patient support of Si Newhouse, her overlord and protector. She never really had the support of her staff, and even her deputies may have had waning enthusiasm for her management. Lipman remains in charge for now; but if the magazine survives in the long term, it will probably not be with her at the helm.

The magazine's immediate problems are the same ones that face everyone else in the business media: that at the time of this economic crisis—the biggest possible story—there are also the fewest possible advertisers. (It didn't help that the magazine decided to ignore the crisis altogether on the latest cover). Portfolio made a big show of attracting high-profile talent with big paychecks; that was when Wall Street was doing well. Now, they'll have fewer issues to put those writers' material in, and a vastly simplified website without a need for a lot of daily content. Some people will have to go. Big names will be leaving Portfolio soon, upset that they signed on there in the first place—and left without any prospect of receiving an equally good offer somewhere else.

Here's the takeaway, as the business types like to say: the Portfolio gamble failed. It wasn't meant to be. Not even a bottomless budget could counteract the fundamental forces that are pushing the media online. The magazine had a lot of talent, a lot of resources, and a lot of good content; but it couldn't put together a package that justified the exorbitant investment in print. Certainly, Portfolio doesn't need to fold just yet; if they can ride out this downturn, streamline the staff, and come out stronger on the other side, they might be around for years and years to come. But their future, like everyone's, is not in the old model of no-expense-spared print behemoths. Magazines will be targeted to niches. General interest publishing will move online (which makes it strange that the mag is laying off its online staff—might be a move in the wrong direction). Thanks for giving it one last shot, Conde Nast; you offered enough proof for anyone.

CBS chairman Sumner Redstone walked past him at the Bel-Air Hotel, shortly after CBS bought CNET for $1.8 billion. Minor hasn't been at CNET since 2000, and wasn't involved in the sale. So why would he expect Redstone to recognize him? Nostalgia? Pity? Portfolio reports on Minor's many difficult relationships; he told the magazine that Gateway founder Ted Waitt, formerly an investor in one of Waitt's startups, is no longer a friend. Add to the list of those difficult relationships: Minor with facts.

(Photo by Rob Howard/Portfolio)

The sort of resourcefulness, perhaps, that has a writer like Maney plumbing the shelves of juvenile nonfiction for recycled material. The third-world prison bit has also been reported in the New York Post, the U.K.'s Observer, Playboy, and even Wired, which is, like Portfolio, published by Condé Nast.

L.G.: A singles scene. You mentioned your girlfriend. Are you available? What's your deal? M.A.: Oh yeah, that was years ago. No, I'm not dating anyone. L.G.: So you're on the market. M.A.: I guess, yes. It's kind of hard to date when everyone watches your every move, but yeah. Have you heard of Valleywag?

One thing I've noticed in my years blogging is that your most popular posts are never your best posts, and that it's pretty much impossible to predict which posts are going to catch on and get lots of pageviews. The new Gawker pay scheme, then, might well end up simply rewarding the lucky, rather than the good.

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