The Rise and Fall of Plastic.com, part one. Freelance writer Mat Honan (Mefi user Emptyage) probes the story behind Plastic, using interviews with Joey Anuff, Carl Steadman, and the rest of the Plastic crew (some conducted publicly). Most Metafilter users never really embraced Plastic, but I can't help but wonder about Carl. $40,000 is a lot of money for one person. Does he know what he's doing? Why does he care so much? Maybe we'll find out in the second part of the OJR article.
posted on Jan 25, 2002 - View this thread

Contentville goes Splitsville. Steven Brill's online newsstand -- originally funded with $130 million from CBS, NBC and Primedia in February 2000 -- closed their doors today. In a memo to his staff, Brill wrote, "My idea for Contentville just didn't work." I'm guessing that heavy competition from other online retailers and an abundance of freely available online content did them in.
posted on Sep 30, 2001 - View this thread