A Goodbye to Gawker 2.0

Feb 01, 2023

Newsletter Recipients,

Gawker 2.0 is no more. Bryan Goldberg, the guy who puts the Big Dumb Guy in BDG, announced today that despite a “financially strong 2022” he was going to layoff 8% of the staff and close Gawker. The site had been revived for less than two years. In that short time, the editors and writers established it as a home for smart and fun literary and cultural criticism. (A lot of “ands” there, Brad).

Its death is not surprising, exactly. Basically all new digital media ventures that are good are also doomed. I’ve never been a staffer at any of these places but I think, generally, writers and editors should approach these projects as if they’re running a con. The goal is to publish as much good stuff and take as much money as possible before the money people figure out what is going on and lock the doors behind you.

Gawker did this. They published a lot of really good stuff. They published a lot of really good stuff that wouldn’t have been published elsewhere. Instead of doomsaying about how bleak things are, I figured I would instead share a relatively short, non-exhaustive list of Gawker pieces that have stuck around in my brain. I hope you read and enjoy them!

In no particular order:

Pleasure Needs No Politics by B.D. McClay

Writers Shouldn’t Talk by Becca Rothfeld

Help! I Couldn’t Stop Writing Fake Dear Prudence Letters That Got Published by Bennett Madison

My Daily Pills by B.D. McClay

The New Trend is Gnomecore by B.D. McClay

Acts of Care in a Culture of Fear by Daniel Walden

Kunstlermania by Erin Somers

Me and Travis McGee by Adam Fleming Petty

Letter of Recommendation: Do Away with Letters of Recommendation by Erin Somers

Failure to Cope “Under Capitalism” by Clare Coffey

Who Will Remove My IUD? by Fran Hoepfner