It Lives! Old Gawker Site Found in Attic with George Foreman Grill, Croquet Set

Still missing the old Gawker? With the fun and simple blog-style navigation (just scroll down!) and the prominent bylines and adorable little hit-counters blazing away on the right-hand side? 

It was a bit weird, but it worked. In fact, it was really starting to grow on us just around the time Gawker Media honcho Nick Denton unveiled that godawful redesign, which led to a system failure, commenter revolt, and traffic plunge, followed by a series of quiet walk-backs and an earnest yet slightly strained mea culpa.

We're a bit agnostic on this debate. On the one hand, hats off to Mr. Denton for having the guts to shake things up and execute those nimble pirouettes of his while so much of the blogosphere limps after him. Such boldness of vision, after all, is what built this great nation (that, and the occasional dick pic). And if we were marketing an energy drink, say, or a new sports sedan, we'd be mighty tempted to smear our eye-catching "creative" all over that enormous new billboard of his.

On the other hand, it seems like we're barely reading the site anymore—despite plenty of fine content—so maybe it's not so good. Who knows? 

Fortunately, it turns out the old Gawker is alive and well (also the old Jezebel, Deadspin and all those other sites), hidden away in a dusty old attic, just sort of mumbling to themselves like poor discarded playthings in Toy Story 4: Going Digital.

We were thinking of reaching out to Mr. Denton for comment, but we're afraid he'll grab an old throw pillow and finish the old girl off once and for all. Instead, we're bookmarking ca.gawker.com and hoping he doesn't notice.

agell [at] observer.com | @aarongell