Pompeii.html

Stylus Magazine. Never heard of it until just now. A music and film webzine, like any other, I guess. It had received quite some positive feedback for a general quality standard of writing, but had been a commercial failure. Reading its Wikipedia article, it was really only one thing that thrilled me, the very last sentence, as a matter of fact. 1

"Stylus closed as a business on October 31, 2007. As of July 2008, its remains online, but is not publishing any new content."2

Stylus is a dead magazine. Death is a really cool thing, and I welcome any new insights on the subject. 3

Biological death is shrouded in an ancient cloak of enigma, and possibly the greatest source of cultural and social inspiration through history, but it is getting a little old. Hell, biological death must have been around since the dawn of biological life. And by some people's definitions, before that too.4

The death of a webzine is different. What has died is not a person, but a collection of information. An idea.5

That's really exciting, raises a lot of questions. Was the information ever alive? Is an idea a living thing? I guess you could say so. After its birth and exposure to the world it can adapt and develop to its environment, independently from its creator. Ideas, however, can exist only within the mind, they can neither grow nor survive independently from intelligent life. But then of course we must ask ourselves, can anyone?6

Reading about Stylus gave me an urge to pay a visit, and explore this virtual ghost town. To watch reviews, columns and podcasts frozen in their moments of death. To dive into a Pompeii of the Information Technology Age. Maybe read a few reviews. Take some advice from ghostly voices from the Other Side.7

Unfortunately the information on Wikipedia was inaccurate. Stylus Magazine is no longer online. I will never see the site. I can only speculate on what it might have looked like. But maybe that is for the best. This way I won't be disappointed. And I won't have to kill my romanticized fantasy. My idea.