Megan McArdle blogs at The Atlantic's website about life in Dean Singleton's declining SoCal empire. (Update: It's her blog, but ex-Singletonian Conor Friedersdorf wrote the post.)

As a former employee of Mr. Singleton's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun, I feel it is my duty to tell him that one of his properties, the Web site LA.com, is atrocious. It vexes me every time I look at it. Here you have a domain name that anyone would envy, a site that could bolster Southern California revenues and help fund good journalism if only the content were halfway decent.

Instead the site is a hilarious parody of what clueless middle-aged media company vice-presidents imagine that young people want to read. As I write this, for example, the flash player on the front page is scrolling through 5 categories of content. The chosen categories: "Panini, sex, film, travel, sushi."

Panini?

Things change, but it does sound as if LA.com has fallen a long way from the Laurie Pike days.